Rapid Pulse (Violet Memory Book 1)

by Odette Michael

  “What was that?” he asked rather calmly, taking his hand away from my mouth.

  “Gabriel has claimed me! After you left! He can kill you if you hurt me!”

  Much to my dismay, he only laughed.

  “I suppose you wouldn’t know, little hummingbird, but I sired Gabriel. He cannot kill me, claim or not. I suppose someone else could do it for him, but where’s the fun in that? Many have tried to kill me, and all have failed miserably.”

  My breath hitched. How had I forgotten so soon about him being Gabriel’s sire?

  “No,” I moaned.

  His hand went to my hair, jerking it back so my neck arched.

  “No!” I screamed just as his fangs sank into my neck.

  A girl with black hair and green eyes. Darkness. Hatred. Pain.

  It wasn’t long before Elias was shoved from me. I was thrown onto the bed in the center of the room, a shadow standing at the foot of it in front of me.

  Elias rose from the floor, a huge smile on his face. “This seems familiar. Gabriel, you should really get that window fixed. It’s all too easy to get in here,” he said flippantly, his lips red. I covered my neck with my hand, wincing at the pain.

  “This girl has been claimed by me.” Gabriel’s voice was calm, but I saw his shoulders shaking. “Leave.”

  “This is the second time you have stopped me, and all in one night. Could it be this easy? Could it happen to you so soon after meeting her?” Elias hissed menacingly, sending shivers all down my body.

  Faster than my eyes could truly see, Gabriel reached inside his black jacket and threw something toward Elias’s chest.

  Elias caught the blurred object. A wooden stake.

  “Older than you means faster than you. And stronger,” Elias said. He twirled the wood in his hand before throwing it back at Gabriel.

  There was a sickening thud, and Gabriel went to his knees just as Elias pounced toward me, my blood dripping from his mouth. He caged me with his arms, no hope for escape.

  “Even though you will die by my hand, little hummingbird, it will be Gabriel who betrays you.”

  Before I could make sense of his words, he blurred and disappeared. The dark red drapes billowed out from where he’d departed, the faintest light seeping inside before fading as the drapes fell back into place. The sun was going to rise any minute.

  I sat halfway up on the bed, stunned. Gabriel turned to me with pain in his eyes. The wooden stake protruded from his chest, maybe an inch away from his heart. Bright blood pulsed from around the wood and splattered onto the floor.

  I stared in shock as he put both hands around the stake. Without making a sound, he jerked it out, and it dropped to the floor. The oozing hole in his ivory skin sealed like magic.

  “And I just wanted to go to sleep,” he sighed. He got up and went to the covered window, his black boots crunching the broken glass. “I suppose I should have put you in another room. Why am I not thinking clearly?” he mumbled, each word quieter than the one before. He glanced at me darkly, like I was the reason he had made such a mistake.

  He went to the dresser and opened it, pulling out a dark blue T-shirt. He tugged his jacket and ruined shirt off, his stomach and chest muscles defined and bigger than I’d thought.

  Had he forgotten I was there? Was that why he was dressing in front of me, or did he just not care?

  His voice made me jump. “Are you all right?” he asked without looking at me.

  I sat there, dumbfounded. Had he really just asked me such a stupid question?

  “Kara?” His eyes finally flicked toward me after putting the new shirt on.

  I pressed my hand harder to my neck. “What do you think?” I shot. I felt weary and sick. I wasn’t sure how much more of all this I could take before my mind snapped.

  Gabriel came near me and leaned against the bedpost. “I think you are going to be more trouble than you are worth.”

  I stared at him, astonished “Well, I would hate to cause you any problems! Let me go, and let’s be done with this!” My voice was rising, nearing hysteria.

  Gabriel stared at my hand over my neck. His luminous eyes traced my hidden wound and then my body before resting on my face.

  New fear settled into me. There had been so much to be afraid of that I’d never even considered one of the worst things he could do to me. I went completely motionless. I had tried to be strong. Tried to endure this madness. But I couldn’t take much more. If that was done to me on top of everything else, I would be forever lost.

  He came toward me, his movements slow and predator-like. I backed up on the bed, wondering if I could reach the bloody stake on the ground, but his arms snaked out and gripped my shoulders, pushing my body back against the headboard. Before I could scream, those green orbs dominated my vision.

  “I am not going to hurt you,” he said carefully. “Hold still.”

  “Stop Controlling me!” I whimpered.

  “I’m not,” he said.

  I starting screaming when he lowered his head toward my exposed neck, but he covered my mouth with his hand, just like Elias. And just like Elias, his tongue slid over my pierced skin. I shivered against him, waiting for the pain.

  But it didn’t come. He let me go and stood up, his breathing somewhat heavy. His fangs were out.

  “Did you just . . . ?”

  “No. I only got the blood off. We are not going too far, but wandering around with blood on you is not a good idea.”

  “A simple towel would have sufficed!”

  He shrugged, his fangs sliding back into his gums. “Why? No point in wasting it.”

  He held a hand out to me. I smacked it away automatically.

  “Leave me alone!” I shrieked. “I can’t take this anymore!”

  His eyes widened at my voice, or maybe it was my pulse that alarmed him; I’d never felt it go so fast. My vision tilted as my stomach heaved, and I knew I was going to be ill.

  I jumped up and ran to the bathroom with one hand over my mouth. Barely making it to the toilet, I vomited up the water I had consumed earlier, acid burning my throat.

  I dizzily leaned against the wall, tears leaking from my eyes. And I sobbed. Sobbed until I thought my sides would split. I hated weakness, but I was far beyond trying to be brave.

  Who was I fooling? Vampires? Myself? I was scared. So scared.

  “Kara, it’s all right.”

  Inola stood in the doorway with Gabriel and some guy I didn’t recognize. His hair was light brown, and his blue eyes looked down at me in pity, glowing as if made of azure fire.

  I was crying too hard to talk. I just shook my head.

  Inola came near me with her palms facing up, like she was trying to show me she meant no harm. “You are hungry and scared. Some food and rest is what you need.”

  And I couldn’t believe what came out of my mouth next. I wasn’t even sure if I meant it. I only knew I was absolutely consumed by fear.

  “Kill me,” I whispered. I turned my watery eyes to the three of them, finally settling on Gabriel. “Just kill me! Get it over with already!”

  Gabriel’s face somehow went paler than it already was as Inola crouched down next to me. “Hush, child. No one is going to kill you.”

  “You’re lying! You said it was one of my three options!”

  The man next to Gabriel spoke to him quietly, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Gabriel closed his eyes and breathed deeply before opening them and coming halfway into the room, stopping when I scrambled farther away from him. His presence dominated the room, was the only thing I could focus on as my breathing raced a dangerous game with my pulse.

  “Kara,” Gabriel said slowly. “I cannot promise I won’t kill you.”

  “Gabriel,” Inola whispered, her voice disappointed.

  “Well, I can’t. But I can say that if I do kill you, it will be an accident.”

  I stared at him, mystified.

  Gabriel looked to the ceiling, his arms crossing over his chest. “T
hat is the best I can do. Now will you come eat something so I can go to sleep, or do I need to Control you? I cannot remember ever being this mentally exhausted.”

  I was stone. Inola studied me before turning to Gabriel. “Controlling her right now is the only way to help her. You should have done it sooner. You already Controlled her to drink your blood and to sleep before bringing her inside. What is the harm in one more time?”

  Gabriel pursed his perfect lips. “I hate Control. You know that.”

  I made myself speak, a task more difficult than it should have been. “How do I know you won’t kill me on purpose?”

  Gabriel’s sharp eyes penetrated me. “Because I would have done it by now.”

  I sat glued to the floor, speechless. How could I believe him? How could I ever trust him after the things he’d done to me?

  Inola smiled happily at Gabriel before turning to the mystery man. “I’ll be along in a moment, Thomas.”

  Thomas hesitated. He looked at me worriedly before nodding. “All right,” he said softly. He left, glancing once more at me over his shoulder.

  Despite their semi-comforting words, if you could even call them that, I couldn’t stop hyperventilating. I was beyond panic when Inola took my shoulders.

  Her bright eyes became hypnotic. “Calm down, and listen to me. You’re going to eat all the food on that plate in there. Then you’re going to brush your teeth, and go with Gabriel calmly to a spare bedroom.”

  My breathing returned to normal. I got up. Walked past them into Gabriel’s room. Picked up the plate. Ate the sandwich, which was so thick with peanut butter I could hardly swallow it. I ate the apple, and as I started to eat the core, Inola snatched it away from me. I hadn’t even noticed that they were still there.

  “Not the core,” she insisted, her eyes commanding.

  Shrugging, I went back into the bathroom and methodically brushed my teeth. I went to Gabriel after I finished—he had been watching me in the doorway. I could no longer see Inola.

  “I’m ready to go with you calmly to a spare bedroom,” I told him, my voice practical and even.

  Gabriel sighed and did something that should have sent me into a panic, but for some reason, I remained cool-headed. His hand went to my face, tracing my cheek with one finger hesitantly, as if he were unsure of everything.

  “I think I liked you better with your fire,” he whispered.

  “I’m ready to go with you calmly to a spare bedroom,” I repeated.

  He dropped his hand to my shoulder. “I hate Control,” he muttered as he lifted my curls and traced the new puncture marks on my neck. “Do these hurt?” he asked quietly.

  “I’m ready to go with you calmly to a spare bedroom.”

  He sighed again, taking my hand gently. “Come on, then.”

  I felt that holding his hand was no cause for alarm, and I walked with him as we went out into the hallway. Golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and beautiful, hand-painted pictures lined the white walls.

  Gabriel slowed down when he saw that I was craning my neck to see a certain one. It showed a shadowed man standing in the middle of a plain. He was looking at a silvery night sky that glowed with hundreds of planets and stars. But the man was so lonely, so desolate. He stood under a thousand beautiful wonders with no one to share it with.

  “Do you like that one?” he asked softly.

  I nodded. “It reminds me of you,” I answered bluntly, tonelessly. “But that’s not why I like it, because I despise you. I like it because I understand it.”

  He tugged me along. “Well, I did paint it. I . . . um, can show you some more sometime?” It sounded like a question.

  “Yes, ok,” I responded automatically. “I wish I could look at the stars, but I have always been too afraid of the dark to really look at them.”

  Gabriel stopped walking and studied me. His face was still expressionless, but there was something in his eyes. Something I couldn’t pinpoint.

  “Maybe one day I can talk with you like this under normal circumstances,” he said.

  “I’m ready to go with you calmly to a spare bedroom.”

  That unknown spark died in his eyes as he led me forward. He stopped in front of a mahogany door, taking a key from his pocket and slipping it into the lock. He gazed down at me, looking almost as if he were bracing himself.

  “After you,” he said, opening the door.

  I was about to enter, but then I saw glowing out of the corner of my eye. The unnatural glow of vampire eyes. At the end of the hallway were around half a dozen beautiful monsters. Some of them had looks of longing. Others were like Gabriel—nearly expressionless. I remained oddly at peace.

  Gabriel barely glanced in their direction. “Don’t mind them. It is mostly curiosity. Your pulse would make you stand out even in a large crowd of humans, and here your presence is impossible to ignore.”

  Just before I stepped inside the room, I glimpsed a familiar face. Emma was behind the small group, her fangs exposed, her eyes slits.

  I went inside. The room was similarly furnished but absent of personal touches. There was nothing on the walls except for unlit candles. There was no fire in the fireplace, no piano, and no easel.

  Like being drenched with a bucket of ice water, the calm was ripped away from me. I whirled around, my eyes saucers as I stared at Gabriel. His lips pursed, and as he was about to come inside, a slim hand touched his arm.

  “I am tired, Emma,” he said without looking at her.

  Emma’s face was as innocent as an angel. “But it has been three weeks since we have last made love.” Her eyes flicked to me. “I long for you, Gabriel. Come with me.”

  I half-ran toward the fireplace, grateful for Emma’s distraction. Despair filled me. There was no wood.

  Both of my arms were suddenly caught in a steel grip. Too intent on my own distress, I had not even noticed that Gabriel was inside. He had closed the door, and the box fan resting against the wall in the corner had been turned on. He pulled me up and turned me to face him.

  “Did you really think I was going to make that mistake again?” he said. Instead of anger, I saw satisfaction, like he’d expected no less.

  “I will kill you,” I hissed. “I don’t know when, but I will kill you!”

  He snickered. My eyes widened. Had he really just laughed?

  “Can you not see the irony here?” he asked. “The vampire is trying not to kill the human, and the human is trying to kill the vampire.” His snicker turned into genuine laughter. Then his face filled with confusion. “Why am I laughing at this?”

  I rolled my eyes and tried to break free of his hold on me. “Do you need a moment? Ugh, just let me go!”

  He did. I backed away, looking for an escape. I couldn’t touch the drapes, but maybe the door . . .

  He followed my eyes. “You really do not think before you do anything, do you? How far do you honestly think you will get?”

  I wanted to punch him. “Then what am I supposed to do?” I asked in a sugary voice. “Stay your prisoner and bow to your every command?”

  Gabriel walked toward the large, four-poster bed in the center of the room. “Sleep. You are supposed to go to sleep.”

  “I’m not sleeping next to you!” I screeched.

  He shrugged. “Then don’t. There is a couch, and there is also plenty of room on the floor.”

  I stared at him icily as he pulled his T-shirt over his head in one fluid motion. The room was dark, lit only by soft, golden light that came from a small lamp on an elegant nightstand, but I could clearly see every smooth muscle on his stomach and chest. My cheeks burning, I looked away quickly.

  I heard him unzip his jeans, and my embarrassment was completely replaced with sickening dread. I looked around in terror for some sort of weapon, wondering if I had the strength to break off a leg of one of the wooden chairs if I threw it hard enough. Doubting I could in time, I reached in vain for the empty fire poker stand near the fireplace. My hand grasping air, I whim
pered and slid to the cold floor.

  There was a small breeze, and my hair billowed around my face. He was beside me.

  “Are you ill?” he murmured.

  I made myself look at him. He must have had on a pair of shorts underneath his jeans. Surprise flitted inside his eyes when he saw the look of absolute terror on my face.

  “Are you going to . . . force yourself on me?” I asked so quietly I barely heard myself.

  True emotion burst across his features before settling into shock. “No! Of course not. Believe what you will about me, but I promise you, I would never do that.”

  Relief flooded through me. I had to believe him, or I would go insane.

  “Why do you look so surprised that I would think that?” I asked. “It’s not far-fetched, is it?”

  His face was paler than usual. “I will not deny there are vampires out there who would do as you say. Elias, for example, has even admitted to it. But Kara, that was not my intention for bringing you here. I have never done such a thing, and never have I even considered it.”

  “Because you have Emma, right?”

  Gabriel tilted his head and studied me as I swallowed hard and looked away. I had no idea why I’d said that.

  “I am not going to hurt you.”

  I concentrated on the floor, concentrated on the coldness seeping into my hands and legs. “You’ve already hurt me! You drank my blood and took me away, and then you almost killed me! And then you tell me you might kill me on accident!”

  He shifted and sat down cross-legged beside me. Unconsciously, I scooted away from him.

  “Kara . . . I do not want to hurt you. Ok?”

  My eyes were daggers. “Why?”

  He was silent. He seemed flustered, and he opened and closed his hands over and over, staring at them. Black hair fell into his eyes.

  “I am not sure,” he finally admitted.

  “Well, now I feel much better!” I shot, wrapping my arms around myself.

  He was quiet for several minutes. “I am sorry I hurt you.”

  I looked at him with wide eyes, so angry and shocked I didn’t even know what to say. It took at least five minutes for me to respond.

  “I don’t accept,” I hissed.