Vampire U by Hannah Crow

terror and revulsion, but he held me with a grip as strong and unyielding as steel.
    "Let go of me!" I hissed as I struggled against his grip.
    His hands slid down to the tight curve of my ass, and he gave it a hard squeeze that cut off my words.  "Be calm," he said, just loud enough to be heard over the music.  "Don't panic."
    "My roommate, she's..."
    "Fine," he said.  "Morgan's fine.  But we need to finish our discussion."
    "She's  not  fine!" I hissed.  "The guy from the gate, Vic... he..."
    "I know what he did," Mander assured me.  A wave of calm swept over me, calm I knew I shouldn't feel, as though something outside myself was projecting it on me.
    It felt like a heavy net cast over my mind, weighing me down.  I struggled to resist it, and my anger flared, sudden and harsh.  "Why did you leave me?  Where did you go?"
    "Soon," he said.  "But right now you need to relax.  Can you do that?  Just... be cool, as they say. "
    My thoughts ricocheted through my head like stray bullets, but Mander locked his dark eyes on mine, and I felt that pull again, solid and constant.  Instead of resisting, I let it take me like the tide and pull me toward him.  My terror subsided to a dull buzz.
    "Good," Mander said.  His hands were still on my ass, and I became aware of the closeness of our bodies.  Mander danced with a sinuous grace that made me feel awkward and clumsy, but the strength in his arms pulled me along to the beat of the music.  He bent his head to my neck, and I stiffened at the memory of Vic's gleaming teeth plunging into Morgan's neck.
    I remembered Mander's desire on the staircase, the way he'd seemed on the verge of losing a tightly held control, and how for a moment, I'd wanted him to lose it.
    Now I prayed that he wouldn't.
    I swayed in his arms like a puppet on strings, letting him move me.  Mander's face pressed against mine, his skin too cool for the desire that radiated from his body with the intensity of a furnace fan.  I felt utterly helpless as I waited for the plunging sting of sharp, long teeth, but he only pressed his lips against my skin in a gentle, probing kiss.  Air stirred against my neck as he savored the taste and scent of my flesh.
    Gradually, I relaxed.  Surrendered.  I don't know how long we danced, but in Mander's arms, suddenly nothing seemed urgent anymore.  Morgan would be fine.  I would be fine.  Everything would be fine.
    "You want to get out of here?" Mander asked.  Something big and hard brushed against my belly.  This wasn't the request of an innocent schoolboy.
    "Y... yes..." I said, hating the vulnerability in my voice.  Somewhere in this massive house, Morgan was alone with Vic.  She had been kind to me; I couldn't leave her like this.
    Mander took my hand and led me through the dancers.  They parted to make a path, oblivious women with glazed eyes in the arms of Betas who leered at me like lions waiting for a panicked gazelle to bolt away from the herd.  Mander's fingers tightened around my own, and he moved faster, not quite hurrying, but I had no choice but to follow him or fall.
    Soon we were out on the patio.  The wild crowd had diminished to a few couples.  The house loomed behind me, full of dark bedrooms and darker secrets.  I tried not to think about where all the young women I'd seen before had gone.
    "Keep going," Mander hissed.  He pulled me across the wide lawn to the parking area and led me to my battered Civic without hesitating.  "Go home," he said as he yanked open the door.  "And don't let anyone into your dorm.  Not tonight."
    "But Morgan," I said.  "My roommate...   I saw..."
    "She's fine," Mander said.  He glanced back toward the house, and I sensed something close to fear in him for the first time.  "I shouldn't have asked you come.  I should have found another way, but I thought...  never mind."  He shook his head.
    I dug in my heels and pulled at his arm.  "Mander, stop!  Please...  what is going on?"  My voice