Bloodlust by Michelle Rowen Page A

him.”
    If he killed someone tonight, could I live with myself that I’d helped him?
    I’d heard enough about Kristoff to make me fear what he would do when he was released from the prison Matthias had trapped him in decades ago. He was a monster, a sociopath, someone who shouldn’t be allowed to live—that is, if he wasn’t already immortal. Matthias had locked him away because he’d had no other choice. And now Kristoff was going to be released so he could pick up where he’d left off.
    And if Matthias was being truthful and what had happened with Declan was only the beginning of a horrible downslide into becoming more like a monster dhamp than one who could be reasoned with, one who couldn’t be controlled by any serum or drug—
    He was frustrating, aggravating, challenging—but there was something about Declan that I knew I couldn’t lose.
    I had to stop overthinking this. There was no time. There was only one answer that I could wrap my head around right now. It didn’t mean it was a good one.
    “Fine.” The word came out like a sob. “Tell me what I need to do.”
    He forced himself up to a sitting position, holding his intestines in with his right hand. His abdomen was a ragged ruin of flesh and blood. His handsome face had paled more than I thought possible considering how white he was to start with, and the dark circles under his eyes had only grown darker. His blond hair was streaked with his blood. His eyes black. His cheekbones and jawline were covered in those scary-looking thin dark veins. He looked like an angel of death.
    “Get me to a human with blood flowing through their veins. Anyone will do.”
    I didn’t think. I just moved. I helped him to his feet and his weight slumped against me, almost knocking me over.
    He groaned. “Please hurry. Right now, your blood is nearly impossible to resist. This time I know it would kill me in seconds.”
    I gritted my teeth as I half pulled, half dragged him across the lot back to the motel. “I’ll keep it in mind for the future.”
    “There,” he said after a minute.
    I looked forward to see there was a motel door he was pointing at. It was on the side opposite to mine. I figured that there were only a few occupied rooms in the cheap motel and the rooms on either side of my room were currently empty. It was the only explanation for no police banging on the door after Declan had made like a rock star and trashed the place.
    “There’s someone in there?” I asked.
    “A woman. Alone.”
    A chill shot down my spine. “Please don’t kill her, Matthias.”
    “Go back to your room. You don’t need to see this.”
    Before I could say another word, he knocked on the door, much as he’d done to mine earlier. I half hoped she wouldn’t answer it. What sane single woman opened her motel room door in the dead of the night? Then again, this wasn’t exactly a prime location for the sane.
    After a few moments, the door creaked open.
    “What the hell do you want?” the woman said. She was a bleached blonde who’d hit her prime of beauty at least twenty years ago. Her eyes bugged as she took in the terrifying sight in front of her. “Wait a minute—no—”
    She went to slam the door shut, but Matthias blocked it.
    “Look at me,” he said.
    She whimpered with fear, but then looked at him and he captured her immediately in his gaze.
    “I will try to make this as easy as I can on you. Is my influence working?”
    “Yes.” The tremble in her voice had vanished.
    “Matthias—” I began.
    “I said for you to go.” He shot a look at me, and then pushed the woman inside her room, slamming the door behind him.
    He was going to kill her.
    Do as he said and go , I thought.
    But I didn’t do that. I couldn’t. Instead, I moved to the window. The drapes were open a crack. This time I was the Peeping Tom.
    The woman staggered backward, not taking her eyes off Matthias. He looked more demon than angel now. In the light of her room his veins were