Oliver's Hunger (Scanguards Vampires #7) Read Online Free

leech succumb in the same way.
    But it had to happen fast. Dirk wouldn’t stay away forever, and whatever was going on in the red room would eventually be resolved. Then he’d return, and her chance of escape would vanish in a flash.
    In an effort to urge the vampire on to take more of her blood, she pressed her pelvis against him and clamped her hand over his ass, squeezing hard. She knew enough about vampires by now to know that their sexual drive was intimately connected to their drive to feed. The more she turned him on, the harder he would suck on her vein, the more blood he’d take. And the more she could drug him.
    Why her blood and that of the other girls did that to them, she didn’t know. And at this moment, she didn’t care. All she cared about right now was how fast she could drug him.
    “That’s good, more!” she encouraged him and heard him groan in response.
    His hand came up as if he wanted to stroke her face, but it fell limply onto the sofa cushion instead.
    Another scream from down the hall sent a shock through her body. Then she heard footsteps in the corridor. No!
    Please let it not be Dirk!
    She held her breath, but to her relief the footsteps went past the room and grew fainter again. It was now or never. Once another guard was helping in the red room, Dirk wouldn’t be needed any longer and would return.
    Suddenly, she felt the vampire go slack. As carefully as she could, she took hold of his head and eased it away from her, careful not to be injured by his fangs. But she wouldn’t have had to worry: his fangs had already retracted. However, he’d passed out before he could lick her wound, which continued to bleed. Had he licked it, his saliva would have sealed it, stopping the bleeding.
    Using all her remaining strength—and it wasn’t much since she could already feel the effects of the blood loss—she rolled him to the side so she could slide out from underneath him. Breathing hard, she sat up, but she had no time to catch her breath. Dirk would be here any second.
    Getting up, her knees nearly buckled, but with sheer willpower, she soldiered on, one hand pressed against the bleeding incisions of the vampire’s fangs, the other stretched out in front of her to lend her more balance. Knowing that there was no escape through the two windows, because she would break her neck jumping from the fourth floor, she stumbled to the door and yanked it open.
    The hallway was empty. Closing the door behind her, she ran back the way she’d walked earlier. There was only one way out from this floor, because she would never make it through the lower floors, which seemed to contain the reception area as well as living quarters for the vampires who ran this operation.
    There was a fire escape. She’d noticed it one night when one of the vampires had opened the blackened window at the end of the corridor where it made a bend to the right. It was her only chance.
    She ran for it, stumbling several times until she reached it. Frantically, she tried to push the lower portion of the old sash window up, but it didn’t move. Panic surged through her. Had they nailed it shut? She jerked on it again, this time more violently. Her breath deserted her and she dropped her head.
    Why? Why? she cursed inwardly and slammed her small fist against the frame.
    Then her eyes fell on the metal mechanism on top of the frame. The window was latched. It was one of those old latches from decades ago that simply held the window shut with a small lever one pushed from one side to the other; no key was needed.
    Throwing a look over her shoulder, she quickly unlatched the window, then pushed it up. Cool night air drifted into the sticky corridor, making her shiver instantly. Her gaze fell onto the metal platform that was built outside the small window. The fire escape hung from it.
    With haste, she squeezed through the open window and set her feet onto the platform, testing whether it would hold her. It bent under her weight,