Bit the Jackpot by Erin McCarthy

mortal woman you've killed."
    "I didn't kill her!" The color blanched from Smith's beefy face. He went from vampire pale to nearly translucent.
    "But you did kill Alexis Baldizzi, didn't you?"
    Ringo stopped pacing and studied Smith's reaction. He hadn't known Donatelli was responsible for Alexis's mortal death, however inadvertent. Donatelli's strategies were never clear to him. Ringo just did what he was told to do, like a dead doormat. Donatelli yelled, he jumped, and in return he got blood delivered to him laced with nicotine, alcohol, and an irresistible hint of heroin.
    He hated Donatelli, hated his dependence, but knew he wasn't strong enough as either a vampire or a man to attempt to escape both his master and his addiction to drug blood.
    Smith didn't answer Donatelli directly, clearly recognizing his guilt in killing Alexis Baldizzi. "The woman last night, I don't even know who she was. She was just there all of a sudden, screaming and running, and… and… a car hit her."
    "Does she belong to Fox?"
    "I don't know."
    Ringo did. He had watched from the shadows, sensed that she was moving on Fox's orders, that they were mind linked. Perhaps lovers, perhaps his blood donor. Which from what Ringo had learned in the past two months was against Carrick's political views. Carrick supposedly didn't believe in mortal slaves.
    "Thank you, Smith. You may return to your room."
    "Yes, Mr. Donatelli." Smith looked relieved, his thick shoulders sagging in his ill-fitting gray suit. He turned toward the door.
    "Oh, and one more thing before you go." Donatelli sipped from his wineglass, the thick scent of blood filling Ringo's nostrils and making his stomach clench. Donatelli tilted the glass, staring at it, running his tongue along his thin bottom lip to catch a stray drop. He had the look of a weasel—thin, wiry, sly, dark eyes filled with malice. "Mr. Smith, no feedings for you until Tuesday."
    Smith stopped near the door and turned, jaw dropping. "Five days without feeding? Mr. Donatelli, no, you can't do that!"
    "Make that six."
    Smith shut up. Ringo went cold as he watched the panic in Smith's eyes. Like a cruel parent, Donatelli waved his hand. "Go on. To your room. Think about what you've done and why it was wrong."
    Something like a whimper came from Smith's big frame, but he left, the door closing quietly behind him.
    Ringo hesitated, but only for a second. Then while Donatelli took another deep swallow of blood, he told him, "Mr. Donatelli, I think the woman is Fox's. I sensed a mind link between them. I sensed his fear for her."
    "She was mortal, correct? Smith wasn't wrong about that, too, was he?" Donatelli turned and looked at him, his dark eyes amused. "No. I didn't see her die, though. I was chasing Kelsey."
    "And she outran you?"
    Ringo kept his mind tightly closed and gave a casual shrug, hands in the pockets of his linen pants. "She's older than me, and had a head start. Would you like me to pay her a surprise visit?" And kill her, was implied, though Ringo wasn't sure he could do it. He was hoping he could play a game of his own, to protect mostly himself, but Kelsey as well.
    A week without feeding would be death for a vampire. At least one his young age, and addicted to drug blood. And for whatever reason, Ringo did not want to die.
    "Perhaps. Let me think about it."
    "Her memory's gone. She doesn't remember anything. Not me. Not anything about that night." The night Smith had shot Kelsey with a full round of bullets, then drained her entirely of blood. The night Donatelli had turned Ringo into a vampire.
    "But she is under Fox's protection?"
    "It looks that way. But I think the mortal woman is his true weakness. Maybe his feeding source."
    "Smith says she was killed."
    "Does that matter? If he had one feeding source, maybe he has another, and another. Which makes him a hypocrite. Which makes Carrick look bad. Or maybe he took this dead mortal and turned her. That wouldn't make Seamus Fox and President