by Jenna Bernel
“Hahahaha! And why on earth would I do that? This will be so much more fun, Daniella.” I hear the nasty cackle from behind me and spin around, crouching in a defensive stance. She is good; I didn’t even hear her enter through the door. I have to fight to keep my mouth from opening in surprise. She looks so young. I knew this, and yet it still shocks me. She is wearing a black floor-length silk coat and leather pants, looking just like the witch she is. The black ensemble is a sharp contract to her paper-white skin, and blunt-cut chin-length blonde hair. Despite her flawless beauty and sunny features, she is cold. I can feel it even from here. It’s like she has sucked any sign of life out of the room when she entered, leaving a blizzard of evil in her wake.
I resist the urge to swallow down the lump in my throat and look back at Evan and Kate, who are still staring blankly ahead, unaware how close they are to death. I return my attention to Stella and straighten up from my crouch. We’d be the same height if she wasn’t in heels. I square my shoulders and look her in the eye. A creature with no soul will have no sympathy for weakness or even tolerate it.
“Stella,” I say coolly, giving her a single nod to acknowledge her existence. Her eyebrows arch, seemingly surprised by my confidence, considering the predicament I’m in.
“Daniella,” she says back flatly, as if mocking me. “Shall we begin?” she asks, stepping past me to stand in between Evan and Kate, and my instincts spike again. You can practically choke on the rosewater perfume billowing from my neck as I fight the urge to leap on her shoulders and snap her neck in half. Stella eyes me with those glacial eyes that are so blue that they’re almost white. She takes in a deep breath of my power trying to fog over her dark presence.
“My, my, you are a unique soul, aren’t you? Christoph must be so proud,” she states rhetorically, and my cells begin to implode one by one as the ice inside them pierces free.
“What would you know about souls?” I bark. It just slipped out. I’m losing it! I bite down on my tongue until it bleeds. Her features sink and her eyes turn to slits. She closes them briefly and again Evan and Kate jolt like they’ve been electrocuted. They both blink rapidly as they come back to consciousness. Stella has released her Trance, and I tighten my jaw when the snide smile spreads across her face. Kate screams as she comes to. The vamp holding her to the chair briefly drops the knife to tie her up.
“Get the fuck off me!” Evan shouts as he struggles against the vamp holding him when he gets out his zip ties. I eye the knife and consider my options.
“You can’t possibly be that naïve,” Stella says with another cackle, following my thought process. She picks up the knife and hands it back to her guard. When she speaks to me, it’s like I’ve become real in the room, and that’s when Kate and Evan lay their eyes on me. The shock and horror and confusion on their faces is more than I can bear.
“Dani? What’s happening?” Kate whimpers as tears stream down her face. The bouncer finishes tying the zip ties on her hands and feet and returns to his stance holding the knife to her neck. Evan just sits there immobile as his guard finishes tying him, staring at me like I am the elusive Lock Ness monster.
“Just try to stay calm, it’ll be okay,” I say to Kate foolishly, because obviously we’re all screwed.
“What’s wrong with you?” Evan finally speaks. His eyes are fixated on me with concern as he takes in my vamp form—my darkened vamp form, to be exact, which is even harder to hide. Here he is tied up with a knife to his throat and he’s worried about me? I would lay my body on that knife right now for him.
“Ahhh, the million-dollar question. What’s wrong with her?” Stella claps her hands and two bouncers are at my sides instantly, forcing me to my knees. I lift my head just enough to keep my gaze on my friends. Stella waves her hand and the two vamps step back to the wall, but she gives me a glare, warning me to stay there on my knees. I feel a snarl snake its way up my throat. My fangs spring from my teeth as I hiss at her and this demeaning act. It’s too much. She knows she’s testing my vamp instincts, and I’m failing. Evan and Kate press back into their chairs when they take me in. They both begin to shake as they go into shock.
“Mmmm, she’s coming along quite nicely, don’t you think?” Stella asks to them as she slowly circles me with a pleased expression. “But what would tip her over the edge, I wonder?” Stella snaps her fingers and the vamps holding Evan and Kate grab their hair, tipping their heads back to further expose the soft tissue of their necks.
“No!” I reach out, but again the two vamps are at my side, holding me back.
“Time to choose, Daniella. Which one do you love more?” The amusement in Stella’s voice is revolting, and I snarl at her once again. Before I can stop myself, my palms connect with the guards at my sides. With all my strength I push them off, catapulting one backward into the window and the other into the fireplace. The glass of the window splinters like a spiderweb, almost sending him through, and I kick him square in the chest, finishing the job. He goes sailing down the length of the skyscraper. The shattered window leaves little protection against the winter wind now whipping through the living room, blowing out the candle sconces.
“Impressive,” Stella states, looking a little bored while she inspects her red fingernails. I face her and twenty new guards enter the room. I heave as I take in their scents, gauging how many Infinities are among them. The answer is all of them. Four more approach me, and I eye Evan and Kate, knowing how this will end if I try to take them all on. I step to the center of the room and reluctantly get on my knees, just like Stella wants.
“That’s better,” Stella says, patting my head like a dog, and I continue to heave, rapidly falling off the edge of this cliff just like the vamp I sent through the window. With all the breaths I’m taking in, I catch a scent of the ocean and freeze.
“Alec,” I whisper under my breath.
“Ha! Even from here? So much like me and my David.” Stella nods, and a few of the guards exit the room.
“I’m nothing like you. I’d never be able to live with what you’ve become.” I say it so vamp that Evan’s eyes widen as he looks at me like I’m nothing but a stranger to him.
Stella bends down and yanks on my hair until my neck is exposed to her. She slowly grazes her fangs along my neck, just short of breaking the skin, before she reaches my ear.
“You’d be surprised what you can live with, little girl,” she whispers coldly before dragging me up by my hair until I’m standing. Shit, she’s strong. I’m not sure if I can take her. I get the feeling that Trancing gift is the tip of the iceberg of her power. She lets me go roughly and moves to stand in front of my friends, holding out her hands.
“Now choose!” Stella commands, and my mouth opens in a gape. They’re both still shaking, too afraid to speak.
“I can’t,” I murmur softly for vamp ears only.
“You must,” she retorts, and my insides twist in agony as a shadow coats over my heart and I collapse to the ground once more.
“Fascinating…” she breathes, coming closer to inspect me.
“Stop,” I hear Eli plead from behind me, and immediately smell Alec’s magic cologne. I want to look up to confirm he’s truly alive, but I can’t move. I feel like I’m solidifying from the inside out. Stella reaches down and forces my chin so the last thing I see are her dead icicle eyes before the guards wield their knives and make a cut on Kate and Evan’s necks. They scream in pain, knocked out of their shock by this violence, and it pierces a needle into my soul. Blood oozes from the side of their necks and they hold up their zip-tied hands, frantically trying to stop the flow. The gash is small enough, but with their adrenaline pumping, it won’t take long for them to bleed out. Overcome by panic, an earsplitting shriek breaks out from my lips, and I’m on my feet only to be stopped by ten guards.
“Which one should I save?” Stella asks me, baring her fangs as she bends down to Evan’s neck.
“Don’t touch him!” I scream. That wouldn’t be saving him a
t all.
“Very well.” In a lightning flash, she bites Kate, who shrieks out in anguish as the venom finds her veins. The guard picks Kate up to take her out of the room. The last thing I see are the tremors rippling through her while she turns.
Evan’s face is covered in blood as he desperately wipes at his neck, trying to stop the bleeding before he passes out or gets bitten. I turn to the door, scrabbling for an answer, when I see Alec behind me and Eli crumpled on the floor beside him, surrounded by more vamps. He’s only a stride behind me, and I extend my arm just enough for his hand to find mine. Our eyes lock when our hands connect, and something inside me snaps back. I feel a spike of warmth up my arm returning to my heart, his ocean-blue eyes looking right down into my soul.
Everything’s a haze of chaos. I don’t even know what’s happening. It’s like I’m locked in a tornado. I dodge the flying debris of vamps and burning embers, stepping over the ones who’ve fallen to their demise, now turning to ash. I leap to Evan’s chair that’s been knocked over and scoop up his slumped body—passed out or dead; I’m not sure which. I can’t feel his heartbeat, and there’s too much commotion to hear it.
I can barely see through the blur of wind and wreckage when Alec’s arm wraps around me, pulling me backward. In two steps we’re in a swan dive out the shattered window. Eli’s quick to follow, rolling out of the window like a sack as we plummet to our deaths. There’s a burst of light swallowing the ground in darkness below. Then it all happens in slow motion as we fall, drifting weightlessly into the cold night air like snowflakes that will soon melt, ceasing to exist.
Chapter 24: Shattered
We surge through the Portal Jump and I land hard on my side. Evan rolls out of my arms and I reach out for his lifeless body. My vision is fuzzy, but I see my arms are covered in blood, and I’m not sure if it’s his or mine. I pull them back because every movement feels like pure agony. I see Alec bend down and take him away, but I’m too weak to lift my head.
“What happened?!” Roman says frantically, getting to his knees in front of me. He gently strokes the back of my hair and I scream from the pain.
“Don’t! It’s the Jump. She’s too far gone.” Eli crawls over to me, looking like the skin-and-bones version of the man I remember. What have they done to him? He collapses next to me, as if even the crawling is too much effort. He’s only inches from my face, so we’re eye to eye.
“Dani, stay with me. Come on.” I look at him and try to hold on to the light in his eyes, but I just want to go to sleep.
“Dani, no, open your eyes,” Eli commands, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I whimper Kate and Evan’s names as I slip away. I hear rock cracking and smell the ocean as I drift, feeling consoled by it. I’m no longer scared of my death. I always knew it would end this way.
“Dani, wake up. You have to wake up for me, baby, please.” Alec picks me up and the warmth ebbs the pain lancing through me, but only slightly. Kate’s a dark blood vamp and Evan’s probably dead. Wherever I’m going, I don’t deserve mercy. I’ll gladly take this pain every day if I could change the fate of my two best friends.
“Stella’s coming for Cali. I can’t do this without you.” Alec’s chest shakes and bucks as he rocks me in his arms, but I can barely hear his words.
“I’m your light, you’re my life. I love you, Dani,” he whispers, and I try to hold on to him, but I can’t move.
I sink deeper into the abyss taking me over and begin to shiver uncontrollably as it encases my soul. I will myself to swim out of the dark pool choking my insides with its toxic magic, but I feel like an angel with broken wings. If I don’t wake up and ascend into the light, I’ll be
forever fallen.
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TASTE FOR BLOOD: SAVOR (Nephil-Vamp Series, Book 4)
Coming Christmas 2016!
http://jennabernel.com
Other Jenna Bernel Books Now Available on Amazon!
Taste for Blood: Stir (Nephil-Vamp, 1)
Taste for Blood: Pour (Nephil-Vamp, 2)
The Secret Trinity: Unearth (Fae-Witch Trilogy,1)
The Secret Trinity: Ignite (Fae-Witch Trilogy, 2)
The Secret Trinity: Reign (Fae-Witch Trilogy, 3)
The Secret Trinity: Glass Castles (Fae-Witch Trilogy, Prequel Novella)