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murder.
    Thinking of Wren made her
feel pangs of guilt again; Liz didn’t deserve any of this, she realized.   She and Liz were happy, and when Wren
began making advances toward her, Alex hadn’t taken them seriously.   As exes, the two of them remained close,
and Alex simply wrote off Wren’s advances as her way of dealing with her recent
break up with Sienna. Wren’s behavior since that break up had been
erratic.   Before Sienna left New
Orleans, Wren never really dated fellow dancers.   She’d certainly not taken her act
outside of the club. But after the break up, Wren started sleeping with her
dance partners and bringing them into The Ruby after her shifts for after work
dance parties. The owner of the bar, Sandy, didn’t raise a fuss because their
antics brought in new customers and helped ensure some of the regular patrons
stuck around later, spending more money on drinks as they waited for Wren and
her partner to show up and put on a free show.
    As she thought back to
Wren’s behavior, Alex realized that her response to Wren had changed during
that time, too. Not only did she find the show Wren put on tantalizing, but she
also realized that she hadn’t even suggested to Wren that she stop it. Wren had
picked up on Alex’s rekindled lust for her, and she’d made advances.   Alex didn’t more forcefully reject Wren,
she now realized, because she wanted Wren to want her again. More importantly,
she’d stopped thinking about how her actions would hurt Liz.
    She crawled into bed and
threw the covers over her head. It was too overwhelming to her to figure out
now; she couldn’t tell whether she truly had wanted Wren’s attention or if she
was drawn to her because of some vampiric mesmerism.    Either way, she’d failed Liz and
now she would probably never get a chance to apologize.

Chapter
Six

 
    “It’s important that you
feed regularly, even if it is just a little at a time.”   Lucy was in the carriage house, rolling
up her sleeve and readying to make the cut.
    The initial shock and the
compliance that came with it were starting to wear off for Alex.   “Does it really have to be such a
physical thing, Lucy?   Can’t you
just bring me raw meat or something? Maybe knock over a blood bank?” She was
only partially joking.
    Lucy shook her head. “It’s
important for now that you get good quality human blood.   The part about Renfield going bonkers
from eating spiders and mice is real. Especially now that you are only newly
turned and because you are getting so little at each feeding, it would be too
risky for you to feed on blood from a dead animal or that has been stored.”
    Lucy offered her wrist, and
for the first time since she woke, Alex resisted.   “If we keep the hunger at bay, you won’t
get desperate.   Trust me, it’s
fortunate I found you so soon after you were turned. Had you woken up
unattended and starving, you would have killed someone.”
    Alex shook her head. “I’m
not a killer.”
    Lucy chuckled a little.
“Let’s keep it that way. Despite what you believe, your survival instinct is
stronger than your rationality. Why do you think you fed in the morgue in the
first place?”
    Alex thought back to that
moment and realized that Lucy was right. Her reptile brain kicked in; she
didn’t questioned what she was doing or why. She’d had no choice but to feed.
    “Wren wasn’t a killer
either, until she was turned and left untrained.   I’ve been careful with you, Alex, to
ensure that you learn the safest way to feed so that no one is harmed.   Olivia likely wanted Wren to always be
on the edge of satiety.   It’s easier
to control her that way.”
    The cut on Lucy’s arm was
disappearing, and before it closed completely, Alex sighed and pressed her lips
there and fed.
    Lucy left Alex a copy of the Times Picayune and went back to her
own kitchen.   She wasn’t surprised a
few minutes later when Alex walked in the kitchen door, unannounced and