“Unprepared for the fall, I broke my leg and arm when I landed. The arm wasn’t bad, but the leg was a compound fracture, and I found myself staring at my bone while lying there.”
Dylan had jumped into the hole after her and, using her belt, he made a tourniquet for her leg, but it would only delay the inevitable. Dylan sat at her side and held her hand as he rocked back and forth while crying. She recalled his tears hitting her face while her heart broke.
Without her, he wouldn’t survive, and they had most likely fallen into a trap set by their enemy. Bleeding to death was not the way she wanted to go, but it was far preferable to what they would do to her son when they came.
She couldn’t let that happen, but she couldn’t stop her blood and life from seeping out to stain the ground while Dylan pleaded with her not to leave him.
“It wasn’t the hunters who came for us,” she said. “It was Mal. By the time he arrived, his blood wouldn’t have been enough to heal me, so he gave me a choice to become a vampire or die.”
“And you chose vampire.” For some reason, the idea of someone else’s blood in her, turning her, made his fangs tingle and his blood pressure rise. If it hadn’t happened, she would be dead, but another’s blood flowed through her veins when it should be his.
The thought astonished him, but before he could think on it too much, she continued.
“Yes,” she said. “I chose to live.”
But she never had a choice. One way or another, monster or not, she had to live for Dylan. Charlie never would have made the same choice if she were on her own, but she’d never regret what she’d done. She would die for her son, and she’d certainly live for him.
“And do you regret it?” he asked.
“No.”
“How often does this hunt happen?” he asked.
“The big hunt, which I was a part of and that they captured you for, occurs once a year. The ones who run this island sometimes bring other prey here to occupy themselves throughout the year.”
“How many other survivors are with you?”
“You’ll learn that when we get there.”
She wasn’t trying to be bitchy this time; she simply couldn’t reveal many of their secrets until Mal had a chance to meet Jack. She felt he was trustworthy, but in the end, it wasn’t her decision to make.
Jack recalled what she told him about her turning. “Who is Mal?”
Charlie contemplated if she should answer this or not, but she didn’t have to give away details about Mal himself or how many survivors there were. “He saved most of those in our group. I discovered one of them.” She’d found the last human who came to them, Sheila, wandering in one of the side tunnels.
“Mal was the first survivor. I’m sure, before Mal, there were others who evaded the hunt, but they were eventually found and killed off.”
“But Mal figured out a way to go underground,” Jack said.
Charlie hesitated, but he already knew the answer to this. “Yes.”
“So you’ve lived like a mole for the past three years?”
“You’re missing the most important part of your question.”
“And what’s that?” Jack asked.
“I’ve lived. It may not be ideal, but it’s better than the alternative.”
“Very true,” Jack said, but for some reason, he hated the idea of her wasting away beneath the earth.
However, he disliked the idea of her dead more. This strange, pretty woman was a complete enigma to him, and he liked it. She seemed determined to keep him at a distance, but he was eager to learn more about her.
It had been years since he had any interest in a woman outside of the bedroom. The last woman who intrigued him was before he became a vampire—his high school sweetheart, Libby Jo McCalister.
Even after all these years, he felt a twinge to his heart when he thought of L.J. with her wheat blonde hair, soft brown eyes, and radiant smile. She’d been his first love, and he’d been hers; they were inseparable when they dated throughout their senior year.
Then, she went to New York City for school, and he stayed in Massachusetts to go to college. Before she left, they vowed the distance wouldn’t dim their love, but by Christmas break, L.J. met someone else and their relationship was over.
She ended it over the phone, which Jack had been grateful for as he didn’t want her to see his tears. He hadn’t pleaded with her to change her mind, to stay with him; it wasn’t that he didn’t consider begging her not to leave him, but the words lodged in his throat. He barely managed a goodbye at the end of having his heart crushed.
Later that week, he returned the engagement ring he bought her. He never told anyone else about the ring; he couldn’t bring himself to admit how idiotic he’d been to think they would make it. He spent the rest of his freshman year nursing a broken heart while Mike and Doug tried to get him to get out and meet other women.
It wasn’t until the start of his sophomore year that he started feeling like his old self again, only he’d been determined to remain single for the rest of his life as the single life was much more fun. Now, after years alone, he realized that attitude was foolish, but it kept him going then.
From what Jack later learned through social media, L.J. married the man she left him for and had three children. When, seven years ago, at the age of forty-five, L.J. died from breast cancer, Jack retreated into the woods and cried. He didn’t weep because he was still in love with her, he moved past that years ago, but because it saddened him to learn she was gone from this world.
But he also cried because L.J. was a reminder of a different time and a different him. A time before he fed on others to survive; a time when he laughed easily and was far more carefree.
Sometimes, he considered the boy, the human he’d been as an entirely different person. That boy and the man he became were so different that he believed the optimistic, fun-loving boy died on the day Beth changed him.
And the vampire who came to life found little joy in the things that made the boy happy. The boy once danced with a frog he was supposed to be dissecting in biology class; the man did very little dancing, and most of it revolved around securing a food supply. He didn’t realize, until now, how much he missed dancing for fun.
What would it be like to dance with Charlie? With as graceful as she was, she’d be good at it. He found himself aching to draw her into his arms so he could learn what she felt like and how she moved. For the first time in years, he wanted to hold another for something more than sex and food.
Chapter Seven
The crack of a twig drew his attention away from her; his nostrils flared as he scented the air while studying the forest. He was so lost in his ruminations that he hadn’t realized the animals were nowhere to be seen. He searched for a place to hide, but Charlie gripped his arm and tugged him toward a cluster of boulders.
When they reached the rocks, Charlie released his arm and rested her hand on one of the large stones to pull herself onto it. She climbed into the open center of the rocks. The boulder there was the size of a minivan but, more importantly, the way it leaned against the others caused it to create a small cave Mal showed her during her first months here.
She slipped into the cave and pressed her back against another stone to make room for Jack. He slipped in beside her. Charlie held her breath when Jack’s chest brushed against hers. A tingle, almost like a small electric shock, ran through her when his hand touched hers, and it took all she had not to turn her fingers over and run them across his palm.
Ignoring the thump of her heart his nearness created, Charlie strained to listen for whoever was out there. This was a great place to hide, but it was also a death trap if anyone discovered them here. They would either be recaptured or killed outright, and if they caught her, she would be made to pay for having evaded them.
Before being shoved into the trunk, they’d taken her picture. However, they hadn’t placed a tracking device on her; she would have been discovered and slaughtered b
y now if they had. They would know who she was if they kept her alive long enough to compare her to her picture and if they’d kept her photo.
Gradually, Charlie became aware of how small their hiding place was. It hadn’t seemed this small when she hid here before, but she was sure caskets were bigger than this place. And had it been this warm? No, it hadn’t, and she’d been here in the middle of August with Mal.
The rocks, mostly in the shade, were naturally cool, but her skin felt as warm as if she were on a beach in July. Then, she noticed a familiar, pleasant scent she couldn’t quite place. It reminded her of rainy days with Dylan when they would bake pies and cookies before curling up on the couch to drink hot cocoa and watch movies together.
It took her a minute to realize the smell was coming from Jack. Beneath the blood, sweat, and dirt adhering to him, the enticing aroma of something more emanated from him. She almost leaned closer, placed her nose against his throat, and inhaled that scent deeper into her, but she somehow managed to restrain herself from acting like a dog around him.
And then what the scent was hit her—cinnamon! The man smelled like apple pie and temptation.
Her gaze traveled over the contours of his face as he remained unmoving in front of her. Stubble lined his jaw, and she found herself wondering what it would feel like to run her fingers over it. She would follow her fingers with her tongue so she could learn his taste. She bit her lip as yearning coiled within her and her pulse beat wildly.
Jack’s head turned toward her and their eyes locked. Charlie felt like she’d been caught doing something wrong, but she couldn’t find it in herself to feel bad about it. Her eyes fell to his mouth; what would it be like to kiss him before drawing his bottom lip into her mouth and nipping it?
Unable to stop himself, Jack’s fingers caressed hers before sliding up to her wrist. When she didn’t jerk away from him, he moved them up the sleeve of her shirt and was rewarded by a small shiver as her eyes dilated.
The beat of her pulse drew his attention to her neck; his fangs pricked in response to the blood flowing through her. He’d never fed from another vampire before, but he craved the blood racing through her veins.
His fingers slid over her shoulder and brushed against her neck. This woman tried to kill him and broke his nose, but he wanted to kiss her more than he’d ever wanted to kiss anyone. Resting his other hand on the boulder behind her, he leaned closer until their lips nearly touched.
He traced the contour of her cheek while waiting for her to push him away, but she simply stared at him like she was as confused by him as he was by her. Then, his lips found hers and all his confusion vanished.
This was what he hadn’t known he was missing. Everything else vanished, and the only thing remaining in this world was Charlie. Whereas he’d forgotten nearly every other kiss he experienced, he would always remember this one. The taste of her burned into him as surely as a brand marked cattle.
Then her mouth opened, and when his tongue slid inside to taste her, she met it with slow strokes that became bolder and stronger as the kiss deepened. Her fingers entwined in his hair as she drew him closer and kissed him with an enthusiasm that more than matched his. As the passion built between them, so did something powerful within Jack; it took him a minute to realize it was a feeling of possessiveness.
Charlie was his. He had no idea where the feeling came from or why it was so strong, and he was too caught up in her to analyze it. Clasping her face between his palms, he relished the feel of her as he kissed her.
This shouldn’t be happening. There were a million reasons why she should stop this right now, but Charlie couldn’t think when he was kissing her like this. No one had ever kissed her like this before; she’d never known kisses like this could exist. How could someone feel so alive while feeling as if they were on fire?
His lips felt like they were melting her bones and leaving her a limp pile of goo with no sense of reasoning beyond more, more, more. Charlie hated not having control over things; she should despise feeling this way, but she relished it.
Then, voices outside the rocks drifted to her, and she recalled why they were standing in the middle of these rocks. Charlie pulled herself away from Jack and gasped in a breath. Thankfully, her hold on Jack helped keep her upright when her legs almost gave out.
No, not thankfully. He’d made her forget her surroundings and briefly made her forget Dylan. Guilt tore through her. Dylan was her world; how could she have forgotten him when he was probably worried sick about her? She’d been gone far longer than usual to do a routine check of their traps and entrances.
She had to get back to him soon, and she had to stay away from Jack. He was a distraction she couldn’t afford in this place. Untangling her hands from his hair, she pulled his hands off her face and glowered at him. It wasn’t his fault her sex drive had become stronger than a sixteen-year-old boy’s around him, but she’d been doing fine until he dropped out of the sky.
Jack opened his mouth to speak, to apologize, to do something to ease the infuriated look from her face, but voices from outside stopped him.
“Where are we?” a woman whimpered.
“I don’t know,” another woman said.
“We… we… have to call the police or something. Maybe the EPA or the FBI.”
“The EPA? What would the EPA do?” a man asked.
“I don’t know, but did you see their eyes? They were red! I mean, that has to be from an environmental accident, maybe radiation fallout or something.”
“I don’t think that was from radiation,” the second woman said.
“Then what?” the first woman asked. “What else could it be from?”
“I don’t know,” the man said. “And I don’t want to know. I want to get as far from all of them as possible. Let’s go, and be quiet.”
Jack turned his attention back to Charlie. “Can they come with us?”
Charlie hesitated as she replayed their conversation in her head. They had to be humans, and though it might be better if they left them to do their own thing while they returned to the tunnels, she couldn’t leave them roaming the woods. That was a death sentence.
“Yes,” she said.
“I’ll be back,” Jack said.
“I’m coming with you.”
Jack opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything, piercing screams filled the air. Instinctively, he stepped closer to Charlie, pushing her against the boulders as his fangs lengthened. He rested his hands on either side of her head.
If Charlie weren’t here, he would see if he could help, but he wouldn’t risk giving away her location by leaving here. She was a fighter, but judging by the frenzied sounds of feeding, there was a small pack of vampires out there. If they killed him, she would be on her own against them.
No, he couldn’t risk her safety for strangers.
Charlie almost clasped her hands over her ears as the sounds of death resonated through the air, but she was not a child. It was too late to save the humans, but she would not hide from their brutal deaths. Jack’s body vibrated against hers, and red flickered in his eyes.
The smell of blood pricked his appetite, but that wasn’t what caused his fangs to lengthen as the impulse to kill thrummed through his veins. No, what caused that was the realization there were Savages so close to Charlie.
Never before had he felt such an encompassing urge to destroy something, but if those things found them, he would shred the flesh from their bones to keep her safe. They might take him down, but he would leave them so wounded they’d never be able to take her.
He shook his head to clear it of the murderous wrath thundering through him. One kiss and he’d turned into a moron. He barely knew the woman, and since they met, she’d punched him in the face and irritated the fuck out of him, but he would do whatever it took to keep her alive.
The screaming grew distant, and Jack realized they were keeping one of the women alive. She would have been better off dead. The other two suf
fered brutal deaths, but at least their suffering was over.
Charlie inhaled a shuddery breath when she realized it was over, but she didn’t try to leave the safety of their hiding spot yet. She required more time to make sure her legs would support her after listening to that.
She rarely ventured above while the hunt was happening. When she did, it was only to see if the hunt was still going before retreating underground again. It had been a long time since she listened to the tortured screams of those the vampires brutalized.
Mal said the hunt started the second weekend in June; the length of time it ran always varied. The longest hunt he knew of occurred during his fifth year on the island. It went all the way to the end of June before the organizers declared all the prey dead and called an end to it. They’d learned from one of their prisoners that this was what decided the end of the hunt every year—one of the organizers had to call an end to it.
Even on the years when someone stumbled across the tunnels and evaded death, the hunt hadn’t lasted long. Mal suspected that on the year it ran so long, whoever was dodging them must have been spotted enough to keep the hunters engaged whereas when Mal took in his refugees, they were never seen again and most likely, assumed dead.
But this year, with the unexpected escape, she was trapped aboveground. Never had she believed she would yearn for the dirt and gloom of the tunnels, but she was ready to trade the sunshine and fresh air for the safety of being below ground. The only problem was, they weren’t as prepared this year for the hunt as they were in the past.
Most of the year they fed on animals, but during the hunt, she, Mal, and the other vampire with them, Miguel, relied more on the humans living with them for nourishment. However, they hadn’t had the chance to stock up as much as they usually did. There were some supplies stored, there always was just in case, but they would have to ration their supplies a little more this year, especially if Jack were going to join them.
“We should go,” she said when she was sure nothing was out there waiting to kill them.
Unforeseen: The Vampire Awakenings, Book 9 Page 5