Blacker than Black Read Free Page A

that blood sometimes has. Clotted blood.
    I fondle the little treasure, the real price my john is paying.
    And this little piece of vampire, it’s stronger than everything he’s taken from me. More concentrated. The irony is that he’ll never miss it.
    It softens finally as I pull away, back into myself. Softens and melts, slipping into my aura, diluting into my energy.
    For a few moments, I feel nothing.
    And then it hits me like chugging a shot of whiskey. The world blurs and the vamp’s energy thrums against my skin, the trace inside me resonating with his close proximity, my own energy in him doing the same. I can feel myself in him.
    Can feel him in me.
    My head falls back against the arm of the couch, my eyes wide. I know the ceiling is up there somewhere. Even if it weren’t dark, I couldn’t focus enough to see shit. The vampire’s weight rests atop me, his forehead cool and clammy against my neck. Shallow puffs of breath tickle my skin, make it itch and tingle, nerve endings flaring to life as energy calls to energy, a banked ember in a gentle gust of air.
    I need to get the fuck out of here, right now.

 
    Steps pass beneath my feet as I descend them, driven purely on instinct. When I reach the concrete of the sidewalk, I glance back over my shoulder in confusion. Reluctance and loss flit through me like the chill night air sinking past my skin.
    I try to wrestle the thoughts in my head into some kind of order, to clear space for coherency. My surroundings are slow to come into focus.
    It’s a sensation I’m familiar with, the disorientation, although I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. I blink a few times, scrubbing moisture from my cheeks with rough impatience. I’m alone. It surprises me, though I can’t think why.
    That I’ve survived should fill me with relief. Or something like it. It doesn’t. Deep down, I know it was a gift. Restraint. He could have destroyed me so easily.
    Tearing my gaze from the building’s entrance, I walk away. Every step’s an exertion of will. Every stride creates a gulf between myself and that part of me I’ve surrendered and left behind.
    A larger part than I intended. The pull is stronger than any I’ve experienced. None have ever delved so deep into me, stripped me so thoroughly. It makes me feel hollow, empty.
    I lift my hand and run a finger over my smooth, pale skin, blue veins prominent. My john paid handsomely for what I offered; the price I exacted is greater than he knows. The strength of his filched chi pulses through me like liquid fire, unnatural. It will assimilate slowly. But I can afford the luxury of time now. Judging by the translucent quality of my skin, I need it.
    Looking back over my shoulder once more, I study the architecture of the building and its unfamiliar red aura. Beginning to fade now with the encroaching sunrise. I wonder if I’ll ever see him again.
    My pace quickens as the glow of imminent dawn illuminates the city’s eastern skyline. Buildings jut into the vivid color like some mythical beast gaping its maw to breathe fire on the remnants of humanity. I have just enough time to make it back to my little hovel in the heart of the Blue District—to put some distance between me and the john, to weaken the resonant sensation, before he recovers from his feeding thrall.
    Exhaustion is weighing down my feet by the time I make it back to the flat. Litter lines the hallway, remnants of life, or escape. All of it trash. The faint smell of mildew and decay hangs in the air, paint peeling off the sweating concrete walls. As I pull my key from its chain around my neck, the door opens.
    “You look like cold shit, Black,” Jhez says. Her brow is furrowed in concern, relief flooding off her so heavily it’s discomfiting. As if she doused in flowery perfume during my absence.
     “I love you too, sister.” I’m sure it sounds like I’m snarling; my tone is at once both rough and edged even to my own ears, but I’m too drained to