Free BloodlustandMetal by Lisa Carlisle Page A

animals? What good was that? Who wanted to
be an animal anyway? At least as a human you’re on top of the food chain in the
animal world.
    And if you’re a shifter who tasted like Devon did, you’d be
very tasty food for a vampire like me.
    Don’t think about your lust for blood and don’t think
with your libido. Think analytically. Strategically. Use whatever weapons or
devices you have. How can get you get out of this?
    Hmm, what could I do? I thought about some excuses I could
use to get out of his bed. I only came up with one. It wasn’t great, but if he
was naive enough, it just might give me enough of an opportunity where I could
attack him and get the fuck out of his flat.
    And if that didn’t work, well, he was just a man, after all.
And most men had a weakness—women. And since I’d seen the way he looked at me
and felt his desire when he kissed me, I knew he was attracted to me despite
the verbal sparring. May as well use his desire to my advantage. Maybe he’d be
more sympathetic toward me.
    Even better, with his defenses down, my attempt at mind
control would be more effective. It didn’t work earlier and he said it didn’t
work on shifters, but in all cases? Had any vampires ever tried it on a shifter
when his mind was occupied by other, more sensual matters?
    Not bad, Layla. Thinking with your libido might actually
come in handy for this situation.
    Seducing Devon wouldn’t be too much of a sacrifice, would
it? The fantasy had been swimming around in my brain, competing with my pure
and utter hatred of him.
    Could you really hate someone yet be so attracted to them at
the same time? I was starting to think this was actually possible. He was
beautiful to look at. His body just begged me to reach out and touch. And I
could imagine the way he would feel inside me, filling me to capacity and fucking
me to the point of ecstasy.
    And if this ended up being my last night on Earth, I
couldn’t imagine anyone else I’d want to spend it with right now than the man
in the next room. It didn’t make any sense to me on any level.
    Who else did I have in my life anyway since I’d become the
undead? A master vampire who wanted to punish me, most likely torture
information out of me and then kill me. And then the other vampires who lived
at Stefano’s. Whose side would they take—his or mine? True, his bodyguards might
have warned me, but I was nothing. No power, no money, none of the assets I had
in my human life. I couldn’t give them anything that Stefano could provide. It
was a clear choice for them.
    Essentially I had no one, except the guys in my band who
only knew one side of me. They didn’t even know my real name or my dark secret.
If they knew who I really was, well, they might turn on me in disgust. Even
Joey.
    Joey. Poor Joey. He was suspicious enough as it was of this
guy, now he must be losing his mind freaking out, wondering where I was. If I’d
only listened to him I wouldn’t be in this situation right now. But I didn’t.
And here I was in a shitload of trouble.
    All kinds of emotions swarmed through my mind as I thought
about Joey. His concern for me. His protectiveness. The way we flirted up on
stage—sometimes the fantasy almost felt real, as if we were star-crossed
lovers. But my freakish need for privacy would then push Joey away. And now I
couldn’t get much farther away from him than on the other side of the Atlantic.
    Funny, the only person who I felt any sort of connection to
right now was Devon. I didn’t know what it was or why. It didn’t make any
sense, but then nothing did lately. In fact, nothing had really made sense
since I became a vampire, struggling to come to grips with what I was.
    What I did know was that seducing Devon wouldn’t be a
sacrifice at all. In fact, I was looking forward to it.

Chapter Five
     
    Devon
    I nursed a Jack Daniels in my leather recliner while waiting
for night to fall. At the same time, I dreaded it. Stefano was expecting us and
that