Katie had on a little pair of shorts and a tight bra top. Vampires were blessed with enhanced hearing, taste, and smell, and she was using all three while lusting after Katie. Sweat was dripping down Katie’s chest and into her cleavage, her breathing heavy from the exertion. Alexis imagined that this was what she would hear and taste if she made love to Katie again.

Then she smelled blood, and panic filled her. She hurried over to Katie and saw she had a cut hand.

“Katie? Are you all right?”

“Oh, you’re talking to me, are you?” Katie said with her hands on her hips.

“Yes, of course. What happened?” Alexis asked.

Katie looked puzzled for a second and then looked down to her cut palm. “Oh, this? An aggressive thorny bush on my run. Nothing to worry about.”

Katie dipped her finger onto the fresh looking wound. The tip of her finger was now bathed in red blood. Alexis couldn’t take her eyes from it. She was salivating both for blood and to touch Katie. Alexis didn’t know what she’d like to run her tongue over first, the blood or Katie’s breasts, kept tightly in that teasing crop top.

Then Katie teased her even more by putting the tip of her finger, with the blood on it, into her mouth and sucking her finger seductively. Alexis was gone. In that moment Katie owned her, and if Katie had taken her hand, Alexis would have let her lead anywhere.

But instead Katie popped the finger from her mouth and said, “I better get showered and back to work. See you later, Alex.”

Alexis found herself standing alone. Hungry, ravenous, and no way to sate it.

* * *

Later that day, Byron called Alexis and Bhal for their usual evening meeting. After Daisy’s revelations, it was even more important.

“Things have gotten ever more complicated,” Byron said. “Duca, is your information still that Victorija remains conspicuous by her absence?”

There was a long pause. Alexis looked as if her mind was somewhere else. Byron looked at Bhal and Bhal raised her eyebrows.

“Duca?” Byron said a little louder.

Alexis jumped. “Sorry, Principe. You were saying?”

“Is Victorija still keeping a low profile?”

Alexis sat up straighter in her seat. “Yes, my informant in France says that she hasn’t been seen. Drasas, her Duca, has been taking care of clan matters.”

“If she knows about Daisy,” Bhal said, “she will move heaven and earth to get her.”

Byron sighed. “I know, and once she does, she will never let her go. The Grand Duchess wanted me to attempt to bring Victorija back into the fold, but that seems even more remote now that she is bonded by blood to Daisy. She will be going slowly insane. I know how that feels.”

“We can’t afford any olive branch to Victorija now, Principe.” Alexis slammed her hand down on the desk. “Forgive me, Principe.”