The Secret Guide to Dating Monsters: Secret McQueen Story by Sierra Dean Read Free Book Online Page A

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    Four vampires. I’d seen worse odds.
    “Can we go outside?” I asked. Alone on the balcony was where I wanted him. I could deal with the guards once Charlie was dead. If he was like most rogues, the guards would be new vampires, tied to him. Rogues liked to avoid partnering with established vampires because it almost always led to a power struggle at some point. If they created their own sect, they got to maintain control. This worked well for me because newborn vampires were cocky and stupid. They relied too much on their newfound strength, which made them much easier to kill.
    He was brushing tendrils of hair off my shoulder, sweeping his fingers over my skin. I wanted to kill him, if only so he would stop touching me.
    “Sure.” He hooked a thumb under the strap of my dress. “Let’s do that.” He pulled me towards the door, using the garment as a leash. This was too taxing for my dress, and as we reached the glass doors, the strap snapped.
    Reflexively, my hand shot up to keep the dress in place, but it proved unnecessary. It was so tight, the straps were ornamental. The dress wouldn’t go anywhere unless it was unzipped, and even then I was pretty sure it would need to be surgically removed.
    “Oops,” Charlie said, but he didn’t sound sorry.
    “That’s okay.” I forced an airheaded giggle, while inside I was cursing him and his ham-fisted boorishness. “It doesn’t matter.”
    Outside, the air was cool in spite of the August heat. This high up, the wind forgot about summertime rules and did whatever it wanted. I was glad for the distraction from Charlie’s cold touch.
    “Look at the view!” I stepped away from him and up to the glass barrier wall.
    “I’d rather look at you,” Charlie cooed. Ugh . I swallowed the wave of nausea that rode over me.
    The balcony was perfect. If I killed him here, then coaxed both guards out, I could leave their bodies for the sunlight. Vampire blood turned to ash in daylight the same as their bodies did. Unfortunately, it didn’t work that well if it had already soaked into walls and carpets. I did most of my killing outside if I had a choice, because the Tribunal wasn’t always happy about sending cleaning crews to take care of the messes I made. Even if it was their mess to begin with.
    Charlie was behind me, and with expert hands he began removing the tube from my back.
    I spun around. “Let me,” I directed and took it off myself, half unscrewing the cap when I leaned it against the wall.
    Now that I was facing him, Charlie took it as an open invitation to move in closer. His hands were at the hem of my dress, and he looked me right in the eyes.
    “Anything I want.” He repeated the directive from earlier.
    “Anything you want.” I tried to make my tone as zombified as possible, without sounding too much like a vampire slave. People too transfixed by the thrall became puppets to their master’s whim. Vampires called them Renfields. I called them depressing.
    His roving hands twined around my back, finding my zipper. This position also placed his mouth precariously close to my exposed neck. The temptation to snack early must have proved to be a bit much for the vampire. His sharp fangs raked against my clavicle, and with the lightning-fast precision of a rattlesnake, he bit down.
    I screamed.
    I couldn’t help it. If I’d been under the thrall, I wouldn’t have felt anything. As it was, I was perfectly lucid, and the bastard had just broken my collarbone. My reaction stopped him from feeding before he’d had enough to be in a blood frenzy.
    He licked his lips as he stared at me, his solid black eyes widening with surprise.
    “What are you?” His hand tightened on my arm, causing new pain to join in chorus with the searing ache of pierced flesh and broken bone. With his free hand, he collected more blood where it was pooling on my skin and popped his thumb into his mouth. He didn’t seem able to separate the two parts of my blood to