by Jayme Morse
My chest tightened at the realization that he had more abilities than I even thought of. He could read minds. He could survive 100 years in a coffin without anything to sustain him. He could compel people to do whatever he wanted. And, even though I wasn’t entirely certain about this last one, I was pretty sure that people were drawn to his good looks, which he used to his advantage.
He was sexy. He was dangerous.
And we were stuck in his trap.
“Need another hint?” the guy asked after a silence had fallen over us.
“We’re not going to play your guessing game,” Drew spoke up.
“You said you’d let us go if we gave you our blood,” I said, gesturing to the invisible fence that was keeping us confined to the blanket. “Let us out of here.”
“Yeah. I did say that.” He smiled, cocking his head to one side. “But just a few drops of blood isn’t enough. I want more.”
“How much more?” I asked, taking a step back from him.
Before I even knew what was happening, I felt his hand clamp down around my throat. He had moved so fast. His other hand wrapped around my waist as he pulled me to him, through the barrier that had been holding me and my friends in place.
“All of it,” the guy whispered against my cheek.
“Let go of her!” Drew shouted
“Put her down!” Jordan screamed.
I couldn’t make a sound. He had his hand around my throat so tightly that I was getting dizzy. I hoped that I would pass out so that I wouldn’t feel what he was going to do next.
My friends continued to scream and pound against the barrier, though it was no use.
“I like to eat my meals in peace and quiet,” the guy said.
Seconds later, my friends’ voices were muffled. I wasn’t sure what he had done. I knew he hadn’t harmed them… yet. I could still hear them yelling, though their screams sounded more like a whisper now.
“Sorry, Love. If I hadn’t just been starving in a coffin for a hundred years, I probably would have wanted you to be my Beauty, too,” the guy said, proving that he’d been listening to everything, including my thoughts about Beauty and the Beast.
His lips came down lightly on mine. My first kiss since Dylan.
As he pulled away, I felt my blood trickling down onto my chin. I hadn’t even felt him bite me.
“I’ve never tasted a faerie before. You’re delicious,” he said, moaning a little as he licked his lips.
He brought his tongue to my chin and licked his way up to my lips, before kissing me again.
He was so strong. He held me still, pinning me against his cold body. I pushed against his chest with my hands, shoving him as hard as I could. I kicked at his thighs, hoping I would kick his most sensitive spot. I clawed at his skin, scratching him so hard with my nails that I could feel his sticky blood beneath my fingertips. None of it made him loosen his grasp on me. He didn’t budge.
“Don’t make me use my vampire venom on you,” he warned.
Vampire. I had already known that he was a vampire, but he hadn’t actually admitted to it until now. I wasn’t sure what the venom was, and I really didn’t know if I wanted to find out. It sounded like it might be painful, like a snake bite. Not that I had ever been bitten by a snake before, but what I imagined a snake bite would have felt like.
I stopped struggling. It wasn’t completely because of his threat. It was after midnight now. I knew, because my wings had become so incredibly painful. My skin was beginning to split as they came to the surface. They were like razor blades.
The vampire had to be careful that they wouldn’t cut him.
I hoped they would cut him.
Except…
Crap. My jacket was still on.
If I didn’t get my jacket off, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. My wings were still really new to me. I’d never shifted with clothes on before, except for a strappy tank top that hadn’t been in their way.
I had a bad feeling that this shift wasn’t going to go well.
“That’s not very nice, Riley. You shouldn’t want your wings to cut me,” the guy said as he pulled away and stared deep into my eyes.
It was an uncomfortable stare this time, unlike the other stares we’d shared earlier. This time, I knew he was evil. This time, I knew that he wanted to kill me. I wouldn’t let myself be enchanted by his maroon-colored eyes—even if they were the prettiest eyes I’d seen in a long time. They weren’t just maroon. The outer ring of his irises were dark blue.
My wings were fully prepared to come out. I winced as they shot out of my skin a few inches, only to be stopped by my denim jacket.
“Let me take my jacket off,” I tried pleading with him.
My voice sounded strangled. He still hadn’t removed his hand from my throat.
“Forget about the jacket. Don’t worry about it.” He stared deeply into my eyes, piercing straight through my soul. Or, at least, I was pretty sure he was trying to.
I knew he was trying to compel me, but nothing changed for me. My state of mind was exactly the same. It hadn’t worked on me as easily as it had worked on Jordan.
I wondered if maybe compulsion didn’t work on me when I was a faerie. Maybe it only worked on me in my human form.
“You’ve given me no choice, then,” he said, his voice full of annoyance.
He let go of my waist but kept his grip on me with his other hand.
I was so nervous with his hand out of view.
“What are you doing?” I squeaked.
I was so afraid he was going to do something to damage my wings.
Was he going to break them?
Moments later, I could feel my wings going back into my skin. My skin healed back around them. They felt fine. Better than fine. I didn’t think I would even need to shift this month. How had he gotten rid of my urge to shift?
I glanced up into his face questioningly.
“How?” I choked out.
He brought his hand up to my face and stroked my cheek.
“You’re not the only one with a magical ring,” he whispered.
Leaning down, he sank his sharp fangs into my neck. I cried out in pain, sobbing against his chest.
A tingling numbness spread from my neck throughout the rest of my body. When it reached my hands, I lost the ability to move them. They just hung there, limp.
I wasn’t sure what was happening. My knees got weak and my body slumped into the guy. I couldn’t stand on my own anymore.
All I could do was lay against his bare chest as he drank from me.
*
The bite on my neck had healed, but I’d lost too much blood. I was in and out of consciousness, with my head pressed against the cold, damp, scratchy grass.
Drew was laying lifelessly beside me. Blood was still trickling from the bite on his neck.
I was too weak to call out his name, to touch him, to do anything useful. All I could do was stare at him, waiting for his eyes to open. Waiting for him to let me know that he was still alive.
That moment never came.
I was pretty sure the vampire had killed him.
I was grateful when my eyes slid shut on their own. It was hard to take my eyes off Drew, but I also didn’t want to keep watching him, either. I didn’t want that to be my last memory of him.
I wasn’t sure how long I had been asleep when I was woken up by the voices.
I heard people talking—no, screaming—in the graveyard.
I pried one of my eyes back open to see three pairs of legs running towards me. Each set belonged to a tall, muscular guy.
I felt myself being lifted into a pair of strong arms. He cradled me against his chest.
I glanced up into his eyes. He had the brightest pair of baby blue eyes I’d ever seen. They were like looking into oceans that had the clearest water. They were so relaxing. I could have stared at them forever.
And considering that I was about to die, forever wasn’t going to be too far away.
Chapter 5
Riley
As soon as I woke up, I sat upright, gasping, as my heart raced. When I moved, Jordan slid off of my chest and groaned as she hit the bumpy plastic floor we were laying on.
Thank god. She was still alive.
Wait. Plastic floor?
Where the hell were we? Wherever it was, it was cramped.
Me, Drew, and Jordan were sleeping in a tangled pile. Or was he asleep? Panic flooded my veins as I climbed over Jordan to grab his wrist and check for his pulse.
I breathed a sigh of relief. It was strong and steady.
I sat back on my heels and glanced around, taking in my surroundings.
That dumb ass vampire had locked us in a cage in the back of an SUV.
I should have been afraid, but really, I was just angry. I wanted the three of us to be home, safe and sound in our own beds.
I huffed and craned my neck around so that I could look out the window.
It was still night, though it looked a whole lot different now than it had before. It was pitch black, with thousands of stars in the sky above us. The dull scent of old cigarette smoke wafted into my nostrils from the front of the car. Closer by The Chainsmokers was playing through the car speakers. They’d left the air conditioner on for us, too. The keys were still in the ignition.
It was probably the fiftieth time I’d heard that song all night. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that it was still playing.
I could hear thoughts flooding my mind, but they didn’t belong to me. There were four different voices talking in my head.
I wasn’t going crazy. I knew exactly who they belonged to: the vampire and his friends from the graveyard.
I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I could hear them talking to each other. Well, arguing with each other was more like it. Three of them were teaming up on the other one.
“Do you have any idea of what you’ve just done?!”
The first one sounded so mad.
“It was an accident!”
That was a different voice.
Then the third voice spoke. His voice was almost as angry as the first voice: “You don’t accidentally suck the blood out of three people.”
Well, shit. They were talking about us.
And I knew exactly who the voices belonged to. The guys from the graveyard.
I just wasn’t sure who they were or why I could hear them.
I didn’t know anything. It was so confusing.
What was going on? Where were we?
I didn’t recognize the massive brick building we were parked next to. It looked like a castle. I knew, for sure, that we didn’t have a building that looked like that in our town. I didn’t think there was a castle that looked quite like this one in all of Pennsylvania.
That meant that we’d left the state, and maybe even the entire country.
What did the vampires want with us?
Were all of those guys vampires?
Obviously the one that drank from me, from all of us, was a vampire.
Noah.
I frowned. I wasn’t sure how I knew his name. He hadn’t mentioned it to us when we’d first met him. He’d made no attempt at an introduction.
And yet, somehow, I knew all of the guys’ names.
There was Noah, the undeniably attractive vampire who’d wanted to have every last sip of my blood.
I was supposed to hate him. And yet, I was able to understand why he would have been so thirsty after being in a coffin for so many years. Except… I got the feeling that he might have lied about how many years it had actually been.
Then there was the sweet one. The guy with the pretty blue eyes that had saved me. The one that had told me he was never going to let me die. He was Slade.
Although… was Slade really the sweet one, if he was the one who had put me into this cage in the back of his car?
Yes.
He was sweet. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, either. Maybe it was just the vibe I was getting from him as I listened to their thoughts.
I was pretty sure Noah and the other two guys didn’t think he was so sweet, though.
Even though I didn’t really know Slade, I just had a feeling that his intentions were good. I wasn’t sure why I felt that I could trust him, a complete stranger. I just knew that I could. He was one of the good ones. I could feel it deep within my gut.
The two other guys were Julius and Tristan. They were the ones that had helped Drew and Jordan. They hadn’t been allowed to help me. For some reason, Slade hadn’t let them. He’d called dibs on helping me. On turning me. And since he was the Alpha, they’d had to listen to him.
Wait.
He’d called dibs on turning me?
I breathed hard and fast as waves of panic shot through me. I still wasn’t sure how I knew everything, but it didn’t matter how I knew.
What was more terrifying was what I knew.
I was a vampire now.
We all were.
I shook Drew hard. “Wake up.”
My eyes fell onto his neck. I noticed that his bite wound had healed up. The skin around it was still stained with dried blood.
I knew it wasn’t as good as fresh blood, but I still kind of wanted a taste of it…
Fuck.
That was all the confirmation that I needed. I really was a vampire, because you’re not supposed to think your best friend would be a good snack.
Chapter 6
Riley
It took everything in me to resist licking Drew’s neck.
I needed to wake him up before I could act on it. I shook him even harder, though that still didn’t work.
I found myself inching towards him, inhaling his scent.
Blood didn’t smell metallic anymore. It smelled good. I couldn’t put my finger on what, exactly, it was that he smelled like, but it was a mixture of steak and something else. I knew he would have tasted better than chicken tenders from Applebee’s—my absolute favorite meal.
I wasn’t sure if I ever wanted chicken tenders again. Or any other food, for that matter.
Did vampires eat real food or did they exist on blood alone? I didn’t know, but I did know one thing.
I was about to find out.
“Wake up!”
My palm connected hard with Drew’s cheek.
I wanted him awake. I needed him awake so that he could defend himself if I lost control, if I sank my teeth into him.
But, somehow, he just snored through it all.
Giving up on him, I moved over to Jordan.
“Jordan, wake the fuck up,” I said as I shook her roughly.
“Ow! Okay, I’m up. Jeez. Calm the hell down,” Jordan replied, rubbing her arms. “What’s wrong with you?”
“We have to get out of here. We have to go home.”
“Where is ‘here’? Do you know whose car we’re in?” she asked as she glanced around, taking in our surroundings.
“Slade’s,” I replied.
“Okay… I have no idea who the hell Slade is, but he must be the biggest asshole ever since he put us in a freaking dog cage,” Jordan said as she sat up.
She groaned, holding her head for a moment.
“Are you okay?” I asked, glancing over at her.
I brushed her chocolate brown hair out of her face so that I could get a better look at her. I’d never seen her tan face look so red before.
“I’m fine,” she replied after she let go of her head. “It doesn’t even hurt anymore.”
She pushed herself up and kneeled in front of the lock on the cage. She pushed and pulled on the cage door. It rattled back and forth, but it didn’t budge.
“Have you tried the lock yet?” she asked me.
“No. I don’t have, like, a bobby pin or anything tha
t could help us open it.”
“Great. Me neither. So now what?” Her chocolate brown eyes searched mine for an answer.
Then I thought of something.
I might have been a vampire… but I was still a faerie, too, right? Or had this whole Vampire Thing completely undone the whole Faerie Thing?
“I have an idea. But you have to promise me you’ll turn around and you’ll stay turned around until I tell you that you can look.”
“No deal,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Is this faerie stuff? We both already know you’re a faerie. Wait.”
She cut herself off and peered down at Drew, noticing for the first time that he was still asleep.
“Is he okay?” she questioned as she crouched over him, listening to his chest.
“I think so,” I replied.
She sat back on her heels. “He is. I heard his heart beating.”
I could hear it, too, though I didn’t need to press my ear against his chest to hear it. It was already pounding away in my ears. I could hear Jordan’s hearbeat, too.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter to me that you’re a faerie. You’re still Riley. Nothing’s changed between us, other than the fact that I’m a little jealous that I’m not a faerie, too. I want to fly.”
I let out a little laugh. “I barely know how to fly. I’ve only had my wings for a few months,” I admitted.
“Well, when you get really good at it, I want to watch you soar through the sky like Tinkerbelle.”
Now that I knew she was accepting of the paranormal, I wondered if it would be a good time to tell her that she was a vampire. Then again, would there ever be a right time to tell her?
I probably should have waited until we got out of this car, until we were back to our regular lives, but the truth was, I wasn’t sure if we would ever get back to our normal lives. We were vampires now. We would probably never be normal again.
“I need to tell you something,” I began.
And then I hesitated. Did we have time for this?
I was pretty sure that my plan to get out of here was going to work. All I needed to do to set it into action was to get out of this cage before Slade came back.