Bloodlust by Helen Harper

gave up. We weren’t fooling anyone, least of all the target of our attention. I leaned over and injected in as much menace as I could muster. “You have some information that I want. And you’re going to fucking give it to me.”
    He looked amused. “Is that so?”
    I didn’t blink.
    The UnSeelie Fae shrugged expansively, then looked down at his expensively draped companions, dismissing them with a wave. All of them quickly stood up and headed for the door, although the shifter gave me a particularly dirty look as she did so.
    “You don’t have many friends, do you, Mack?” commented Tarn, noting her reaction towards me.
    I looked at Solus, then back at Tarn. “Oh, I think I do alright,” I said coolly.
    “Indeed.” He sat back down, stretching his arms out again against the back of the sofa. “Well, then, let’s play.”
    I remained standing, folding my arms. “You know where I might find Endor.”
    “Endor?” he asked innocently.
    “The necromancer. Tell me where he is and I’ll leave you alone.”
    Tarn laughed. “Now why would I want you to do that when we’ve only just met?”
    I snarled. “Where the fuck is he?”
    “Come on, Tarn,” Solus chimed in, “you know you’ve got nothing to lose. Just tell us.”
    “I’ve got nothing to gain either,” replied the UnSeelie Fae, with a mellifluous lilt that did nothing but grate. The frustrations of the day were starting to get to me, and I could feel little starburst explosions of heat zipping up through my chest.
    “You’ll gain your life,” I spat.
    He laughed again. “Take a look around. Do you really think that you’d have gained admittance up here if I wasn’t absolutely sure I could defend myself?”
    I twisted round, clocking the fact that there were now several ogre sized shapes dotted around the open balcony. “Don’t count your chickens that they’ll be enough,” I said, with slightly more confidence than I felt. I could probably take them all. Probably.
    “What? A little were-hamster like you?”
    Solus interrupted. “Fine, Tarn. What do you want in return?”
    “Nothing you can give, Sol,” he answered, his eyes still trained on me.
    I gritted my teeth. “What do you want?”
    A small smile played around his lips. “Well, now that you come to mention it, there is just one little thing…”
    “What?”
    His eyes glittered. “Give me a pint of your blood.”
    Solus exploded. “No way!”
    “Done,” I said.
    “Mack, this is a really bad idea,” Solus began.
    “Too late,” Tarn trilled. He jerked his head over to one of the waiting ogres, who lumbered over with a blood bag and a needle. At my look, the Fae smirked. “Let’s just say I had a funny feeling we might be meeting in person. Although I did enjoy watching you dance.”
    I scowled at him, then sat down on an empty chair and held out my arm.
    “Mack,” Solus said again.
    “We’ve got no choice,” I answered shortly.
    “You can’t do this, dragonlette. You don’t know what he’ll do with your blood. What trouble it might cause.”
    Solus was right. But I was right too. The only thing that mattered was finding Endor. If this was what it was going to take, then so be it. I’d have to worry about the consequences later. Besides, the UnSeelie Fae might be pretty sure he knew my real identity, but I reckoned that he wasn’t aware of the full power that my blood contained. And at least only having one pint would somewhat limit his resources.
    The ogre tied a band around my upper arm, then started flicking at my taut skin to find a vein. Solus rubbed his face and sighed, then sat down next to me for support. Tarn watched as the needle entered, a lewdly lascivious look on his face. I turned away, disgusted, and caught sight of my face in one of the many mirrors. My skin was pale, the purple bruise across my cheek standing out in stark relief. That wasn’t what made me start, however. It was the fact my eyes were glowing from deep within that suddenly