Twice Dead by Kalayna Price Page A

Nathanial’s gentle chiding in my head. Not him broadcasting directly in my brain like Tatius, obviously, but it sounded like something he’d say.
    I forced my legs to lift, my knees to bend. My chin hit my chest in mid-motion, but I lifted it again. I really did have to find somewhere to sleep soon because sleep was unavoidable.
    Every heartbeat was slower, dawn imminent. I dragged my feet, stumbling.
    I needed to close my eyes.
    The suite had only three rooms: the sitting chamber where I currently paced, a bedroom, and a bathroom full of every color of hair dye on the market—the vampire should have owned stock in a hair-color company, or maybe he did. No second bedroom was present, and certainly no second bed.
    I’d agreed to be Tatius’s companion, not his whore.
    Shuffling to the furthest corner of the sitting room, I sank against the wall and slid down. I wasn’t going to his bed, but I had to sleep.
    Drawing my knees to my chest, I closed my eyes and surrendered to oblivion.

Chapter Nine
    Something blocked my vision.
    I blinked, my eyelashes brushing against something solid, yellow, and covering my face.
    What the hell? I reached up, jerking at the thing over my eyes. It crinkled in my grasp. Paper?
    I pulled the thin sheet of paper, my eyes misting at the sharp sting as the tape securing the paper to my forehead ripped free. I sat up, silky crimson sheets falling around me.
    Where am I?
    I glanced at the note and its large, flowing script.
    “We sleep in the bed. Not on the floor.”
    Oh crap. I was in Tatius’s bed.
    I scrambled from the mattress, nearly tripping as I tried to kick free of the sheets. My feet hit the plush carpet, and I took inventory. I was barefoot, but still dressed in my jeans and sweater, so while he’d moved me out of the sitting room and into his bed, he hadn’t undressed me. Well, except for my coat. I glanced around but didn’t see the familiar gray material. I also didn’t see Tatius.
    Thank the moon.
    Clothes had been laid out in a chair by the bed, another yellow note taped to the stack. I crept over, recognizing the flowing script as the same as had been taped to my forehead.
    “Get dressed. Sam will assist you.”
    Great.
    I looked over the clothing. There was a short—a very, very short—black dress made out of a shiny black vinyl, a stringy corset that looked like a torture device, fishnets, and black boots made out of the same material as the dress. Yeah, I think not. I dropped the ‘clothes’ back on the chair. There had to be something else to wear in the place.
    I headed for the door, but the knob turned under my fingers. I jumped back as the door opened. A tall woman with straight, black hair and a tight, red dress that showed more than it concealed stepped into the room.
    “Good, you’re awake,” she said, smiling at me. “Now let’s get you dressed, deary, so I can do your hair and get you to the council room.”
    “Samantha?” I asked, remembering the name on Tatius’s note. The woman who’d brought me to Tatius’s room last night had also been a Samantha, but this wasn’t the same woman. Hell, if this was another Samantha, she was the third vampire by that name I’d met in Haven.
    Her smile slipped an inch, and she tapped a finger against her cheek, her black polished nail pressing against a small red birthmark. “That’s right,” she said. “You’re new. You wouldn’t know. Well, let’s get this over with.”
    She strolled further in the room. Turning, she gave me a wink. “Ready?”
    Ready for what? I didn’t have time to ask.
    Her appearance rippled, and like one image unfolding to reveal another, changed. Her long dark hair flowed into blond, her makeup brightened, and her body rounded out to voluptuous curves. Even her dress changed from a revealing red to clinging silver sequins. The only thing that didn’t change was the small red birthmark on her cheek.
    “More familiar now?” she asked, twirling and making the edge of her