Take Me Once, I'll Bleed You Twice novel Chapter 38

“All full and ready to go?” She asked, then paused. The vampire had removed the rags he’d been wearing and put on Tweedledick’s pants They didn’t remotely fit, but he’d made a sort of belt out of the rags so they stayed in place.

Now that he was shirtless, Beatrice was surprised to find he didn’t look as emaciated as she’d thought. His ribs were showing but not near as much as she’d been expecting. Even his arms and hands looked less skeletal, his neck less apt to break, and cheeks not quite as hollow.

Did vampires just bounce back fast or did it have to do with the type of blood he drank? Was Lora the reason he only looked mostly starved? Or had he found something – someone better during the fifteen minutes he’d been gone?

Riaghaire moved towards her and made as if to throw her over his shoulder a second time, but she took a quick step back while raising her hands. He froze.

“Uhm, could I ride piggy back, instead of over your shoulder?” She hesitantly asked, not wanting to explain how uncomfortable she’d

during their escape.

He turned around without a word, lowering himself so she could more easily climb onto his back.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Beatrice climbed on.

His skin was so cold. How could he stand it? She wrapped her arms around his neck, keeping them loose so he wouldn’t think she was trying to strangle him. It was to prevent her from fall off, of course, not because she thought he might not like being cold, or wanting to share a bit of her body heat to alleviate said cold. Not at all. It was the least she could do though, since he’d basically saved her from being chained to Hendricks for the rest of her life. God, did she ever owe him big time.

As Riaghaire ran, she told him where to go, sometimes needing him to slow down so she could see street signs when they made it back to civilization civilization being a medium sized town on the outskirts of the city.

–

The sky had brightened a fair bit by the time Beatrice slid off the vampire’s back and walked up to the door of a modest two story home Crouching down, she wiggled one of the porch boards near the entrance until it came loose, revealing a key. With it, she was able to unlock the door before putting it back in its hiding spot.

While she did this, Riaghaire stood back, silently watching. She wondered what he thought of all this. “Come on in, before the sun comes up,” she told him, motioning that he enter first.

“Very well,” he nodded, doing as requested without a fight.

Inside looked like a show home. Everything was in its place

Immaculate and impersonal Riaghate looked around curiously as Beatrice

walked by without a second glance at her surroundings “First things first,” she began, turning to face the vampire, hands on her hips. “You need to get cleaned up.”

He stared at her and blinked once, slowly. “Cleaned up?”

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18:53 Tue, Jun 16

Chapter 38

“Yeah. I’m guessing the last time you bathed was more than eighty years ago. It will do you-” she was cut off when the ringing of a phone started up. Beatrice let out a sigh. “Just a second…”

She walked further down the hall and into the kitchen, where she stared at the cordless phone on its dock, wondering why on earth the thing still existed. The caller ID showed a number she recognized. Taking a calming breath, she hit the dock’s speaker button. “Hey,

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