Blood of the Dead

By Cassie Alexander

Everything’s been upside down since I helped Maya and the Faithful with the Rojo clan: Luna said no when I offered to turn her as per our arrangement, a sentiment I agree with but don’t understand—and Sam, my “favorite” Faithful, is telling me , an unholy being, to stay “topped up.” And if there’s a hell for vampires, I’m living in it: Paco hasn’t come back since I turned him, and I need to break up with an all-too-human Zach for his own well-being. When Luna’s kidnapped by a cult attempting to summon the Sleeper, I have absolute proof that it’s safer for everyone for me to be alone—but I’m going to need Paco’s help to find her, because he’s the only one who knows what her blood tastes like. Will Paco forgive me for making him what I am, and will I get another chance to change Luna before she becomes a human sacrifice?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Publishing
• Release date: Jun 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9781094460536

Cassie Alexander

Cassie Alexander is a registered nurse and author. As Cassandra, she's written the Year of the Nurse: A Covid-19 Pandemic Memoir. As Cassie, she's written numerous paranormal romances, sometimes under the name Cassie Lockharte with a friend. She lives in the Bay Area with one husband, two cats, and one million succulents.

Book preview

1

LUNA

When I woke, it felt like I was wrapped in the dead-weight of a sleeping lover’s arms . . . but as I reached out and moved the top of the box I was lying in, I realized the truth.

I was in Jack’s coffin with him.

Dead, yes.

Lover, no.

I blinked. The room was dark, and the last thing I remembered was fighting in one of the backrooms at Vermillion with some other woman and the feel of a chain around my neck. I got out of the box and felt for the bruises that I knew I should have, if not from her, then on the top of my breast, where Jack’s newly changed boyfriend Paco had needed to feed—but I didn’t feel anything.

I got out of the coffin quickly and looked down at myself.

What time was it?

What day was it?

Was I still . . . me?

Or had Jack granted me my wish to be changed into a vampire at long last?

I stumbled down the hall, half-running for the bathroom, catching myself in front of the sink. I was in one of Jack’s T-shirts, and his boxers too; both were baggy on me, but—I looked better, in the mirror. My hair was a mess, and my make-up hadn’t all come off yet—I used eyeliner just this side of super-glue—but!—the bruises were almost gone!

Was I dead . . . alive?

I scanned inside myself, searching for new strength, and then opened my mouth as wide as I could, looking for new teeth.

I made superhero poses, designed to elicit any powers I might have, and when that didn’t work I ran for Jack’s apartment’s door.

I almost, almost, flung it open like a normal person.

Like a human who wasn’t scared of the day.

But how ironic would it be if I got turned the way I’d always wanted, and then managed to fry myself in the setting sun’s rays?

I carefully cracked it a few inches, looked out, and found it was night.

Just like I knew it would be. That was why I was awake!

I was free!

Luna? I heard Jack ask from the darkness of his bedroom.

I raced back into it with a squeal. Thank you! I shrieked, standing beside his bed.

Jack groaned. Don’t thank me.

Jack, no, you have no idea what this means to me, I went on, beaming at him even though he couldn’t see it. If Jack had turned me, then I no longer had to serve the strange Master who’d given me the nightblade—and I no longer had to worry about when I was going to die.

I wouldn’t be like my mom, or my mom’s mom before her. The Huntingtons wouldn’t get me. I would be healthy for the rest of my long non-life. Thank you! I sobbed.

Don’t thank me, Luna. Literally, he said, swinging himself up.

I reached for the light switch on the wall, flipped it, and the look he gave me then shattered all of my hopes and dreams like a glass vase dropped from a great height. Oh.

Yeah, he agreed.

I frowned. I couldn’t imagine a world in which Jack went back on his word. And—I knew I’d lost so much blood feeding Paco—I was sure I’d been at death’s door.

It’s been a week. I’ve been taking care of you. He pulled himself out of his coffin, wearing an outfit that matched mine almost exactly, except his fit, and he started searching for jeans on his bedroom floor.

A week explained why the bruises were almost gone. But . . . I was passed out? That whole time?

Not all of it. I whammied you some, and for that, I’m sorry, he said, as he buttoned up his pants. I fed you and cleaned you, but you needed rest more than you needed anything else.

Oh, I said again, even more quietly.

Do you feel better now? he asked solicitously.

I held myself and bit my lips to stop from crying. I didn’t want to show any more weakness to him than I already had. Not really.

2

JACK

Iwatched disappointment strobe across Luna’s delicately boned face, then she stormed off and I heard her start a shower.

I made my way to my apartment’s kitchen, fed my cat Sugar, and pulled out the few food items I had that a human could eat.

I’d been so close to giving Luna my blood after the affair at Vermillion. Once she was safely back on my couch, I realized just how much blood Paco had drained from her—and how brave she’d been in letting him, knowing full well just how dangerous a vampire’s first taste of blood could be.

But she’d been too weak to give me permission when I asked, and she wasn’t quite on death’s door. She’d been pale and weak, but I’d known by the strength of her heartbeat that she’d survive, and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it until I heard her tell me that she wanted it one more time.

Because I hadn’t given Paco a choice—I’d changed him in desperation before he’d died, and I didn’t know if that was a good thing yet.

I thought it was, given the alternative . . . but now that it’d been almost a week, and he hadn’t reached out to me, I didn’t know. He hadn’t called, or texted, or dropped by, not at my apartment, and not at Dark Ink.

The only thing I was sure of was that he was alive.

As his creator, it felt to me like we were connected by this thin silver strand, a magical manifestation of my concern. On my side, it felt like it was a thread lost in a maze for a minotaur. I didn’t know where it ended; I only knew that it had one. Whereas on his side, I knew if he felt it, and if it felt to him like mine had from Rosalie, my maker, to me . . . it was more like a leash.

Which was why even though I knew I could figure out exactly where he was, at all times, I couldn’t use my powers over him to track him down.

Even if it meant he never came back to me.

He had to trust in me, that I wasn’t that kind of . . . owner was the wrong word for it. I loathed the word master, boss didn’t make any sense, and I didn’t want to be any of those things besides.

I just wanted what we’d always had. Him and me.

Together, for as long as he would have me.

Caring for a broken Luna had given me something to do other rather than think about having possibly lost Paco.

The shower cut off, I heard the hair dryer running, and by the time Luna had made herself presentable in her own clothing, some short skirt and slouchy gray goth-girl-number top, I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich waiting for her, alongside a small cup of all the vitamins I could think a human might need when they had to replenish half their blood supply quickly, which I’d overnighted from the internet.

When she came out, I offered both to her.

You kept me alive with this? she asked, holding up a diagonally cut wedge of sandwich.

And these. I shook the cup of pills.

She looked between them and me. You know what works better than vitamins, Jack?

I’d had no illusions about what her mood would be when she finally healed up. I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.

Vampire blood! Her hands went into fists at her side. What would you have done if I had died? Would you have granted me the same gift you gave Paco?

Yes, I said firmly. If Paco had killed her, my conscience wouldn’t have given me a choice. "But you didn’t die—and I told you if we survived, we would talk like equals. So now that you’re awake, we are." I reached over to nudge one of the chairs in my small dining room out, and she slumped into it like a petulant child.

I took a seat across from her, bringing both the sandwich and the pills, pushing them across the table to her.

Don’t you want to be older first, Luna? Live a little longer? Or get a goddamned tan?

She frowned at the sandwich, as if to eat it might be akin to admitting she was mortal, but then she broke down and took a bite. No. I don’t, she said around a mouthful.

You don’t realize what you’re asking for.

Luna glared at me. Don’t project your bullshit relationship problems on me, Jack. Unlike Paco, I know exactly what I’m getting into. I’m a hundred percent prepared, and what’s more—you swore you would do it.

She wasn’t lying. She’d worked for Rosalie for years—she probably knew more about being a vampire than I did.

And she wasn’t wrong. I did owe her. I’d practically promised her this, if she helped Paco, which she had.

I just wanted to hear it all the way from her lips first.

I didn’t want to turn someone who didn’t want to be turned.

Not again.

You truly want this? I asked her.

She set the crust of her sandwich down and pushed the plate aside, sensing my sincerity. More than anything, Jack. Believe me.

I rocked back in my chair, remembering what it’d been like when I’d been turned, and the problems that’d ensued right after—I’d been trapped in Vegas, without money or ID. Did you want a final meal first? Any last thing you want to go see in daylight? Go home to your folks and say goodbye or anything?

Her mouth opened, her chest heaved, and her eyes suddenly went wide.

Luna? If she was having a heart attack in front of me, I was going to feel like an asshole for not granting her request earlier.

Her hands fluttered, as did her eyelids. No—just—yes—I can’t believe it, she said, confused words tumbling out of her mouth. She didn’t seem like herself. Maybe—just—a few more days? she squeaked.

I frowned. What changed?

She gathered herself quickly. You did! She said it like it was a complaint. I mean you—you mean it now!

I nodded. Yeah. I squinted at her, trying to read her, but she looked away.

It’s just . . . I thought I was ready, but I’m not, she blurted out.

What precisely had changed between the pre-sandwich Luna and post-sandwich Luna I was facing? All right, I said slowly. Well, the offer stands. You just let me know when you’re ready for me to take you up on it, okay?

She started nodding and didn’t stop. That sounds perfect. She stood and picked up the cup of vitamins, downing the chalky pills dry. We going into Dark Ink tonight?

It’s my night off.

You take nights off? she said, her voice going high in disbelief.

Sometimes. I watched her carefully. She was still flustered. I was watching the surface part of her, reading all the things that made her still human, whereas my hunger was reacting to the nervous way she breathed.

It wanted her to run, and it wanted me to chase her. I yanked it back.

Okay, well, she went on, I bet there’s tons of things I need to do there, to get caught up, especially if it’s been awhile. She composed herself quickly and pushed her chair in. I don’t suppose someone brought my car back from Vermillion?

I jerked my chin towards the kitchen’s counter, where her keys sat beside my own. Maya said it was scaring off clientele.

Luna snorted, shaking herself, seeming to finally come back into her body. I’ll just go by the shop then. See what I’ve missed and get caught up on mail and payroll. She darted down beside the couch and picked up her small backpack from where she’d left it days ago. I’ll be back later. Don’t stay up.

I felt my eyebrows crawl up my forehead as I watched her leave. I won’t.

3

LUNA

Istumbled out of Jack’s apartment, weak—now that I wasn’t operating on adrenaline, my body still felt a quart low.

And Jack . . . Jack, Jack, Jack . . . he really had been ready to turn me, right then, when he asked.

Except that my current Master wouldn’t let me say yes.

I looked around the outdoor corridor, wondering where he was hiding—and how come he’d been able to be inside Jack’s apartment with me, and Jack not know.

I held the keys to my little Fiat with a shaking hand and walked down the hall, hitting the button on my key fob, listening for its beep, craning my head back and forth across the parking lot—when one of my shadows peeled off the wall to come stand beside me.

Only years of serving Rosalie stopped me from screaming in surprise. She’d trained me well; no good ever came of giving your location away.

The shadow moved to stand in front of me, a me-shaped spot of liquid darkness with blurry edges. Master, I was so close, I hissed. I thought you wanted him to owe me?

And now he does, the shadow-puppet shaped like me informed me in my mind.

I rocked back on my heels, remembering the moment. I’d been about to tell Jack Yes! and mean it, from the bottom of my soul, when I’d felt my Master’s touch beneath the table, his cold hands wrapping around my calves then moving up my thighs, threatening to go higher. The chill had snatched my words away, and I knew there was only one possible reason that he was there, right at that moment.

To stop me.

I’d still wanted to yell it, and then throw myself into Jack’s arms and wait for his bite . . . but if my true Master, the one who had sent me to serve Jack, was there, it would have displeased him.

He wouldn’t have interrupted, otherwise.

And I was scared of him enough as it was. I didn’t want him to be unhappy with me.

If he makes you, the shadow went on, its words reverberating in my head with magic, then you’re nothing to him again.

That’s not true, I whispered. Jack’s not like that.

As a human you’re more frail, he continued, like he hadn’t heard me. It makes him feel the need to care for you. The shadow stepped closer, and a ghostly hand pushed my hair back. I shivered in a combination of horror and desire. I was scared of the power this Master held, but I also wanted to be just like it, so badly. I’d spent so much of my life afraid of truly dying—I never wanted to hurt or fear again. I watched him, as you healed.

I don’t understand, I confessed.

Cold lips leaned in to kiss at my neck. Your understanding is irrelevant. Stay with him, now that he’ll keep you—and stay human, or else. The shadow took a salacious lick up to my ear and then disappeared.

Or else what? I wanted to ask, but I already knew the answer.

Or else I wouldn’t actually get to live as a vampire for very long.

4

JACK

Igave Luna a five-minute lead and then headed out myself.

The real reason I was off from Dark Ink tonight was because I’d promised Fran I’d put in some time at her place. She was an old friend, a pro-domme with a very nice dungeon in a nondescript office park, and she’d done me a huge favor recently, so tonight was payback.

It was good timing—I needed to feed, and sex at Fran’s was pretty much guaranteed.

And more than that . . . I needed distraction. Now that Luna didn’t need me, there was nothing to stop me from thinking about Paco.

Where he was.

What he was doing.

If he needed my help.

If he hated me now—and if I was ever going to see him again.

Yeah.

I did not need to be left alone with my own thoughts tonight.

I got into Betty, my 1963 Lincoln Continental, and turned the key.

Fran opened the door to her dungeon herself, surprising me. She was wearing a curly black wig, and was dressed in a black velvet sheath dress, with opera-length gloves and high heels to match. Jack! she said, and threw herself at me. I saw your car on the cameras!

I caught her and lightly spun us both. To what do I owe the pleasure? I asked, after setting her carefully back upright.

She thwapped my shoulder with an open palm. For being alive! she said, staring me down. Did it even occur to you to check in with me? After everything that happened?

I winced. If I’m not technically alive, does it count? I asked her quietly, where no one else could hear.

She blew air through her ruby red lips and rolled her eyes. You forgot about me.

I didn’t, Fran. I just got busy, I apologized. The last time I’d been here was when I’d needed Fran to hide me when I was dead during the day, and also hide my old boss’s young son from a werewolf army. Shit got really real after you saw me last, I said. This is honestly the first night off I’ve had. And I’m spending it with you.

Oh? And not just because you’re hoping for blood? She produced her phone from somewhere on her body and shook it at me.

I suddenly remembered texting her over a week ago, after Paco had turned, when I was hoping to line up some sex or blood for him when he woke. Yeah, about that . . . it wasn’t for me. One of her eyebrows arched as I went on. It was for Paco.

Oh, she breathed, but she didn’t have to say anything else.

Yeah, I agreed. Things were a bit of a mess. And they haven’t really gotten better. Except that Rosalie’s gone now, so there’s that. I raked a hand through my hair. I’d hoped not having a Mistress looming over me anymore would’ve solved more of my problems, but it hadn’t yet.

Oof, Jack. That’s a lot.

It is, I said with a nod. But that’s not why I’m here, although we can catch up later. It’s just that it’ll be easier on me if we get this out of the way first. I gestured at the back of the building. "Whatever this is gonna be."

Fran took a moment to consider me. Are you sure you want to do this? I can take the hit, we can reschedule.

Did I want to sleep with endless strangers to keep my hunger at bay? Not all the time, no.

But did I have a choice in the matter?

Also no.

And I knew from experience it was better to keep up on things, to have sex when I had the chance and opportunity, rather than roam through a