Reign of the Vampires Read Online Free Page B

to her, she’d be able to feed till her strength returned. Danika just hoped she’d find a human who would be up to the task.
    She walked to her adjoining bathroom to stare into the mirror. Her reflection was fading. Another sign that she hadn’t fed enough. Her skin appeared thinner than it should’ve, and her eyes were sunken in. Turning her head, she checked her hair, which she’d pinned up in a chignon before coming to work. Her fitted, black jacket sucked her in and pushed her out in all the right places. Straightening her pencil skirt, Danika picked off a stray red hair and put it in the trash. Lastly she grabbed up a tube of clear lip gloss, dabbed it on her ever-full red lips, and then swept a new coat of black mascara over her long dark lashes. She powdered her nose and spritzed herself with perfume. It was no good. Any Vampire with half a brain would notice she was starving. It didn’t matter; it would add to her control freak, Ice Queen, appearance.
    Danika crossed to her modern wooden desk, grabbed her one remaining Versace purse from the top drawer, and slipped her cell phone into it.
    She ran her fingers over the soft leather. So many of the finer things had been destroyed during the outbreak. Companies had gone under left and right with their CEOs dying off. It’d been utter chaos for years. The Vampires had hoarded their favorite things. Designer clothes and purses, shoes and watches, wines, artwork, anything they could get their hands on. Some of the companies had come back from the brink under the Vampire’s reconstruction plan. But many had not, especially within the realm of the arts.
    Swinging open the frosted glass door to the outer office, Danika moved her gaze over the desk right outside. It stood in perfect limbo, as if waiting for Xenock to return from the bathroom. Absently, her hand moved to her neck where the marks from his almost-fatal bite no longer sat.
    A wave washed over her and conflict gnawed at her once more about getting a new slave. It was as if she were ordering Xenock’s execution all over again.
    The ergonomic chair was cold beneath her touch.
    She turned away. She’d done what she had to, to save her life, she told herself for the millionth time. Using him for comfort had been wrong. But she’d had no idea he was going to take it as a personal rejection when she ended it. Within a year, he’d succumbed to Rogue Syndrome. She’d just begun to try and figure out where to send him for a detox, when everything had gone wrong.
    This is why she was not getting a minion. She was buying a slave. She couldn’t afford another disaster like that. This time she would make the right choice.
    * * * *
    “Do you think it’s even possible to help him, Doc?” Danika asked.
    “Depends how far gone he is.”
    “Make the arrangements and I’ll find Xenock. In his state, he won’t go quietly.”
    “I’ll get Siad and a couple others to help.”
    “Give me about an hour.”
    “Certainly, Lord Danika.” Doc turned and walked out her bedroom door.
    This was going to work. It had to. She wouldn’t let Xenock go crazy from the thirst.
    She called down to have a car brought around, and then went to the closet. Her hands shook as she removed the long black cardigan from its hanger. This was her fault. She never should have started sleeping with him.
    She walked to her nightstand to grab her purse. When she turned, Xenock stood at the foot of her bed. Danika froze at the sight of him.
    “Xenock, where have you been?”
    “Out.”
    “Yes, but you’ve been gone for days. I was coming to find you.”
    “Were you really, Kitten? Did you worry about me?”
    His eyes gleamed red and wild. Full of an anger and pain.
    “Of course I was worried about you. You’re my friend.”
    “Friend,” he mused. He began pacing.
    Her hand rested on the drawer of her nightstand. She watched every movement he made. She slid the drawer open and put her hand inside. Xenock stopped moving. He scanned her