by Ginna Moran
“Easy now, little bird. I got you,” a sultry voice says.
“She’s mine,” the other vampire, the one who was driving the car, says. “Put her down before I gut you.”
“Finders keepers, Culver. You have that one,” the guy says, shifting me in his arms. “She seems more your type anyway. Probably O positive.”
Rylie screams, and I jerk my neck and head-butt the vampire holding me. He drops me to the ground with a growl.
“Shit, I’m definitely keeping this one. AB negative for sure.” The guy strolls around me. “Look at that hair. What color is it, love? Purple? You like attention, don’t you? Want to stand out compared to the gen. pop.? Either way, I like it. You should wear it up, though.”
This. Guy.
“Fiona, help!” Rylie says, struggling to break out of Culver’s hold.
I hadn’t realized I couldn’t take my gaze off the even hotter vampire. His seriously muscular body flexes with his movements.
Rylie digs her fingers into Culver’s wrists, scratching him hard enough that red lines appear on his arms. “Fiona, get it together!”
All Culver does is laugh. “Feisty, aren’t they, Hudson?”
The guy, Hudson, continues to stand over me, drinking in every inch of my body. “What do you want to do with them?”
Fear grips my heart as Culver responds to Hudson with a smile, his fangs flashing dangerously close to Rylie’s neck. She squeezes her eyes shut and braces for the bite she thinks will come. It’s enough to push me to get my ass in gear, and I catapult to my feet. Hudson doesn’t even try to stop me as I collide into Culver and Rylie. Culver releases her with a growl, and I bend down and sink my teeth hard into his throat.
“Whoa, shit,” Hudson says, releasing a laugh. “Look at her go. How does it feel being her donor, brother?”
Culver locks his fingers into my hair, yanking me so hard that I accidentally rip his flesh. “Get her off me, you shithead.”
I manage to spit in Culver’s face before Hudson grabs me from under the arms and drags me back. Culver rushes us and gets in my face. His eyes blink crazy silver with an expression I can only assume looks like murder on his mind, stealing away everything I thought was hot about him.
“Put her in the trunk,” he says, snapping his teeth in my face. “We gotta go. Patrol is coming.”
Hudson dangles me in front of him as he races to the car. Culver beats us there and pops the trunk open, forcing Rylie inside first. I yell, flailing, trying to fight the best I can.
But it’s no use.
All I can do is shout one more time before the trunk clicks closed.
Chapter 3
The Kings
“RYLIE, ARE YOU HURT?” I whisper as softly as I can into her ear.
Music blasts from inside the car loud enough to silence any noise we can make. These assholes plan to perform our final donations. I know it. If they wanted just to bite, they’d have done so in the alley.
“Rylie?” I ask louder at her lack of response.
She doesn’t respond to me, her silence freaking me out. Licking my finger, I feel her face for her nose and hold my hand in front of her nostrils. My finger cools with her breath. Relief floods through me. I don’t know what I’d have done if she weren’t alive.
Propping up on my elbow, I shake her shoulder as hard as I can. “Snap out of it. Come on. You can do it.”
I wish she’d have relented and drunk Mr. One Fang’s blood when I suggested it. Had she just done it, Culver wouldn’t have been able to silence her with mind manipulation.
“I’m so sorry,” I say, deciding not to keep my voice low. What’s the point if the vampires hear me? It’s not like I’m going anywhere. “I don’t know what else to do. This might hurt.”
Pulling my arm back, I swing it at Rylie and punch her in the boob. She doesn’t react to my attempt to break her mind manipulation with pain, so I try again. Harder this time. Something cracks under my hand, and Rylie screams out and slaps me across the face.
I touch my stinging cheek, tears welling in my eyes at the force. “Shit.”
Rylie groans and flops back. “I think you broke my rib.”
“I’m sorry.” I reach to her, feeling for her hand.
Anger laces her voice, and she tugs her hand free of mine. “Don’t. I’d rather have a broken rib than experience that mind manipulation hell again.”
“I’m going to kill them, I swear,” I say, shifting to prop myself up again.
“Doubt it,” she mutters. “We’re already dead, Fiona. There is no way they’ll keep us alive. I stole the asshole’s car. You bit him. It’s over.”
I puff a breath of air through my lips. I want to argue with her that it’s not over until we’re actually dead, but instead I ask, “Why did you steal his car, anyway? You were just going to abandon me like that?”
She doesn’t respond right away, her heavy silence speaking volumes. She doesn’t want to admit it, but that was her plan. Steal the car and haul ass while I was distracting Culver. I shouldn’t be so hurt, because it’s something she should’ve done. I’d deserve it. It’s my fault we’re in this mess. My desire to leave Mount Light Haven turned me into the shittiest friend ever.
“You know what? Don’t answer that. I don’t care,” I say, lowering my voice. “I wish you had gotten away. I’d die if it means you get to escape.”
A soft sob escapes Rylie’s lips, and I reach out and try to take her hand again. This time she allows me, pulling me by the arm until I’m close enough for her to hug. She buries her face into my neck, doing her best to suppress the panic turning her into a mess. I’ve never seen her cry like this before. We were scolded all our lives if we dare cry over something. So it’s so weird to see her like this now. I want to tell her to knock it off, but I don’t.
“You’re going to be fine.” My words only make her cry harder.
She gasps a few short breaths. “I’m not. You’re not. This is it.”
Annoyance whips through me, and I flick her on the shoulder. “Knock that shit off. You can’t give up already. What would the elders think? Or all of those soldiers vying for you to agree to pick one of them for a union so they can sex you the hell up?”
Releasing a squeal of a laugh, she whacks my arm, finally managing to get her crying to stop. “That’s all you.”
“Maybe they’re coming after us.” I try not to frown as I say the words. I mean, for Rylie’s sake, I do hope they attempt to find us. I shouldn’t be worried about if they do. But something inside me screams at even the idea of ever having to return to Mount Light Haven. Who knew that being in this trunk is far less a scary thought to me?
At least in here, I still have a fighting chance. If I were to go back to the rebel colony, they’d never allow me to leave my room again.
“Not us. You. They’d be coming after you.” Her soft voice digs into me, and I can’t stop the fury from awakening in my very being.
“Screw that. We’re not going to die, nor am I going back to Mount Light Haven.” I roll on my opposite side and bang my hands into the side of the trunk, trying to get it to pop open. “We’re going to get out of here, and I’ll find you a way home and me a place to live.”
“Fiona,” Rylie says softly.
“Don’t Fiona me. Just believe me. I can do this.”
She reaches out and digs her fingers into my leg. “No, I know. If anyone can, it’s you. But listen.” Cupping her hand over my lips, she silences me before I can open my mouth. “We stopped.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She’s right.
Closing my eyes, I try to listen past the blaring music. Muffled voices trickle through to me, and I bang my fists on the trunk again. They don’t make cars like they used to in the back-world. This bullet-like vehicle is quiet as hell, odorless, and basically like a prison in the trunk with no levers to release the hatch. I can’t even pull out the panel to try to shove my hand through the tail light, not like that will do me any good.
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The music clicks off, leaving my ears ringing. Rylie tightens her hold on me, trying to roll me closer to her. If one of us gets taken out, we’re both getting taken out. I don’t think these vampires realize what the strength of desperation does. Rylie even hooks her legs around me to ensure it.
“Are you kidding me, Culver,” an unfamiliar voice says loud enough for me to hear clearly. “You took two unregistered donors from Nocturnal Crown?”
“Headmistress Rasmussen will flip her shit and pull you from the running of region leader,” another, softer, smoother masculine voice says. “You selfish bastard.”
Culver growls, his scary predatory noise forever imprinted in my head. I’m sure I could pick him out from anywhere now. “Nocturnal Crown is ours. Unregistered donors are ours. And these two? They’re mine. They broke Blood Life Corp law. It’s in my right to do as I see fit, and I feel like performing a couple of final donations. If any of you has a problem, get the hell out of here. Just don’t forget that I’ll remember this when it comes time to fill the region’s positions. As head of our coven, I’ll cast you shitheads to the shadows.”
Damn. For a second, I had hope.
A different growl cuts through the air, sending a chill through me. “That kind of attitude will get you challenged by another coven head, brother. If someone finds out that two unregistered donors got to you enough that you lost your cool to think about the general population, they’ll consider you weak. Just think about it. Killing these donors isn’t worth losing our good standing. Our coven is under the board’s scrutiny. This isn’t Stargazer Hills. We’re training for power. A new region. We won’t get an opportunity like this again.”
“Not to mention the little bird is hot as fuck. Feisty. Look at that bite mark she gave you. Mmm. I wish it were me.” Hudson releases a strange-ass noise from his throat.
My body decides it enjoys the hell out of the sexy sound, and I shiver, rubbing the goosebumps prickling over my arms. What is wrong with me? These assholes are debating whether or not we should live or die, and I’m lying here turned the hell on.
“It’s going to be you next!” Rylie’s voice startles me, her anger getting the best of her. “Fiona will devour all of you.”
I don’t get a chance to react before the trunk suddenly pops open. Without hesitating, I jump up and launch at the nearest vampire. He catches me in his arms with a surprised grunt but somehow manages not to drop me.
“Watch your neck, Aspen,” the other unfamiliar vampire says.
The vampire, Aspen, shifts to dangle me out in front of him like a rabid animal. I snap my teeth and swing my legs. The other unfamiliar vampire takes me from Aspen and stretches his neck away, though he doesn’t take his dark eyes off me. I tighten my legs around his waist, refusing to let him hold me away. Because he was right to warn Aspen. I’m now going to bite the hell out of this guy.
The vampire breathes a breath in my ear. “Please, miss. Don’t bite me. If you bite me, I’m handing you right back to Culver, and I’d prefer not to.”
His words are enough to stop me from ravaging the hell out of his throat. I don’t think I’ve ever been asked anything so nicely.
“Fiona!” Rylie screams, her voice sending panic crashing through me. “Help! Do something!”
I twist in the guy’s arms to peer behind me. Culver presses Rylie into the door of the car, forcing her neck to the side to expose her skin. I tense at the sight of his fangs extending longer than I thought possible. He’s going to kill her. I know it. It’ll be a kill bite.
None of the other vampires move, just standing by and watching this asshole.
“Please,” I beg the vampire holding me. “You have to stop him. She doesn’t deserve this. We weren’t doing anything wrong when he cornered us.”
The guy doesn’t respond to me.
“Culver, stop! Stop! Kill me. Kill me instead. Please, I’ll do anything. Just let her go.” I smack the vampire’s chest, resorting to getting Culver’s attention to avert to me. “Let her go.”
Culver releases Rylie without biting her and materializes behind the guy to look me in the eyes. He cocks his eyebrow, looking smug as hell, probably enjoying the fact that I plead for Rylie’s life. Most donors wouldn’t unless it was a parent protecting a child. Even Blood Rebels aren’t known to play the martyr. But me? I don’t want to spend the rest of my life, even if short, knowing that it was my actions that killed my best friend.
Licking his lips, Culver says, “Beg me again.”
Oh, this fucker. Are you kidding me?
Just the way he demands me shows me how twisted he really is. And from what I heard, it sounds like he’s up to run an entire region? If that happens, humanity is doomed. This is no longer about surviving or saving Rylie. Facing him now is so much more. Rylie realizes it too. Dashing toward us, she attempts to get close enough to back me up.
Hudson swipes her off her feet and tosses her over his shoulder. “Oh, no you fucking don’t, O Positive.”
The corner of Culver’s lips pulls into a smile. “Give her to me, Torrance.”
The vampire holding me hesitates, tightening his muscular arms around me. “I can’t. Even if she broke Blood Life Corp law, we must hand her over to the proper authorities. As a female, she’s protected, or did you forget that? You need to respect the law yourself if you plan to uphold it.”
Culver growls, tightening his fingers into fists. “Last chance, brother. The laws aren’t there for us. You’ll see. This bitch is mine. Give her to me or I’ll renounce you.”
I tense, my body reacting to the fact that two vampires are about to fight over me with me directly in the middle of them. I suck in a few breaths, trying to get air to fill my lungs, but it seems impossible with Torrance’s death grip on me.
“Knock it off, you two. You can settle this shit later. We gotta go,” Aspen says, brushing his fingers through his blond hair. His blue eyes, an impossible shade lighter than Culver’s icy ones, meet my gaze. “She’s not worth jeopardizing our standing or our coven over.”
A siren rings through the air, stealing my hearing. I cover my ears in an attempt to suppress the eardrum-bursting noise. Torrance cringes, but he doesn’t drop to his knees like Hudson does. Aspen covers one of his ears and clutches the side of the car. Culver flashes his fangs and rushes us. I expect to get knocked onto the ground, but Torrance spins me again. Culver disappears, abandoning us and his car.
“Nobody move,” a loud, commanding voice says, echoing through the night. “Put the donors down.”
I fall onto my ass with a thud as Torrance drops me. I swing out my foot and kick him right in the balls. He falls to the ground next to me and flashes his fangs. I glower right back at him, not letting him intimidate me.
A light shines over us, stopping on each of the vampires. “Misters, my apologies. I hadn’t expected the King Coven to be in the area.”
The light clicks off as a bulky guard in all black, carrying a huge-ass gun on his shoulder, closes the space. He reaches out and offers a hand to Hudson first and helps him to his feet. Torrance gets up on his own and dusts off his dress pants. He steps closer and surprises the hell out of me by proffering his hand. My body reacts without my mind’s consent, and I let him lift me to my feet.
The guard closes his space to me and tilts his head. “Where is your night pass?”
Digging into my pocket, I come up empty, realizing Culver either dropped it or had taken it when I showed it to him.
“Don’t worry about them, Alfred. They’re with us. Donors from the academy,” Hudson says, stepping closer. He puts his arm over my shoulder and smiles. “Right, love?”
I force my mouth to cooperate and fake a smile. “Right. We were just...having fun.”
“Well, get the proper paperwork next time, Mr. King.”
Hudson squares his shoulders and nods without a word.
The guard doesn’t look like he believes it, but he turns away from me anyway. He gives Rylie a once-over and the
n shakes the three guys’ hands. The second he vanishes, I charge toward Rylie. She gets my hint, and we both run from the vampires.
We don’t get far. Torrance materializes in front of us while Aspen comes up from the side. A hand touches my shoulder from the back, and I twist and glower at Hudson. He pulls his hand back and holds it up in surrender.
“Come on now. You’re going to leave without as much as a thanks for saving your life?” Hudson asks, tilting his head at me. “We could’ve let our brother kill you.”
“Fuck off.”
I attempt to push through the wall of muscle, not even caring that one of them could bite me. Since they haven’t yet, I’m willing to risk my neck.
“Can’t do...Fiona, is it?” Torrance asks, his dark eyes complementing the dark hue of his skin. He runs his fingers over the short, tight curls of his buzzed head. “It would be in your best interest to come with us.”
“My best interest? I just want to go home. Point us in the direction of the Rockfords, and we’ll be on our way. The security guard said that we have to inform them to register us in seven days.”
Scrunching his face, Torrance looks at me like I’ve said the most ridiculous thing. “Impossible. The Rockfords don’t have females on their staff.”
I tighten my jaw to keep my voice even. “We were kept unregistered.”
“Now that’s a flat out lie,” Aspen says, drawing my attention to his startling blue eyes. “We know all of the covens and their staffs in this city. We’ve been into all of their homes. You don’t look like you’re from Nocturnal Crown, especially how you blatantly disregard donor customs when speaking to the members of the future head coven of a region.”
Torrance straightens his back. “It is our duty to see that you are run through the system and to figure this out.”
“Like we told you. We belong to the Rockfords. You have never seen us because we hid,” Rylie says. She sounds so convincing that if I didn’t know any better, I’d believe her.