Dread Nemesis of Mine by John Corwin Page B

pale
homely face. She wore one of the pink T-shirts with the
fang-pierced heart I'd seen during the attack and a pair of
matching cargo shorts I could just make out with my peripheral
vision.
    Gripping the table to either side of my head,
she leaned into my face, snarling and showing long yellowed fangs.
"Try it again, spawn," she said in a girly voice, "and I'll cut
these off." She reached a hand down to my crotch and gave a painful
squeeze.
    I yelped.
    She smirked. "You don't think Maximus would
put a female down here if she didn't know how to handle herself,
did you?"
    I looked her up and down with my eyes since I
couldn't move my head much. "I don't know, looks like Maximus has
pretty low standards for vampires nowadays. Can't you afford
designer jeans?"
    "We don't need that crap."
    "And what's with these stupid hearts on the
T-shirts? Did I miss Valentine's day?"
    She ran a hand down one of the fangs on the
symbol. "It's the symbol for Blood Rush." She pressed sharp
fingernails into my stomach. "Maybe I'll tattoo it on your
chest."
    I squirmed, trying without success to get her
hands off me.
    She leaned over. Sniffed my neck. Licked it.
"Mmm, so sweet. Too bad you belong to Maximus." She sighed. "Maybe
he'll get me my own spawn soon." She walked away, slamming the door
shut behind her.
    Heartbeat thudding in my ears, I writhed
uselessly against my bonds until my skin was raw. Lifting my head
as far as the neck strap would allow, I looked at my body and
flushed from head to toe. I didn't have on anything except boxers.
A trickle of dried blood had pooled on my chest between my pectoral
muscles. I gagged again, thinking of Maximus's nasty yellow fangs
puncturing my skin.
    "One requires help," said a calm, almost
emotionless voice from somewhere behind me, sounding as though the
owner might be in a far back corner.
    I would have jumped except for the straps
holding me down. "Really, you think so?" I said, unable to keep the
sarcasm down to a dull roar.
    "This entity believes so."
    "This—what? Entity?" I strained my neck but
couldn't twist it far enough to see more than a couple of tables to
either side. Parts of the room were dark, florescent lights
flickering in fitful spurts.
    "Yes," replied the same deadpan voice. "This
one is also an entity."
    My neck felt sore from all the twisting, so I
gave up trying to see whoever was speaking. "Okay, Mr. Entity, can
you get me out of these straps?"
    "This one is unable to do so, other
entity."
    "Call me Justin."
    "This is a designation?"
    "It's a name!" Had Maximus stuck me in here
with a brain-damaged vampire? Or even worse, someone suffering
dementia brought on by the vampling virus? Cold prickles walked
down my spine. "Why are you unable to help me?"
    "Justin, this one is also bound."
    "Why do you keep saying 'this one'? Do you
know how to use pronouns?"
    "Pronouns—yes. There are many words inside.
And some rules for using them."
    "Okay, well rule number one, start using
pronouns. You sound like an imbecile."
    "This one—I will."
    "That wasn't so hard, now was it?"
    "This one does not feel the 'I' inside—in
me."
    My brain struggled to decipher what he'd just
said and gave up. "What are you?"
    "An entity."
    I groaned. "What kind of entity? You
sound male. Are you a vampire?"
    "I do not know. I look like the others."
    "Like Maximus? The tool bag who was in here
talking to me?"
    "Yes," he said in the same unfaltering tone.
"Therefore, I must be a tool bag."
    I would have laughed if not for wanting to
cry even more. Great. Just great! Not only was I trussed up as
Maximus's personal snack pack, but I had the intellectual
equivalent of a lobotomized yak to talk with.
    The willpower to talk abandoned me. I had to
think, dammit. I closed my eyes and saw Maximus's leering face.
When I'd accused him of kidnapping my sister, he'd been completely
surprised. He didn't know a thing about it. Could Daelissa be
behind this trick? Had she somehow faked the entire video? The
memory of