by Cece Rose
I descend the stairs, aware of every sound I make as I tiptoe my way down. Finally, I reach the bottom. I cast my eyes around, seeing nobody present. I head towards the front door, I'm about to open it when I hear the faint sounds of talking from the other side. The bastard has people outside the door!
I grind my teeth and turn around. There's got to be another way out of this place. I walk back past the stairs and down a hallway. As I creep along I notice a light shining from under one of the doors. I slow my pace as I walk past, not wanting to make noise and draw attention to myself.
I hear talking as I walk past the door. Cyrus’ voice. I find myself pausing, wanting to hear what's going on.
"I don't care if the shipment was fucking delayed. You fucking sort it out or it'll be your damn head on my chopping block." There's silence for a moment. "I don't fucking care how you damn well do it, but you will. I don't care if you have to lick that runt’s asshole!" he shouts. I jump back and crash into a body.
A hand covers over my mouth, catching my scream. I turn slowly and find myself staring at the pale, tattooed guy from the club. He places a finger over his lips. I nod my head to show I understand, and he removes his other hand from my mouth.
I hear another voice coming from inside the room, Alex. "Did Fish sound like he was about to crap his pants?"
Cyrus laughs. "About to? The weasel definitely did. He'll get it sorted." They both laugh and I hear some moving around behind the door. I press my ear against it to hear better. The tattooed guy just stands silently watching me. I don't get why he isn't objecting to me listening in to this, or the fact I was blatantly making an escape attempt, but he just stands there, waiting for me to be done.
"We need to talk about the friend," Alex's voice says, the tone losing all its earlier humour.
"James still isn't back?" Cyrus asks.
"No, he isn’t. You know doing it eats him up inside when it fails, he's probably drinking away his guilt somewhere. He hasn't even called to check in or confirm, Cy. I think we need to take him off the sire list, he's not cut out for it."
"We'll discuss it when he returns. But we all must share the burden of our failures."
"What..." Alex's voice waivers. "What are you planning to tell Lena?" My eyes widen at the mention of my name, and I press closer to the door.
"Nothing. The less she knows the better. I'm not risking our bond over some dead human." Dead human?
"What if she figures it out for herself?"
"She won't. We're not going to tell her about our population management program. She's being kept far away from it. What she doesn't know, can't hurt her."
"But—"
"—But nothing! Alex, you step too far, and I'll have your throat, my second or not. Do you understand?"
"Yes. I understand just fine."
“Good. End of conversation. Now, have you got the documents from Jonathan?”
“Yes, they’re—”
Pale guy places a hand on my shoulder, pulling me back away from the door, tears silently stream down my face as I turn to look at him.
I open my mouth to say something, but he quickly covers it again with his hand and shakes his head. He jerks his head in the direction towards the back of the house, and then he releases his cover of my mouth and walks silently in the direction he indicated. I trail after him slowly.
He opens a door to our left and gestures me in. I step inside breathing in the smell of petrol as he flicks on a light, illuminating the space. I notice we’re in a large garage, with three cars parked inside. He walks over to a black Range Rover, and pulls open the passenger door, indicating for me to get in. I stare hesitantly, not getting into the vehicle.
“Did he…did he just?” I stumble the words out, trailing off, unable to complete the sentence. It might not be true. He said there wasn’t confirmation. I try to console myself slightly with hope, but they didn’t sound particularly hopeful before. They didn’t sound like they gave a damn, either.
“We don’t have the time for this now, Selena,” he hisses. “Get in the car!”
“Why the hell would I go anywhere with you?”
“You can either stay here and never get away from that monster, or get in the damn car. It’s pretty simple.”
“How do I know you’re not worse? That I’m not trading one evil for another?”
He sighs, clearly exasperated. “You don’t, but I’m giving you a choice. You can stay, or you can come with me, I’ll get you away from him, and if you want, you can go on your way. It’s up to you.” I contemplate it for a moment, before jumping into the car. Anywhere is better than here, and I don’t see how I can get away without him now.
He walks around to the other side and climbs in, starting up the car immediately. As he drives up towards to the garage door, it starts to open automatically, lifting outwards.
He drives slowly out of the garage and down the drive, but when he reaches the road, he steps on it, speeding us the hell out of there.
We drive in silence for a while as I contemplate the events of the past two days. There is only one thing I am sure of, if me meeting Cyrus Hunter was fate, fate can go fuck itself. It can fracture and shatter into tiny little pieces. Cyrus is a monster, a mistake. A mistake I don’t intend to make.
“I don’t even know your name,” I say softly, breaking the silence.
“Erik, it’s nice to properly meet you, Selena.”
“Nice. Nothing about this is nice,” I reply, rolling my still wet eyes. I wipe my hand across my face brushing away the tear. I need to get a grip. They’re wrong. Melissa is fine, I’d feel it if she were gone. I flick my dark hair behind my ears and out of my face. I turn towards Erik, and he glances back at me.
“It is for me, I’ve been waiting to meet you,” he responds.
“For what, a day? Get real,” I scoff.
“I’ve been waiting for a long time, Selena. I’ve waited years.”
End of Part one. Turn the page for a short sneak peek at part two, Twisted Fate!
Twisted Fate
They’re outside my damn mother’s house, again. Three of them this time, none of whom I recognise. Two in a grey car parked down the street and another sitting on a wall across the road from the house, not even bothering to hide his guard on the place. There’s no way I’m getting in there without being seen. I sigh and turn around, heading back through a neighbour’s garden to avoid detection. I cross through the small woodland area around the back of the houses. As I reach the edge of the trees I spot Erik leaning up against his car, his new car, anyway, an older Mercedes this time. This is the fourth car he’s switched to in the past two weeks. Paranoid bastard.
“So?” he calls out cheerfully.
“Fine, you were right. They’re still fucking there, three this time,” I grumble. I jump straight into the car, not wanting to stand around listening to his, ‘I told you so’ speech. The same one he’d been repeating since helping me escape. He seemed to enjoy reminding me regularly that I’d be doomed without him, captured ten times over. I’d like to disagree, but when I think of the close calls we’ve had I just can’t. There’s no way I’d have kept out of Cyrus’ grasp without him, so we were stuck together, for now. Me, because I needed him to keep me safe from Cyrus and him…well, I haven’t quite worked that out yet.
About the Author
Cece Rose is the proud owner of one dog, four turtles and one annoying boyfriend.
She hails from Devon in the South-West of England but dreams of sunny skies and sand between her toes. Although, whenever abroad she will moan about the heat and the sand that gets everywhere.
She has largely convinced all who know her that she is a vampire, mainly due to her nocturnal habits. in reality, it’s because her creativity only ever strikes when the sky is dark and the stars are shining. (Plus, it’s actually quiet enough to concentrate on writing.)
You can find Cece on Facebook and Twitter. And don’t forget to join her Demon Den!
Othe
r Titles by the Author
THE DESDEMONA CHRONICLES
A Demon’s Blade – Released: May 2017
A Demon’s Debt – Coming: Late 2017
FATED SERIAL
Fractured Fate – Released: July 2017
Twisted Fate – Coming: August 2017
GREY WITCH SERIES
Black Spells & Twisted Souls – Coming: Late 2017
Authors Note
Thank you so much for reading. I’m hoping you enjoyed reading this first part of the serial! If you enjoyed it, the best way to let me know is to leave a quick review on Amazon! It doesn’t have to be super long! Just a star rating and a few words would mean the world! (And totally motivate me to write part two quicker ;) haha!)