Chapter 3

"Lila. You let the wolf live? Now that's interesting."

"Back off, Count Bloodmoon," Lila snapped. "She made it through a night on the thirtieth floor. That means she's mine."

His red eyes narrowed. He flicked his wrist, and Lila flew across the room and smashed into the glass balcony doors.

The crash had me out of bed in a second.

"Who said you could talk to me like that?" he said coldly. "Don't tell me you actually believe you're my daughter."

So this was the jerk who'd been hurting her.

"Hey! Don't you dare touch my little girl!"

I went to slap him. Halfway there, I actually saw his face, forgot how my legs worked and went down flat on the floor.

He was gorgeous.

My nose started bleeding. I honestly couldn't tell you whether that was from the fall.

He stared down at me like he was trying to decide whether to eat me or back away slowly.

I scrambled to my feet.

"Okay. Wow. You are gorgeous."

Live Chat:

DeadEyeDan: That's COUNT BLOODMOON. Half his face is rotted off and he's held together with stitches.

NightOwl77: Final boss. Nobody walks away from him.

RIPinPeace: RIP her neck.

Instead, a faint flush crept across his bloodstained cheeks.

Live Chat:

Lurker_Lou: ...is he BLUSHING?

hexqueen: Why is this cute. I hate that this is cute.

GraveDigger_99: Cute?? Are you people blind??

The Count stepped closer, his voice low.

"Look again. Properly this time. You really think I'm handsome?"

I looked. My eyes went from his face down to his broad chest and pale skin, and I forgot how to breathe.

"Handsome is an understatement."

His jaw tightened, and the tips of his fangs showed.

"Oh, come on. You're tall, you're stunning, and now you're flashing fangs at me? That's just not fair."

He blinked at me, completely thrown.

While he was still trying to work out an answer, I caught his collar, pushed him back onto the bed and held his face between my hands.

"You threw my kid into a window," I told him. "You're lucky you're this pretty, or I'd have smacked you already."

His eyes went wide. Up close, he looked like nobody had ever done anything like this to him in his whole long life.

Lucky for me, the game tracked fear, not heart rate. Mine would've been off the charts.

Lila had put herself back together while we were talking. She flew across the room and kicked the Count's head into the ceiling.

Then she climbed into my arms.

"Mama, Lila's so hungry," she whined.

"Okay, baby. Let's go find you some food."

Cooking, at least, I could do. Both of them licked their plates clean. When I told them to do the dishes, they actually got up and went to the kitchen without a word of argument.

I stretched out on the couch with some fruit and a horror movie. Their voices carried through the kitchen door.

"She never stops talking, but her cooking's not bad. Maybe we keep her."

"What about Grandma and Granddad? They're back tomorrow. They'll be mad we didn't eat the food they left."

"That stuff? I'm pretty sure they're trying to poison us. If they complain, I'll handle it."