“Who. Hit. You?”

“Shanks moaned, stirring. “You broke my nuts”So that was what my elbow had hit. “Sorry.” My voice cracked.”

“…The first wave of vampires hit the stairs then, a cascade of tip-tapping feet and dark-spangled hatred.”

“I hit the dance floor, wincing a little bit as the DJ looped feedback through the throbbing of a useless song about someone playing poker with his face or something.”

“So you're a dom, huh? Nice." I stabbed my pancakes again. "Kinky.""You're the one who ties people up, babe.”

“I don't know who I am anymore." I expected the world to crack open and the sky to fall once I said it. Nothing happened.”

“And if it took me more than thirty seconds of thinking, he wouldn't let me flounder. He would jump right in and explain. Not like so many others who liked to call themselves teachers.”