vampireinthebasement by Crymsyn Hart Page A

you need to keep her safe and away from Balthus . He’s looking for her. He’s gone to his Grigori master for assistance.”
    “How do you know that?” Tris asked.
    “We have a man on the inside. He’s leaked what information he can.” Lori stood up and shrugged off his coat.
    Underneath it, Tris saw the holes in his shirt and the small butterfly tattoos that started on his wrist and eventually went up his arm. He thought about the two he had and wondered if he would ever get more. They were signs of power and loyalty or rank in the Fallen. He shivered when he thought about it and was going to ask him who the undercover man was inside of the Grigoris ’ household but heard Horatio pounding back up the stairs. When he came back up, he was paler than the towel he wore around his waist.
    “Tris. Lori. Come quick.”
    Tris rose from the chair and bolted down the stairs with Lori right behind him. Horatio ran before him, so he followed around the treadmills and to the cot in the corner where Daniella had been sleeping. Instead of her lively self, her skin was ashen. Tris sat on the edge of the cot and touched her face. She moaned something and half opened her eyes.
    “Was she like this earlier?” Horatio asked.
    Tris shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t checked on her since last night. She seemed fine then. Maybe a little quiet.” The books she had been reading were in a neat pile by one end of the cot. Daniella wore a black pair of jeans that hugged her curves and a black T-shirt that was too big for her. She rested on a blanket that he knew was Horatio’s. “Have you been down here talking to her?”
    Horatio glared at him. “Yes. She needs to know someone cares about her when you certainly aren’t showing her any hospitality. Daniella is quite intelligent and pleasing if you were to get to know her. Besides, she’s an irresistible little thing. Too bad you don’t see it. Are you going to help her or not?”
    Lori knelt down next to her. He touched her face and glanced at Tris. “Have you fed her?”
    Tris scoffed. “Why would I feed her? She hasn’t asked me for blood. I’m not going to sacrifice some innocent human to feed that cre ....” He bit his lip when he caught Lori’s disparaging look. “She never told me that she was in dire need. How was I supposed to know?”
    Lori stood up. “We hunt vampires. That’s what our little squad does. We know everything there is to know about them. You should have seen the signs in her.”
    He chuckled. “That might be true about other vampires, but isn’t she special? That’s what you keep telling me and that I don’t see it. Right?”
    Horatio glanced at Lori. “That isn’t relevant right now. You need to get her fed. And maybe you don’t see it because you’re so hell-bent on hating her. I’d assume by now you would’ve figured she’s not a normal vampire.”
    “Normal or not, what do you want me to do? I’m not going to sacrifice a human for her, and we don’t have any rats in the house to feed her.”
    “Then you feed her yourself. Joe put you in charge of her to make sure she was safe. Do you want me to go back to him and tell him that she died because you were being an ass? Come on, Horatio. Tris needs his privacy to get over his bias for Daniella. Don’t make me go back to Joe.”
    Lori and Horatio walked back up the stairs, leaving him alone with Daniella. He swore under his breath and stared at the woman before him. He felt her skin once more. It was cold and dry, as though she was turning into a mummy. Young vampires did not do that if they were starving. Their bodies shut down. When they died, they began to resemble the true age of what they were. But she was not an ordinary vampire. Tris watched her motionless form and noticed the curve of her lips and the swells of her breasts. Daniella’s dark curls framed her round face, and her mouth was enticing. He remembered back to his dream, how her mouth had encompassed his cock. Tris