Read Something Wanton (Mystics & Mayhem) for Free Online

darklings have even managed to only need their injections once or twice a month.  I have to admit, though, I do have to wonder if they aren’t supplementing with the real thing here and there.”
    The real thing.  Meaning they were taking the energy they needed to survive from other people .  But how did one do that?  Not that I ever planned to indulge myself, but I would have to ask Tyler about the mechanics of the whole thing. 
    I was so busy coming up with more and more disgusting ways someone might suck the life out of someone else that I didn’t notice when Tyler picked up the syringe again.  I definitely noticed the needle jabbing into my muscle, though.  With a half-shrieked curse that Grams would have washed my mouth out for, I tried to bat it away, but Tyler caught my hand and held it still.
    “I’m sorry, beautiful,” he crooned as he pulled the needle out of my leg.  “It hurts the first few times, but, as terrible as it may sound, you do get used to it.”
    “Yeah, right,” I muttered, rubbing my leg to ease the burning, stinging muscle there.  “I highly doubt that.”
    “It’s true,” he insisted as he sent the syringe sailing into the wastebasket after the alcohol pad.  “Just ask any diabetic who takes insulin injections.  It’s not pleasant, but eventually it’s not so bad, either.”
    “If you say so,” I agreed doubtfully.
    Tyler turned around again to let me get dressed.  “Trust me, you won’t mind them so much after a while.  It’s either the shots, or the kind of hunger nightmares are made of.”
    “ But how does that work, anyway?” I asked as I pulled my jeans back on, trying to work it all out in my mind.  “I mean, people eat with their mouth.  Vampires bite people to feed.  How does a darkling feed?”
    Rather than answer, he just turned around and looked at me .  I could practically see the gears in his mind turning, trying to find the right way to tell me without actually telling me anything.  In the end, though, he finally gave in.
    “Most darklings feed by sucking the essence out through their victim’s mouth,” he said with a sigh.  “They’re very seductive, darklings.  It’s easy for them to lure their prey into a simple kiss.”
    “So…I’m like a succubus or something?” I asked, wincing when I heard how high my voice had become.
    “That’s one way to look at it,” Tyler mumbled, looking uncomfortable.  “Actually, a very good way.”
    I just sat there, speechless, as that sank in.  A kiss would never just be a kiss for me again.  What did that mean for me and Nathan?
    I felt my eyes start to burn like someone had squirted lemon juice in them at the thought of Nathan, but there were no tears.  There never would be.  Never again would I be able to show emotion like that.  I would never be able to find that release again.  Yet another thing Bastian’s sorry ass had taken from me.
    Along with my dreams.   Like my tears, dreams had just become a thing of the past.  Darklings don’t sleep.  Ever. 
    Speaking of which…
    “And the whole dream thing?” I asked, trying not to wince.  “How does that work?”
    “Feeding on a dreaming victim is actually the easiest way for you to feed,” Tyler explained.  “It’s safer than feeding on a conscious victim.  For one thing, it dampens the connection between you and your prey.  For another, they don’t know you’re feeding.  But you should only do it if you absolutely have to, Em.  It’s still dangerous, especially for a young darkling.”
    I nodded, but didn’t say anything.  Suddenly, I wished he hadn’t bothered to save me.  Even facing the monsters of the lost plane would have been better than facing an eternity without dreams.  The thought of those ghoulish arms reaching for my energy wasn’t as bad as knowing that even if my heart shattered a million times I would never be able to shed a tear. 
    The heartbreak that was about to begin in