After finishing her water in a few glugs, Charity made her way deeper into the house, checking the many gaping rooms for any people. When she found no one, she continued toward the stairs. As she continued her search, another thought occurred to her. Donnie’s Charger was still here. Done up sporty, black on black, it was hard to miss. She hadn’t been thinking clearly when she’d glanced at it earlier, but now…
Lead filled her chest. If he hadn’t gone for Sam, he’d found someone else. The last thing she wanted to do was walk in on him and some lady.
Doesn’t matter. I’m lucky to be where I am.
A wide hallway dotted with closed doors greeted her at the top of the stairs. She stood next to the first door and listened. A quiet house listened back.
Pursing her lips, she reached for the gleaming handle before turning gently to see if it was locked. It wasn’t.
The door swung inward slowly, revealing a dark room. Light from the window spilled across the floor and the bed. The occupied bed. She froze.
Two bodies writhed on top of the sheets, the man’s mouth locked in a fervent kiss on the girl’s neck. His bare backside repeatedly pushed toward her body, met by the upward swing of her hips. A feminine moan curled through the air.
Oh my God!
Charity yanked the door shut and then winced at the thud of wood banging off wood. She stood rigid in the hallway for a moment, half in shock. She wasn’t a virgin or a prude or anything, but…yikes!
Moving down the hallway, she tried another room, equally unlocked. Rather than swing the door open, she opened it a crack and listened. A feminine moan teamed with masculine grunts had her backing out quickly.
Did no one lock doors in this place?
Thankfully, the house had a crap-load of rooms. Not all were bedrooms, no, but based on the chorus of grunts she heard from what looked to be a bathroom, that didn’t matter.
Had the whole party retired to the bedrooms? Was that what it was, a big hookup party?
Sam’s conversation with the other girl blinked through her thoughts. The explanation of a hookup party fit. Devon wasn’t going to work, so Sam went for the next available bachelor in her age range. Everyone so far looked and sounded like willing participants, so they were definitely on board. The few who weren’t into the notion had probably already taken off.
Dang it, I could’ve gotten a ride.
After the fifth try and some furious blinking—the naked gymnastics on the pool table were a marvel—she finally stumbled into an empty bedroom. Two twin beds were stationed on opposite sides of a room organized with bins and toy boxes. Being that she was, apparently, the only one with a G-rated sleeping agenda, she figured she was doing the kids a favor by choosing their room as a crash pad.
After locking the door firmly behind her, then checking it just to make sure, she placed Sam’s heels by the bed and fell onto a pink duvet. Judging by the duplicates of everything, the occupants were probably young twins—the only scenario by which two kids were likely to share a room in a house with countless bedrooms.
Charity took her millionth deep breath for the night. Waiting out a sex party hadn’t been on her list of to-dos for the weekend. All she wanted to do was go home without being waylaid by the hot psychopath out front.Chapter Eight“Explain yourself,” Devon demanded, anger spiking his pulse.
Jimmy’s face paled, but the rigidity didn’t completely leave his spine. “She was trying to get away. It’s our job to stop that.”
“It’s your job to follow orders,” Devon said, leaning into Jimmy. “She didn’t drink the elixir. You heard her yourself.”
“And you believe her?” Jimmy mumbled, looking at his feet.
“You saw how confused she was. Nothing we were saying computed. She thought we were drugged up.”
“But her smell—”
“Was not the smell of a human in transition. Not even remotely. In the absolute simplest of terms, she smelled…” Amazing. Out-of-this-world fantastic. So great it had made his mouth water. “…good. Vampires smell bad. See the issue?”
“Yes, sir,” Jimmy murmured.
“You scared her into that house. She wasn’t even supposed to be here, for all we know, and now her death warrant is signed. She’ll be food, without question, and very few food sources brought to these things make it out. You all but guaranteed that we’ll have one more to clean up.”
Jimmy looked up with round eyes, his body shaking. “Sorry, sir,” he bleated, finally submitting. “It’s just—she seemed so sure of herself, you know? Usually dames are either half scared or half turned on by us. And she’d come from the house, and I—”
Devon let the rage infuse his eyes, cutting off the yammering. “You screwed up on this one. You’ll face the consequences.”