by ZL Morris
Where do I even start? When I was rescued? The dinner? The attack? Or the killings?
I was happy to be away from the wolves. For a brief moment, I thought I finally escaped hell. But at what price? Will I ever be able to be here without hurting myself and sending even more vampires into a frenzy, only for them to be killed over it? Surely vampires have feelings for other vampires. Were they someone’s partner, child, sibling even? Is signing someone’s death warrant going to paint an even bigger target on me? Will I be the enemy now instead of food? I don’t know which one is worse.
With no real knowledge of how to make this situation better and not wanting to bug the guys, I fall back, rest my head on the pillow, and stare at the bed’s canopy. I try to let my mind drift to the shopping trip with Cassius tomorrow. My eyes feel heavy and close. I briefly wonder about which shops I’ll likely have to go into tomorrow. My poor feet are going to hate me.
Chapter Seven
The wolves pin me to the floor. Next to me lies the bodies of the two vampires who tried to attack me. No matter how hard I try to fight or how loud I scream, the triplets and the wolves stand over me and laugh. A blood-curdling scream escapes me when the henchman tears chunks off my body with his huge claws, but no matter how much I wish for death, it never comes.
More flesh is torn away, the bone underneath becoming visible. Each new bit pulled from me is scattered around me. The triplets each pick up a bloody strip of flesh, raise it to their nose, and take a noisy sniff before they chomp down on it like a soggy piece of bacon.
I wake up with my heart in my throat, and my body drenched in sweat. The haunting screams of the vampires and my own rattle around in my head. In a flurry, I kick off the blankets and rush into the bathroom. I find the washcloth, run it under cold water, then wipe my sweat-slicked face and the back of my neck in a desperate attempt to dispel the nightmare.
A little more awake and alert, I cringe at my reflection in the mirror. My parents used to tell me my eyes would sparkle and light up at everything. Now, though, they’re dull and lifeless, even after the horrific dream. Frustrated, I drop the cloth onto the sink and turn away from the mirror in disgust.
I do my business, wash my hands, and step back into the bedroom. My eyes move to the bed, and my nose crinkles at the thought of going back to sleep. Instead, I move over to the window and stare out. It must be about five o’clock in the morning because the sky has lightened slightly before the first rays of pinks and reds splash across it.
Peeling my eyes away, I turn my attention back to the room in an effort to find something to occupy my brain. I spot the bookcase. Getting lost in a book should be sufficient to take my mind off everything else for a few hours, at least.
Scanning the huge bookshelves, several collections of books I never would’ve imagined a vampire would own line the shelves, and laughter bursts free. I snatch up the book, sit in the window seat, and quickly become lost in a tangled love story.
What feels like only a few short moments later—though the number of pages I’ve read and how far the sun has risen show me how much time has flown by—I stretch to work the kinks out of my neck and move to get more comfortable. Suddenly, the bedroom door handle rattles, and the quiet room fills with the sound of the lock sliding open. My head tilts as I try to figure out how they opened it. It’s not a key lock but a turn-style lock that can be only be accessed from the inside.
The bedroom door swings open, and my eyes rake over the three men who stride into the bedroom with purpose. I flinch slightly when the sight of them brings my dream back to the forefront of my mind. I try to shut it out as quickly as possible, but know I failed when all three stop abruptly at the end of the bed. Their eyes change colour. Lazarus’s and Idris’s eyes turn to the light purple I’ve come to recognise as sadness, but Zadimus’s eyes turn onyx.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Zadimus barks while he stalks around the bed with determination.
Instantly, he puts me on edge, and I shift my back against the window. My body recoils more, and I don’t know what to tell him. Do I tell him the truth about the dream, or do I try to pass it off as something else?
Someone kneels in front of me and gently takes my face in his hands. He lifts my head until my green eyes clash with Lazarus’s light purple ones. “What has caused you to be so scared of us, Callidora?”
I scan his handsome face before I glance over at the other two in an attempt to stall while I decide how much to tell them. Will it hurt them if they know the truth of my dream? Will they see me as an even bigger pain in their ass and decide they’ve had enough?
Lazarus runs his thumb across my cheek with a gentleness I’d not expected. It has the effect he intended and directs my attention back to him. “Whatever you’re not telling us, you need to know we won’t hurt you. We only want the opportunity to make whatever it is that’s upsetting you right. Is it… yesterday? With what you saw Zadimus do?”
Silently, I shake my head and turn my face away from him, effectively breaking the hold he has on me. I miss the contact with him. Some unknown part of me yearns for his touch, but I won’t be able to talk about my nightmare if he continues to touch me.
He sits back on his heels and settles in to watch me while I debate whether I should tell them. I swallow down the urge to either run away or throw up, and instead, I spill what’s bothering me.
“With everything that’s been going on, I guess my mind has been playing over everything without me meaning to. I had a nightmare.” I tuck my hands between my knees to stop them from shaking. “I dreamt you were… that you were…” I can’t finish what I set out to explain. My head hangs in shame, too worried about what I might see if I look at their faces: disgust, anger, or possibly even pity.
A loud bang and the sound of splintering wood makes me jerk in shock. My eyes grow impossibly wide when the extremely heavy, solid wood leg snaps off the bed because Idris kicked it with incredible force.
My back presses closer to the window as he continues to throw furniture around the room. Lazarus remains crouched in front of me, and Zadimus stands with a bored expression while his brother continues to destroy his bedroom.
Idris glances at the desk with narrowed eyes but dismisses it with a snort. With nothing left for him to destroy, his frenzy comes to a stop. He drops the last piece of bed frame onto a mangled pile of wood on the floor.
Lazarus tilts his head and drawls, “Feel better?”
Idris, who was shooting daggers at the ceiling, drops his head and smiles brightly at Lazarus. “Much, although I’m pissed a bed built like that couldn’t take more of a beating. Damn Victorians and their shoddy furniture making.”
My head reels from the complete turnaround of Idris’s mood. Do all vampires change with a flick of a switch? It’s like being in a room with Jekyll and Hyde. Knowing I’m no longer likely to be accidentally hit in the head by flying furniture, I lower my feet to the floor and readjust until I don’t have cold glass pressed against my back.
I don’t know what to make of his behaviour. Do I ignore it? For the first time ever, I wish I put more effort into interacting with strangers instead of keeping my head down and living like a hermit because I’ve absolutely no idea how to act or how to deal with this.
My belly rumbles loudly enough to grab their attention, and my face flames from having all their attention directed towards me. They gawk at my stomach, confused, then back at my face. My arms wrap snugly around my middle in a desperate attempt to muffle the grumbles.
Lazarus chuckles. “Come on, Callidora. Let’s get you fed. You have a long morning ahead of you, and you’ll need your strength for what Cassius has planned.”
I move to stand, but Zadimus swoops in and picks me up. He carries me as though I weigh no more than a feather and confidently steps over the broken furniture. Idris opens the door for us, and they follow Zadimus as he carries me down the stairs.
With the kitchen door already open and once we’re all inside, Cassiu
s, who was already in the kitchen, shuts the door. Zadimus sets me on a stool, and I miss the soft caress of his shirt against my palm. The smell of burnt toast hits my nose, and my head tilts in confusion.
“Will I need to arrange for repairs on anything, Sire?” Cassius asks while he methodically butters the burnt toast.
“It’s going to need a little more than a simple repair,” I mumble while watching Cassius with a frown. I thought the guys said they couldn’t cook.
Zadimus bursts out laughing. “Cassius knows how to cook… although not always very well judging from the faces of our guests in the past. He and his wife are among the few here who were human before they were turned. Most of us are born vampires.”
My face flames, and my words stumble over themselves. “I-I-I—I’m sorry, Cassius. I need to remember to voice my questions out loud and to the right person, so the guys don’t keep answering my thoughts. I know very little about your kind so I assumed you were all… born vampires?”
Cassius plates up the burnt toast and sets the plate in front of me. “No apology needed, Miss Willow. We can discuss this more on our shopping trip. I’ll get you up to speed on all the things you’ll need to know about our kind. Especially now that you’ll be staying with us.”
“I will?” Confusion fills my voice. “I thought I’d only be here for a short while before I’d be allowed to go home?”
Cassius cuts the guys a disgusted scowl, and I get the impression he’s annoyed by something. I glance at his eyes and breathe a sigh when I see they’re not black. At least, he’s not angry. I’m not sure I could cope with any more anger today.
Cassius turns his eyes back to me, and his features soften. “Once we’ve returned from shopping, I think these three have some explaining to do.” With that, he opens the kitchen door and calls over his shoulder, “Be by the front door in let’s say forty minutes, and we’ll get you properly fitted with clothes.”
Quietly, I eat my toast while trying to ignore the burnt taste. I watch in amusement as the guys squirm over Cassius’s words. Questions burn on the tip of my tongue, but I bite down to stop them from being voiced, and for once, they don’t read my thoughts. Or if they do, they don’t know how—or want—to answer them.
Chapter Eight
I brush the crumbs off my fingers as the vampires glance at everything but me. Cassius’s words about them needing to talk with me later replay in my mind on a constant loop. He made whatever it is sound serious, but by their rigid posture and lack of eye contact, they won’t be communicating with me now.
I sort of wish I had their ability to mind read. Times like now where they avoid me, I imagine it would be especially handy. All I’d have to do is look at their eyes, and I could easily delve deeper into what they’re thinking. Then they wouldn’t need to go through the misery of talking to me.
But on the other hand, my brain can’t comprehend how awful it must be to hear every single thought that passes through someone’s mind. Access to someone’s eyes is a requirement to understand that person’s thoughts, so I assume, when they glance away, it breaks the necessary connection needed to read those. I doubt I could cope with their ability for a long period of time, though. My own thoughts drive me crazy enough, so I’d hate to have someone else’s rattling around in my head.
Crazy train, come pick me up!
Grabbing my empty plate, I take it to the sink to wash. Eyes bore into the back of my head, but I ignore them as I clean the plate and set it on the drainer. A smile crosses my face briefly, and I fight to shut it down. Since they’re watching me, I know the minute I turn around their eyes will be on something else. I quickly wash my hands and grab the towel to dry them while I concentrate on the view out the window. With an hour or two until midday, the sun isn’t high enough for me to glimpse it above the trees yet, and a longing for my camera flows through me as the last of the shadows splay across the still-damp grass.
A clearing of a throat behind me breaks me out of my musings, so I glance over my shoulder.
My eyes clash with Zadimus’s purple ones, and he offers me a small smile. “I can have Cassius take you to get a new camera, if you wish?”
I turn while keeping my eyes locked on his. Would they be willing to spend extra on a camera? I could buy fewer clothes and get a camera instead.
“You don’t need to worry about money, and we’d like to purchase the camera for you.” Zadimus’s hard voice surprises me, and his eyes turn onyx as he slams his hand on the counter. “If I knew you had the camera when the fucking mutts took you, we would’ve gotten that, too!”
My jaw drops in surprise at the vehemence of his anger. I’m unsure of what to say but know I should say something, so I decide to take the risk of being near him while he’s angry. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I step closer to him.
Shakily, I place my hand on his arm and force my hand to stay still, so I don’t caress the soft material of his shirt. “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known they took my camera. I loved it, but at least I’m away from there. The main thing is I’m alive and safe.”
His eyes soften and slowly change back to purple, and I breathe a sigh of relief at not making the situation worse. He shocks me by pulling me closer, and my body tenses without permission. He doesn’t let go. I’ve seen the raw power he has, but something deep inside me knows he wouldn’t use it against me. My body relaxes against him. My lungs fill with a musky smell and something else underneath—it’s completely unique to him. It’s nice, subtle even, and I could happily stay in his arms for the rest of time if he allowed it.
My body tenses, and my eyes snap open. Where the hell did that come from? I step out of his embrace and awkwardly straighten my clothes while staring at the floor. Exposed and knowing all three of them watch me, likely waiting for me to lift my head and make them privy to my thoughts, I purposely keep my head down and step away from the comfort Zadimus offers.
I point my thumb over my shoulder and hastily say, “I-I-I better wait out there. Cassius will be ready to go s-s-soon.”
Slamming my mouth shut, I accidentally bite my tongue and feel relieved when I don’t taste blood. The relief quickly turns into disappointment, though, when I remember Idris’s tongue stroking against my wounded palm. What would it feel like to have his tongue against my own?
Shocked once again by the direction of my thoughts, I bolt for the kitchen door. In my haste to escape, I accidentally slam it when I pull it shut. I stand in the empty hallway, trying to calm my racing mind and heart.
With a groan, I bump my head against the door a few times. They’ve been nothing but nice to me, and I’m having all these whacky thoughts. I don’t know what to make of them or how to deal with them. I’m not a people person with the first clue on how to manage the situation. I’ve read books, and I know the workings of attraction and sex. I briefly had a crush on a co-worker once, but because I was a bumbling idiot and didn’t know what to say or do, it never went anywhere. I’m a twenty-five-year-old virgin. What the hell do I know about all these feelings?
A loud droning noise catches my attention and pulls me away from my pity party. Scanning the area, my forehead scrunches when my gaze lands on a weird-looking tent across from me in the hallway. Was that there last night? I don’t remember seeing it. From what’s visible, a zipper seals the front, and a tie secures it to the wall on the back. Before curiosity can get the better of me and I’m able to inspect it more, Cassius speaks up, making me jump in shock.
“Is everything all right, Miss Willow?”
My head whips towards the stairs. Cassius stands on the bottom step with a frown. His steps silent as he came down the stairs.
“Are you okay? It’s… I can’t help noticing you seem to be in some distress.” His smooth voice calms my too-frayed nerves.
I straighten up but turn my attention to the floor while I fight to control my thoughts. It’s then I remember Cassius is unable to read my thoughts but is an empath instead, so I let my eyes lock
with his. “I’m fine. A-are you ready?”
His eyes narrow briefly at me, and I’m not dumb enough to think he isn’t trying to figure out if he should push the issue or not. A moment of silence passes as I wonder if he’ll call me on my lie.
Finally, he nods. “I am.” He gestures towards the front door. “After you, Miss Willow.”
I stop short of leaving though when I remember the instructions the guys gave me about two vampires needing to follow me around. “Will the two vampires the brothers got to guard me be coming with us too?”
Cassius lowers the hand he used to gesture to the door. “Hestia and Raoul?” At my nod, he continues, “They won’t. You’ll be out in the human world, so while there will be vampires around, you won’t be in any danger. Plus, you’ll have me there. I might be an old fool, but they trust me to keep you safe.”
With a nod, I open the front door and step outside. The sunlight makes me squint, so I stand at the top of the steps, not daring to venture too far in case I fall down them. Once my eyes adjust, I admire everything I was too scared to take in yesterday.
A circular driveway wraps around a huge pool with surprisingly no fountain but with an ungodly statue resting in the middle and little vampires carved into the stone around the pool’s sides. What I thought was only several cottage-style houses surrounding the main house turns out to be thirty or forty different cottages. By the manicured landscaping in the front or decorations on the house, some are occupied while others appear empty because they lack any adornment. Perhaps when things settle more, I might be allowed to move into one of those, so the guys don’t have the human around them constantly.
The early, crisp morning air brushes against my skin, and I take a moment to enjoy it. I can’t believe it was only yesterday I was brought here. It feels as though a lifetime has passed since enjoying the sun against my skin didn’t bring with it the fear of being hurt.