Amaranthine (Willow Shadows Book 1)

by Lanie Jacobs

  Crap. How can I stop?

  They were too far in, and there was no going back. He had a potent taste of what he wanted, and he wasn’t about to give it up now. He greedily pulled her down on top of him as he laid back on the riverbank. A louder moan escaped her lips, and that’s all he needed to be compelled. He rolled over on top of her, pressing his body to hers. He could feel the instantaneous change of her breathing accelerating under him, rising to a peak that he knew was all too dangerous but being the selfish bastard he was, his want for her over shadowed everything, and before he could put his own desperate need aside, it was too late.

  Khalida sank her fangs into his neck.

  CHAPTER 3

  The sensation of Khalida’s mouth on his neck sent overwhelming sensations throughout his body. A low passionate moan escaped from him, relinquishing any and all thoughts about stopping. Instead of listening to his head, he let his predatory senses take over. Drawn by the pulsating beats along her neck, Luke leaned down and let out a sigh filled with hunger and satisfaction as his elongated fangs bore deep into her neck.

  Dammit! Pull away. Do it now.

  But it was already too late. Luke knew lines had already been crossed. There was no turning back now.

  Holy hell, Mother of…dammit!

  His rationale was replaced with raw need, the need to take her in and make her his tore through his body. The longer he touched her, the more he took her in. He brought her closer, wrapping his arms around her, taking in every second of the moment. Her predatory senses were in full swing as she took more from him with every swallow. A few minutes passed before he had a moment of clarity. Abruptly, he pulled away, got up and took a few cautious steps back, leaving Khalida in a daze. Telling Khalida everything she was destined for wasn’t what Luke had in mind tonight. In the minutes or even seconds to come, once she realized what they were doing, would he even be able to calm her? This was seriously not the way he had planned to tell her. Like it or not, she would have to be ready.

  For the most part.

  Whether she would like it or not, Khalida would know everything tonight. Luke had never been sheltered like she had been, not knowing who or what she was growing up to be. Part of Luke knew the reason Fatin had kept it hidden from her all this time. None of them were sure she would transcend, and it was the not knowing part that kept Fatin hopeful that Khalida would be spared from the change. There were known cases of hybrids never changing over; those kinds went on with their lives without any complications. Khalida was different though. Luke had known she was different from the moment his eyes fell upon her.

  Luke was raised so differently than her that it seemed unfair to keep the truth hidden from Khalida. He knew now she would definitely be going through the change. How in the world was he going to explain to her what was happening? He couldn’t even begin to comprehend what would go through her mind. Luke never had the truth hidden from him. He would never go through the change from “normal” to “vampire”. Being a full bred vampire from birth, he was born into the way he was and would never know how it would feel to transcend.

  Hey, Khalida, don’t worry. You’re a hybrid vampire. On your eighteenth birthday, you’re going to change into a vampire. Really? What the hell? This shit only happens in the movies.

  He knew she was going to flip her shit and was nowhere near as prepared as she should have been. Growing up, he heard stories about his kind, stories that seemed unreal and made up by humans that were chalked up to folklore or some fairytale made up by someone with an overactive imagination. There were stories of people transforming into otherworldly immortals, creatures of the night, people known as bloodsuckers. Some of the stories his mother would tell him scared the crap out him when he was little, but he out grew those foolish thoughts. Now, nothing in this world scared him until Josephine told him of the bond that would happened between Khalida and himself. He always wondered why his mother would put their names together with fate and destiny, but as he got older, he began to understand how various types of markings would bring them together. It was not normal, but for their kind, it wasn’t unusual to be fifteen and know who their mate would be; battling two worlds, Luke fought the truth, attempting to fight the pull he felt towards Khalida until he could no longer deny the change was coming and a new life was inevitable.

  All that fighting was useless now. Now we’re blood bonded.

  As fate would have it, three years after his mother told him he would be bonded to her, here they were, biting each other on the neck.

  Great. Just fanfuckintastic. How in the hell am I supposed to explain this to her? She is really about to flip her shit.

  ~Khalida~

  The moment Khalida felt the thick liquid flow into her mouth and down her throat, releasing a coppery taste over her taste buds, an intense feeling of overwhelming energy burst through the limbs of her body. It felt like soft flowing surges shooting through each of her veins, a pulsating pleasure that sent all of her senses exploding into hyper drive. She gripped the back of Luke’s head, pulled him closer, tightening the grip on his neck.

  OH, MY GOD! WHAT THE HELL!

  Khalida released the hold she had on Luke’s neck, pulling back to look at him.

  Stunned, she stared at him in disbelief. Looking into his eyes for answers, she noticed his eyes, once a muted shade of blue now darkened to an ominous, breath-taking glow, sapphire in color. Khalida watched as the light from the moon played across his face, the realm of what just happened still not fully sinking in.

  “You are so beautiful right now, Khally,” Luke said, daring to get close enough to run his fingers through her hair. Khalida immediately looked away, embarrassed at the compliment. Off in the distance, she noticed a group of kids from school, laughing and dancing just past the tall trees that led down to the lake. With a sudden rush of realization, Khalida focused her eyes on the scene down the path.

  Are you kidding me? Pinch yourself.

  “OUCH!” she barked.

  “Did you really just pinch yourself, Khally?” Luke spoke, restraining the laugh that boiled within.

  What the…oh, holy hell. This is real, which means I just bit Luke. I had his blood in my mouth? I drank his blood!

  Khalida jumped to her feet and quickly took two steps back, staring at Luke. She was in shock as she spoke, her voice quivering under the strain of a whisper fueled by a desire to scream.

  “What the hell just happened?” she said, her voice barely a whimper.

  Luke stared at her, and she could see he was totally okay with what she had just done, as if everything were okay.

  “Oh. My. God. Luke! I bit you, a-and, you bit me back!” hysteria started to build up in the back of her throat.

  This isn’t real. Am I going crazy? No. I’m sane. Luke is crazy. This is real. I actually drank his blood. I literally grew fangs, fangs that had sprouted from my mouth and bit Luke.

  Khalida’s body went numb and her legs began to give out. She couldn’t catch herself before she tumbled forward, landing on the ground. If she had hurt her knees during the fall, she couldn’t feel it. She knew that she couldn’t stand, couldn’t run, couldn’t hide, and couldn’t think. All she could do was just stay there on her knees.

  Luke didn’t move, staying carefully in the same place. He kept his normal carefree demeanor, making sure he kept his distance from her. Khalida just watched blankly as Luke silently stood there, watching her, with a fierce, almost predatory glare in his eyes. There were noises coming from the direction of the bonfire. His eyes narrowed and he tilted his head like he was listening for something in the distance and then returned his sight back to her. She imagined he was probably wondering what she was going to do or say next. He still didn’t look surprised. He gave nothing away as she stared at him. She just bit him, drank his blood, and, yet, he just stood there calm and unperturbed.

  Fear and confusion suddenly turned
to anger.

  “What the hell just happened?” Khalida spat, again, as she straightened up.

  He laughed.

  Did he really just laugh at me?

  “We’re not like normal people, Toot.”

  “Stop calling me that!”

  No freaking kidding! Being normal doesn’t consist of growing freaking fangs, you smartshit!

  “Nowhere in my life have I ever heard of it being normal to grow fangs and bite your freaking boyfriend!” Khalida screamed.

  “Calm down and let me explain,” Luke replied, trying to be reasonable.

  Yeah. Freaking. Right.

  Jumping to her feet, Khalida was ready to take off like Julia Roberts in The Runaway Bride.

  “Don’t do it, Khally. I will catch you before you get no more than five feet,” Luke warned with a confident smile that he unsuccessfully tried to hide.

  Screw you!

  Khalida turned her back to him and darted off, running as fast as she could, but just like he said, before she got five feet away from him, there he was in front of her with his arms wrapped around her waist.

  “Let go of me!” she grunted through her gritted teeth, “and get that cocky smirk off of your face before I wipe it off for you!”

  The hold he had on her was tight, her arms bound to her waist so she couldn’t claw out at him. So, she compromised and kicked his shins as hard as she could, then stomping on his foot, fighting with every ounce of herself. She may not get away from him, but she damn sure was going to let him know she was there with every kick and stomp.

  Catching her off guard, Luke quickly turned her around and crossed her arms in front of her, catching her legs between his so she couldn’t use them as deadly weapons. Khalida knew he wouldn’t hurt her. Calming down, she gave up any fight she had left as she pressed her back to his chest and sighed in defeat. He leaned down so that his mouth was right next to her ear and softly whispered, “Listen to me. You need to calm down. What just happened is normal for our kind. It’s how we survive. You and I are what some might call vampires, Khalida. Well, actually I’m a vampire and you’re currently turning into a vampire. Now that you have bitten me, my blood is flowing through your veins. Your transformation has begun,” he spoke calmly but left no room for argument.

  Khalida held her breath as he talked, waiting, and listening for any sign that he was just playing. Hoping he was lying to her, she waited for something, anything that would tell her this wasn’t happening, but nothing came.

  He is serious. Dead serious.

  “You’re crazy! LET ME GO!” she struggled to get out of his hold, but it got her nowhere except trapped in a tightened grip.

  After a few minutes passed, he exhaled loudly as he tried speaking to her quietly once more.

  “If you stop struggling, and promise not to try and run away, again, I’ll let you go, but, if I can’t trust you to stay calm and be rational, I’m not letting you go.”

  Tears started to escape down her cheeks, “How can I be rational? Vampires don’t exist. You’re telling me I’m a vampire, you’re a vampire.”

  “Then why did you bite me?” he said softly as his grip on her eased.

  “Why now? What did I do?” Khalida sobbed.

  “Nothing. You did nothing wrong, Khally. You’re only half-vampire, a half-breed. A half-breed’s transformation usually begins around their eighteenth birthday if their human side isn’t the most dominating side. It usually depends on the blood line on whether or not they undergo the change. You carry the mark of our ancestors. That birthmark on your wrist, the one you try to cover up is such a mark. Only one every few hundred years are born with that mark.”

  “So I’m a blood sucker?” her voice cracked as a sob escaped, “I have to kill people? Oh, God, I’m a monster!”

  Khalida felt Luke’s body relax as he softly laughed.

  “We don’t kill people, and no, you are not a monster. Although a few seconds ago…”

  Khalida quickly cut him off by elbowing him in his stomach. He gently rested his forehead on the back of her head as he finished, “We sustain our hunger by feeding off of each other. The ones that are blood bonded feed off their mate, the ones who aren’t use a donor of the opposite sex. It’s never a forced thing. It’s always a willing host,” his shoulders began to slump, and Khalida could tell there was more to come.

  “You have to listen to me, Toot. You’re unique. There are very important things you must be aware of. I know how sudden this all is for you, but you must listen carefully and take this seriously. On the eve of your birthday, when your transformation is complete, you will receive a certain kind of power, maybe more than one. You are extremely rare. You will be sought out by other vampires, evil ones, who are seeking to attain this power, and they will stop at nothing to gain it. You being marked means if they drain you of your blood, they will get your power, and you will die.”

  Khalida’s first thoughts were of her mom and fear rippled through her mind at the thought of her mother getting hurt because of her.

  “My mom?” Khalida asked.

  “She knew this day was a probability. Fatin is one of us. Your grandmother was a full blood; your grandfather on the other hand was a Halfling like you. She knew what you were long ago. That’s why she came here, so we could protect you from the Ubil’s. We only have to worry about Braedon, Fala, and the ones that are in their direct circle. Many of our kind have heard of the marked ones but to most of us, it’s just folklore. It seems that the Ubil’s have challenged and taken out anyone who even thought of coming after you. As you will soon find out, their clan isn’t one you want to mess with. Nobody in their right mind will go against them, but only those who want to commit suicide will go against us.”

  “You all lied to me. My entire life has been a fucking lie!” Khalida finally snapped.

  “It’s not like I didn’t know I was different, but you people let me believe there was something wrong with me. I knew I wasn’t like anyone else, but you all strung me along, hiding the truth. What is wrong with you people? What made you decide to wait to tell me all this now? Why couldn’t you tell me before I decided I wanted to eat my boyfriend?” her anger flowed.

  “Khally, I’ve never had a normal life. None of us have. Your mom wanted to let you be normal for as long as possible. I think she was hoping your human side would be the most dominate side and you would be able to lead a normal happy life. We weren’t sure your transformation would come at all. You’re a special breed. There has never been a Halfling marked and not one that has ever lived as long as you have. Like I said, none of us were sure that this day would even come. We set everything in order just in case. And it has happened, so here we are. Due to your bite, your transition has been started and within the next few weeks, it will all be over. There is no turning back now.”

  “Screw you. I’m out of here.”

  “What are you going to do? Walk home?”

  “No, I thought that since I’m a freaking vampire I’d just fly my happy self there!” she snapped back sarcastically.

  She turned to leave and was surprised Luke didn’t make a move to follow her.

  How can he really let me walk? Wha…grrr…what a Jerk!

  “Just so you know, Toot, that’s a myth. We really can’t fly.”

  Khalida huffed and continued down the walk way back to the house. Refusing to go back and ask for a ride, she decided she would walk all the way home if she had to.

  CHAPTER 4

  She was half way home still stomping with every step she took when she was surprised to hear a car pull up behind her.

  If he thinks for one minute he’s going to let me walk five miles and then come to my rescue, his ass has another thing coming. Don’t look back, keep walking. Let him stare at my ass as I walk away. Yup, I’m still pissed, and he’s still a jerk.

  She kept moving f
orward until she heard her name.

  “Khalida?” the voice said and she froze where she stood, fear gripping her chest.

  Oh, God, help me. That’s not Luke.

  Carey.

  “Leave me alone, Carey. I’m not in the mood to put up with you tonight,” she spoke as she turned to face him, way too mad to think straight and too proud to back down.

  Facing him, she stood toe to toe, claiming her ground and determined not to let fear take its grip over her after seeing the look of hate that boiled on the surface of his face. She was desperately hoping he would take the hint and just let it go, but from the look in his eyes, he wasn’t about to let her demeanor deter him.

  “Where’s your boyfriend now when you need him the most?” he took a dangerous predatory step forward.