Free Darkened Days by C. L. Quinn

the bars on the cell violently.  And then again.  And a third time.
    Starla walked over to her.
    “If they have a way to make the locks impenetrable, don’t you think the bars would hold up to a vampire’s strength?  These people froze us!  They are obviously something more powerful than we are.  You may as well sit down and drink your blood meal.  I don’t know when we’ll get something else.”
    She took her own advice and slid down the concrete wall to tear open the plastic bag with her fangs.
    Oh, God, that was rank.  Note to self.  Always, always drink fresh blood if you survive this.
    As she drew the vile stuff into her mouth, her mind wandered to Jacob.   If they released him, she hoped he would come for her. 
    Oh, hell .  Now she was actually expecting him to be her hero.   Garbage.  Real life didn’t have Prince Charmings and fairy tale endings. 
    Gagging down the last of the nasty blood, she admitted to herself , she still hoped he would come.
    Marina sat on the wall opposite Starla and glared at her.  Her eyes dropped to Starla’s attire, the knee high boots and knee length men’s shirt.  She wrinkled her nose.
    “Nice dress,” she sneered.
     
     
    Crystal finished the rounds to all the cells to let the young vampires know their status.  A shame, really, but Xavier was pretty intolerant when it came to protecting his kin.  If he thought they were truly a threat, he would order their execution.  But she figured most of these youngsters probably just didn’t know better.  Her thoughts returned to the handsome older vampire she had determined must be behind the cadre.  He was an exciting man.  She’d creamed just watching him as he woke and stood, his excellent body naked from the waist up.
    These days, she’d been choosing women.  Only because after five hundred years of men and their insinuating cocks, she’d been ready for something softer.  But this vampire made her think she was ready to feel that penetration again.  And while the female body was lovely, the male body really was the one that had always excited her sexually.
    She smiled as she watched him on the surveillance cameras.  Interesting that the first man to make her wet this century was completely under her control.  She could do with him whatever she wanted.  Was it wrong that she loved that power?  That he was, literally, slave to her urges?  Yeah, probably.  But the turn-on was intense.  She slipped her fingers beneath her waistband and tucked them under her thong.  Fingering the moistness, she caressed herself.  She was already wet at the thought of Jacob’s cock sliding up and down inside her.  Hmm.  Maybe tonight?
     
     
     
    They’d lowered the lights to announce daytime, although it was hardly necessary for vampires.   They had a strong sense of diurnal patterns.  A vampire would begin to feel fatigue as night ended, their body ready for rest.  It seemed to be a built-in gauge, as it attended to safety for someone who could not walk in daylight.  
    Jacob had always been able to sleep anywhere almost any time.   But here his mind would not rest.  He was worried about Starla.  As he’d searched for her the past few months, he’d been concerned.  But after last night, after holding her in his arms, his attachment was stronger and he couldn’t stop worrying about where she was and how she was being treated.  It made him furious to imagine they put her in a cell with males.  Vampire nature being what it was, and specifically these young vampires, they would have her service their sexual needs. 
    He’d sworn to himself last night after he realized what must have been happening to her that he would not allow her to be hurt again.  And now he couldn’t be there to protect her.  He’d tried several times to deflect the magics protecting these cells, but nothing worked.
    Now, trying to rest, hungry and worried, Jacob considered if this first blood was justified in his extreme