Vampire Affliction by Eva Pohler

head. “What about you? Are you hurt?”
    “I’m fine.” She was exhausted and starving, but nothing felt broken. If she’d been injured in the battle at Keto and Phorcyth’s castle, she had already healed. “I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried they’d killed you.”
    “I was better before you got here.”
    She blanched. “How can you say that to me?”
    “I thought maybe Jeno would protect you, keep you from this place. You here? Not good.”
    “Oh. What is this place?”
    “The Minotaur’s labyrinth.”
    That was good news to her. “Asterion and Ariadne are my friends. Maybe they could…”
    “No. They can’t. Dionysus controls them.”
    “How?”
    “He’s got something over them. I don’t know. All that matters is that we’re at his mercy.”
    “What are they planning to do with us?” she asked.
    He didn’t need to answer. She could read his mind.
    “We’ve got to get out of here.” He pointed to the wooden door. “We’ll have to ambush the next person that comes through. Kill them, if possible. Think you can handle that?”
    She wasn’t sure. “Kill them?”
    “It’s either them or us now, Gertie. Do you get that? It’s them or us.”
    She let that sink in and then nodded. “Okay.” She wasn’t sure if she could really do it, but she wanted to believe she could. “I’ll help you kill the next person who comes through that door.”
    “I think we’ll have a better chance if you bite me.”
    She wrinkled her brow. “Only if the person comes in the next six hours.”
    “What if you keep biting me? Don’t drink, just bite?”
    She licked her lips without thinking.
    He blushed.
    “I’m so sorry.” She turned white. “I’m just so hungry. I’m starving.”
    “Then drink, Gertie. My God, please.” He cupped her face. “Seriously, do it.”
    Her fangs extended of their own accord, and the shock in Hector’s eyes didn’t even deter her as she pressed them into his neck. He stroked her hair as she drew in the warm nourishment. When she had taken a half a pint, she stopped herself.
    Hector held onto her as the dizzy ecstasy took over.
    “Thank you,” she said. “You’re so kind. So selfless. I’m not.”
    When he could speak, he said, “You are. I’ve seen it.”
    “During the fall dance, I was trying to help, trying to figure out what had gotten into Phoebe. She’d stopped signing, you know?”
    He nodded.
    “Then when everything went all crazy, after I got kicked out and you took me in, I tried to go back to erase their minds, hoping for a fresh start.”
    He pushed a strand of her hair out of her face and said, “I know.”
    “That was selfish of me. None of this would be happening right now if…” she dropped off, crossing her arms, her throat too tight with regret to continue. She couldn’t stop the tears from coming. They poured down her cheeks as she cried over what she had done. All of this was her fault.
    Hector put his arms around her and held her close, resting his chin on the top of her head.
    “None of this is your fault,” he whispered. “This was building up long before either of us was born.”
    “Why didn’t I listen to you and stay away from the vampires?”
    “Maybe this is all part of a greater plan.”
    They both sensed a presence at the door and heard a chink of keys in the padlock. Like a gust of wind, they lifted off the ground and flattened their backs against the ceiling of the cave, just above the door. The plan was to spring on whoever opened the door, spring to kill, and then make a run for it. Gertie’s heart hammered in her chest as she tried to get a reading on the person at the door.
    Just as the door cracked open, she sensed who it was.
    Wait! she shouted into Hector’s mind. It’s Phoebe!
    Phoebe lifted her face toward them, her mouth wide open in surprise.
    “Phoebe!” Hector moved to the ground beside her and hugged her. “Are you okay?”
    “It was smart of them to send her,” Gertie said. “Very