Blood Stain: Book Three of the Blood Type Series (complete)

Straight Talk

"He's cute," Hannah remarked, making a slow circle around my ex-boyfriend. Her eyes homed in on Zach's backside as though evaluating exactly where she wanted to take a bite. "I can definitely see the appeal."

A slow rage burned in the pit of my stomach. "He's unavailable."

"Calm down, Blake. I didn't say I want to date him." Hannah traced a finger down the hill of Zach's biceps, raising goosebumps in its wake. She looked at me then, one brow raised. "Why do you care anyway? You're with John now."

Ignoring the vampire, I instead turned to John. "Can you fix him?"

"What was Margaret doing with him?" he said.

"I don't know. Doing what Margaret does best, which is toy with people. She used him to get to me."

"Why?"

"Because she thought I could tell her where Ian is. She said Mr. Abernathy has a job for him. She said she scoured the town looking for him but couldn't find him."

"What did you tell her?"

"There wasn't anything I could tell her. Like you, I have no idea where your delinquent sire disappeared to. I said her father would have to find someone else for the job, and that was that. Now, will you finally help Zach, or do I have to beg?"

John, who appeared to be enjoying Zach's mental incapacitation just a little too much, said no more about Ian. "You try first."

"I already tried," I said. "It didn't work. I couldn't . . . uncompel him."

"Maybe the problem is your pessimistic attitude," Hannah remarked.

I rounded on her. "I'm not being pessimistic. I'm being honest about my own limitations. Do you think I would have brought Zach here if I could have helped him myself? What will happen when he comes to? He's going to have a ton of questions about how he got here and what we're doing and—" I swirled my finger in Hannah's direction, indicating her tight, low-cut sweater and equally tight jeans. "Who the heck you are."

"Don't worry about that," John said with a casual shrug of his shoulders. I wasn't sure whether he meant the way Hannah was dressed, or the questions Zach was guaranteed to have. "After we undo Margaret's compulsion, we'll compel him to forget the entire incident."

I ran my hands through my hair, tugging at the ends in frustration. "There seems to be a lot of compelling going on. I don't like the idea of messing with a person's mind, especially someone I care about. Why couldn't I have gotten a different power, like the ability to fly or . . . or evaporate into mist?"

"Please," Hannah answered, wrapping her arm around Zach's waist and snuggling against him. He stood immobile, oblivious to our arguing, as well as the very attractive vampire hanging off his side. "Those are make-believe powers. Being able to compel humans and other vampires is a rare talent. Not many of us have that gift, so show a little gratitude in your superiority."

"You sound like Margaret," I said. Hannah responded with a slight smile, continuing to trail her fingers up and down Zach's arm.

"What good is my talent if I can't figure out how to use it?" I complained. "The only vampires I will probably be able to compel anyway are those who are younger and weaker than I am. In case you didn't notice, there aren't exactly a lot of new vampires walking around town. I can't even compel Olivia!"

"It's not impossible to manipulate those who are older and stronger than you in your inexperienced state," Hannah informed me. "Just highly unlikely."

"Whatever."

Untangling herself from Zach's side, Hannah jabbed a finger in my chest. "You know what, Blake? You're coming very close to sounding like a whiner. And I hate whiners."