Crimson Debt Read online

  “Tell me,” I said, patting her knee gently. “Just say it, Taylor. Has she been hitting you again?”

  Taylor shook her head, her long dark hair swirling with the gesture. “I wish it was only that—I’m used to being hit by now.” She sniffed. “You know I never broke a single bone back when I was human? Not even a fracture. But now I’ve had every bone in my body broken multiple times. Of course, they heal almost immediately but it still hurts. You know.”

  “I know,” I said, my throat tight. God, how I hated that abusive bitch, Celeste! If Taylor was still human and a man was doing this to her, we could have gotten a restraining order and hidden my friend away in a shelter somewhere. But there was no such thing in the vampire world—it was eat or be eaten and Taylor was at the very bottom of the food chain.

  “Anyway…” Taylor took a deep breath. “Celeste has guests in town this week. Some important vamps from some other state and she wants to impress them—especially this one, Roderick. He’s the main VIP, I guess.”

  “Yes…” I wasn’t sure where this story was going but I was betting I wouldn’t like the conclusion.

  “So she…she…” Taylor’s eyes began to fill with blood tears again. “She’s been loaning me out. I mean, she gave me to him for the week. Told him to do anything he wanted with me. And he…” She shook her head. “I can’t even tell you some of the things he’s been making me do. He’s into bondage and domination and he ties me up so I can’t get away while he…he…” She put a hand over her eyes.

  “Oh, Taylor.” I grabbed her other hand and didn’t complain when she squeezed it hard enough to make my bones creak.

  “The worst thing is the sex. He tells me I’m his whore. And the things he does to me…and makes me do to him…” She shook her head, unable to continue. “I just…I feel so dirty. I wish I was dead but I can’t die. I’ve thought about staying out after dawn and just letting the sun take care of business but Celeste can feel it when I’m thinking about it and she makes me come in.”

  “Taylor, no!” Despite her circumstances, I was shocked to hear my friend talk about suicide. “No, you can’t mean that. Don’t even say it.”

  “Why not?” Taylor rubbed at the tears on her face, leaving bloody smudges across her high cheekbones like war paint. “I hate my life now. My entire existence is all about pleasing Celeste but no matter what I do she hates me. She says I’m the worst excuse for a vampire she’s ever seen and that I deserve whatever punishment she gives me because I’m so bad. And now…I’m nothing but her whore, Addison. You know I was never one to sleep around but I don’t even have control of my own body anymore. Anyone Celeste likes can use me. I can’t live like this anymore. I’d rather be dead.”

  “Oh, honey…” I put my arms around her, feeling like my heart was going to burst. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I said, as tears stung my eyes. “This is all my fault.”

  Taylor pulled back from our embrace. “What are you talking about? Of course it’s not.”

  “Yes, it is. I should have stayed with you that night. I never should have gone to that stupid class.”

  “You couldn’t know that Celeste would come and call me to her,” Taylor said gently. “And you couldn’t have stopped me going out to her even if you had been there.”

  “Yes, I could. I would have tied you up. Called the police. Done something,” I said fiercely. “If only I had been there. And now you’re stuck in this horrible situation and even though I’m with the VAB—”

  “There’s nothing you can do,” Taylor finished for me quietly. “Believe me, I know how it is, Addison—I’m living it.”

  “If only we could get some kind of restraining order,” I said desperately. “Find someone who could make her leave you alone.”

  Taylor shook her head. “You’d have to find a vampire that was a hell of a lot stronger than Celeste and one who was willing to intervene for me. That’s not going to happen.”

  I knew she was right. Vamps are like lions—they all have their own territory and boundaries and they generally leave each other alone unless one of them is making a hostile takeover. In which case, you’d better get out of the way because they don’t pull punches.

  But then I remembered what she’d said. Someone stronger than Celeste. To my knowledge there was just one other vampire in the entire state who fit that description. Oh no… I moaned to myself. Surely not. Not him… But there was nothing else I could do, nothing else I could think of. I was stuck.

  “Can you stay here tonight…er, today?” I asked my friend but she shook her head.

  “No, I’m expected back in an hour. Celeste didn’t want to let me go at all but Roderick had some meetings to go to so he wasn’t…wasn’t using me at the moment. I think she only lets me come see you at all because she thinks it hurts me to remember my former life.”

  “Does it?” I asked.

  “Not as much as forgetting would. You’re all I have left, Addison. Mom and Dad won’t see me anymore since they got so religious—they say I’m the bride of Satan. And you know I never had any other close friends.”

  I patted her back. “We’ll be friends as long as we’re alive…” I suddenly remembered that she wasn’t technically alive but it sounded wrong to say 'as long as I’m alive and you’re undead' so I just shrugged. “Er, you know what I mean. And don’t give up hope or do anything crazy because I think I have a plan.”

  Taylor shook her head listlessly. “I appreciate it, really I do. But I don’t think anybody can help me now. I just have to…just have to endure it. Roderick is leaving town in a month or so. Maybe things will go back to normal then. Assuming Celeste doesn’t give me to him permanently, that is.”

  “She wouldn’t.” I felt like my heart had jumped up in my throat.

  Taylor shrugged tiredly. “She might. She might do anything—you know that.”

  “I know,” I said, filled once more with helpless rage. It was completely unfair that my friend had lost her rights as a person, her dignity, and her self-respect just because she’d been turned into a vamp. Eventually I was hoping there would be some legislation passed to protect the rights of the newly turned but people still viewed vampirism as a choice—not as something that could be done to you against your will.

  “I have to go.” She started to get up but I pulled her back down.

  “When’s the last time you fed?”

  Taylor looked uncomfortable. “Not that long ago. I’m fine, really.”

  “You’re not fine,” I said, eyeing the copious red streaks and smears beneath her cheeks. “You lost about a gallon just now crying.”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t come here for blood, Addison. I just needed to talk about it…to say it out loud. And honestly, I feel better now.”

  “You’ll feel better if you have a quick bite.” I shrugged out of my suit jacket and offered her my arm. “Here, do the inside of the elbow this time. I think the veins are better there.”

  “I shouldn’t.” But she was hungry—I could tell. She was eyeing the thick blue vein that ran along the inside of my right elbow like a starving man eyes a steak.

  “Do it.” I thrust my arm under her nose, steeling myself for the pain. From what I understood, some vamps were able to make this a pleasant experience—even pleasurable—but it never was with Taylor. It just hurt like hell—not that I would ever tell her.

  “You’re sure?” she said, giving me an apologetic look. It was the same look she’d used to give me when we split a dessert at a restaurant and I told her to take the last bite. The memory hurt my heart and I pushed my arm closer to her mouth.

  Without asking again, Taylor bared her fangs and sank them deep into my vein. I managed not to yelp aloud but I bit my lips so hard I could taste blood on my tongue. It was like being stabbed with two sixteen gauge needles by an inept nurse. Luckily with my pale skin, my veins are easy to find or Taylor might never have gotten any nourishment—she seemed to lack the instinct other vamps had for finding blood