by Melody Raven
by
Melody Raven
Copyright
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Fonts used with permission from Microsoft.
Copyright © 2019 by Melody Raven
Melody Raven (4/27/2019). Blood Price (New Breed Series Book One)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright
Want more free from Melody?
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Look inside Blood Bond!
“I didn’t know what to wear.”
The man across from Tela looked her over, his eyes taking achingly long to go over every inch of her. “Your clothes hardly matter,” he said, with an obvious air of disapproval.
Tela’s heart beat so fast in her chest that she was sure it was about to leap right out and run away. What made it worse was that she knew the creature in front of her knew exactly how nervous she was.
From what she heard, they liked the fear. It made them hungrier.
Tela looked over her shoulder to the lobby of the luxury apartment building they stood in. She’d heard rumors of how nice the Sorenson Building was, but she’d never actually been there before. Even in her old life of cleaning apartments for rich clientele, she didn’t enter places like this.
Funny to think that compared to the people who used to live here, she was one of the lucky ones. Funny to think that cleaning apartments was her old life.
It was only three months ago that the vampires took over. Three months since everything had changed....
“You’ll do,” said the creature in a resigned voice.
She blinked in confusion. What the hell was wrong with her? He’d said her clothes didn’t matter. Was it her smell? She’d noticed that the vampires were very sensitive to perfumes, a fact many of the humans used as an excuse to douse themselves every morning.
Because she’d known what she was signing up for, Tela had purposefully used the mildest soap she had in the apartment. It wasn’t like she could afford to go out and buy any new soap. At this point, every single spare cent went right to food.
Though, maybe after today, that would change. Maybe after today, she’d have more than a few worthless dollars in her pocket. Ever since the siege began, nothing had been easy. She had spent weeks trying to fight it, and it wasn’t until yesterday that she finally decided to give in.
If the new normal was humans vs. monsters, it was obvious the humans were at a disadvantage. So it was time to get on the monsters’ side and hope to hell she didn’t get eaten.
The vampire in front of her motioned to the elevator. “Hurry up.” He led the way. “I’m hungry.”
“You hungry?”
John forced his gaze away from the blonde mortal woman as she disappeared into the elevator with Jared. “Not hungry,” he said simply as he scanned the lobby of the building. The decorations here were lavish golds and reds. Funny how even here the rich loved to show off.
“You should eat something,” said Dante.
John clenched his jaw. One of his fangs pressed into his bottom lip. “I had a blood bag already.”
“Bags are one thing, but getting it warm from the source is better. I finally had a sample, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back.”
John looked skeptically at his friend. He never thought he’d consider one of the elite a friend, but Dante had proved to be honorable. He said he’d get John freedom and he’d delivered. Hell, he’d delivered tenfold. “Say what you really want to say. I know you’re avoiding something.” None of them had time for this diplomatic discussion.
“Nicole Lee is in the district tonight. Doing some sort of spot check. I need to make sure everyone is on their best behavior.”
John raked through his mind. There had been so many new names since they’d gotten here, it was hard to keep them all straight. Nicole Lee.... “The woman from the TV?”
“Yes. I convinced Mikel to let some cameras in. To show our goodwill.”
He could only imagine how badly that had gone over. Mikel wasn’t exactly known for his goodwill, and his men were rarely on their best behavior. “I don’t think I’m the one you should be worried about,” he pointed out.
John didn’t know what kind of game Dante was playing. Ever since they’d gotten here, they’d made their goals very obvious: get some land and women for themselves and live how they wanted to live. Now, all of a sudden, there was such an emphasis on playing nice with the humans. They were an invading army. It was time the humans got used to being invaded.
But none of that mattered. John wasn’t about to go on a killing spree anytime soon. “I’ll keep a watch out for Nicole Lee.”
“Good. Keep an eye on the donors, too.”
“They’re donors. That means they volunteered. How can Nicole Lee get upset about that?”
“Nicole. Humans call each other by only one name.”
“But there are a lot of Nicoles.”
“For the purposes of this conversation, say Nicole. I know who you’re going to talk about.”
A soft growl emitted from John’s lips. He was getting damn sick of trying to fit into this world. He was a conqueror. Maybe the humans should work harder to get used to his world. “I repeat, the blood donors have donated. What does Nicole care?”
Dante looked over his shoulder, scanning the area for any human or Vopura close enough to hear. “There have been reports of... fatalities.”
John wanted to shrug it off, but he knew just as well as Dante did that this wasn’t good. “Accidents happen,” he offered weakly.
“I know that the best way for this to work is cooperation from both sides. The blood donor program works, but if we keep killing them, nobody is going to be lining up to donate. Do you know what Nicole looks like?”
“I’ll keep an eye out for any injured mortals, but if I see one of our kind killing a mortal, I’m not going to stop it. You know what that would mean for me.”
“You’ll do what you need to do,” bit out Dante, more of an order than an assurance. “Of that I have little doubt.”
Was she going to die?
She wasn’t sure whether she was about to croak in the next few seconds, but she was absolutely certain she was not okay. The elevator spun around her, and she had to stare intently at the buttons for a few seconds until her focus cleared up enough for her to hit the lobby button. Then she could allow herself to fall back against the side of the elevator and take a few deep breaths.
Every breath hurt. The wound on her neck was agonizing. It had been so much worse than she anticipated. In the movies, it almost... erotic? But there was nothing sexual about what just happened. As soon as he’d gotten her into his apartme
nt, he’d....
The elevator dinged open, and Tela suddenly remembered that she had to make it home. Good God, she couldn’t walk that far. Not in this condition. The vampire, Jared, told her the money would be put into a lockbox for her tomorrow, so she didn’t even have enough to hail a cab.
But then she thought of Dani sitting at home waiting for her, and she knew she didn’t have a choice. She could make it home. It was just one foot in front of the other.
She had two crumpled dollar bills in her back pocket. That would probably be enough to pick up an orange juice on the way home. That’s what they gave out to people who donated blood normally, right? Orange juice and cookies.
She had to find some customer service satisfaction form and leave that as a recommendation: Give me orange juice and cookies after nearly killing me. Please and thank you.
She wanted to hold her hand against the wound in her neck, but somehow that seemed like showing a sign of weakness. There wasn’t exactly a lot of activity in the lobby, but there was the one guy standing out front. She couldn’t see his face. His back was to the windows, and he was silhouetted against the streetlight outside. She would get herself to act as if there were no problem and make it past him, and then she could put her dignity aside and collapse against the side of the building for a few minutes and catch her breath. She could do this. She could make it one stupid block before taking another break. She forced herself to hold her head high and walked toward the door. But right before she reached it, the pain became too much, and she nearly fell over, barely catching herself on the handle of the glass. Except right as she caught her balance, someone pulled the stupid door open.
Tela looked up into the bright blue eyes of someone familiar. She was sure that under different circumstances, she would’ve recognized Nicole Lee right away, but tonight was anything but ordinary.
“Just what I’ve been looking for!” said the woman excitedly as Tela made her way out of the vampire-infested building.
“I doubt that.” She pulled her sweatshirt tighter against her, hoping it hid her neck wounds enough.
“You’re a donor, right? I can see your bracelet.”
Ah, yes. The stupid piece of jewelry meant to signal her consent. The one piece of real gold she owned. Hey, maybe if the vampire apocalypse ever blew over, it might be worth something. But for now, anyone who didn’t have one wouldn’t want one anywhere near them, no matter what metal it was made out of.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Lee. I don’t have time to talk. My little sister is waiting for me at home and I really need to get back there.” Tela tried her best to act calm and composed, but she still needed to rest a hand against the wall as she walked to keep her balance.
“And how are you being treated? Are the vampires hurting you? I need to know the status here.”
And Tela really didn’t have time for this bureaucratic bullshit. “Are they hurting us? Yes, I’m hurt. I’m in a hostage situation, and every day I’m just hoping and praying that my captors don’t decide that they’d be better off getting rid of me. I have no job and, shockingly, the economy isn’t booming, and the supplies you’ve been shipping in have been hoarded by the rich, who, for some reason, think their money still gives them some semblance of power. You want to know if the vampires are a danger to me? Right now, I’m trying not to starve to death any way I can because the government has all but given up on rescuing us. So go survey someone else.”
Was Tela too hard on the woman? Maybe. But right now, she was trying her best not to pass out, and every single word she spoke was agony; she just wanted to get this woman away from her. Tela hobbled away and didn’t look back. After a few seconds, it became apparent the woman wasn’t following her.
The fact that she was alone again was both a relief and terrifying at the same time.
She went through a map in her mind. This was a decidedly nicer part of Seattle than she lived in, so there were still a few steep hills to get past before she reached her basement apartment.
She could make it, though. She had to.
“You’re hurt.”
The unmistakably male voice obviously wasn’t Nicole Lee. If Tela wasn’t so out of it, she was sure she would’ve jumped. Eesh. Even her fight-or-flight response was broken. Now it was more like whimper-and-cower.
Instead of turning her head, which would hurt too much, she turned her entire body to face the man bothering her now. All she wanted was to get home. Why was this such an insurmountable task?
She could tell he was one of them immediately. It was hard to know what exactly gave him away. The vampires had a certain... air about them. They looked human. They acted like humans. But there was something distinctly inhuman about them too.
This one was fit. They all were, really. A blood-based diet wasn’t exactly high in carbs, after all. He had short, dark hair that was just long enough to start to curl and, of course, the trademark pale skin. And it was a man. She’d yet to ever see a girl vampire. The ornate neck tattoos didn’t make him appear any less intimidating.
“I know I’m wearing the bracelet, but I’ve already done my civic duty tonight. Find someone else to eat.” In the future, she was really going to have to work on the snark levels when dealing with vampires. This couldn’t be good for her future health. Or current health, for that matter.
“I’m not hungry. I’m curious. Nicole Lee was asking if you were healthy. You’re obviously not. Why lie?”
“I don’t have time to stand here and be psychoanalyzed by a dead guy. Go find someone else to bother.” With that, Tela did the stupidest thing she’d ever done. She turned her back on a vampire.
This was stupid on two counts. One: He was a vampire. She should know better than to turn her back on what was now the apex predator on the planet. Especially when she was vulnerable from blood loss. Two: She was vulnerable from blood loss, so the second after she twirled so dramatically, the dizziness took over once more, but ten times worse. She was preparing herself to tumble down onto the sidewalk below, but she never hit the cold, hard concrete.
Instead, something strong and warm locked around her and kept her standing. God, he’d moved fast. She wasn’t surprised, but it was still crazy to know he’d been a good two yards away from her and then was scooping her up as if he’d teleported.
He held her close as the pain in her neck seemed to branch outward, infecting all sorts of places. She let out a moan—half pain, half annoyance—as her forehead fell against the vampire. Getting the weight off her neck was the only thing that seemed to help at all right now.
Holy shit, she was going to die. If resting her head on a vampire seemed like a reasonable thing to do, she was obviously too far gone. Damn it. Who was going to take care of Dani now?
All of the sudden, a wave of dizziness took over again. No, wait. It was only after a few seconds that she realized the world wasn’t spinning around her because of blood loss. It was because the vampire was carrying her. He had one arm under her knees and one arm behind her back and was strolling casually down the street as though she weighed nothing.
These truly were odd times.
“What are you doing?” She should stop leaning her head against him. She was going to do that any minute now. Yep. Any minute.
“I can’t have you dying right in front of Nicole Lee.”
Of course. God forbid Nicole Lee get upset. “Silly me. For a moment, I thought you were being chivalrous.”
“What’s chivalrous?”
Sometimes she forgot how new vampires were to the world. They seemed so... adapted. But that’s what made them such good predators. Their ability to adapt and blend in. And then take over. “It’s when guys are being polite. Like opening the door for a woman or pulling a chair out for her.” When she spoke quietly and didn’t put any weight on her neck, the pain was mostly gone. She really wanted to fight the vampire holding her, but she really didn’t think she could make it the whole way on her own right now.
“You think I’m being polit
e by carrying you?”
Tela wanted to laugh, but she knew that would just cause her more pain. “No. It’s safe to say you’re not just being polite.” Poor guy. She’d given a horrible definition of chivalry. She let out a deep sigh and fell deeper into his warmth.
Warmth. Weren’t vampires supposed to be cold? Until tonight, she’d never actually touched one. Even though she knew they weren’t actually dead, it was still odd to feel the sensation of warmth. Especially to feel comfort from it.
“Where do you live?” he asked.
Things she never thought she’d tell a vampire. “About a mile away. When you get to the place that smells like burgers, turn right and my building is the third on the right.”
He kept his steady pace, and Tela was shocked she wasn’t being tossed all around with his every movement. But his steps were so steady, it was almost as though he were gliding down the street.
Graceful monsters. What a world.
Tela could feel consciousness drifting away. Should she be worried? She knew that after suffering a concussion you shouldn’t go to sleep, but blood loss wasn’t exactly the same thing. If the internet were still working, she would’ve looked up things to be worried about, but considering the internet had been cut off, she was kind of in the dark.
She was jostled in the vampire’s arms and an annoyed moan escaped her lips. Why couldn’t he just let her sleep?
“He really did a number on you, didn’t he? Do you have anything to help replenish you?”
“Yeah. I have everything I need at home.” She had no idea what he meant by “replenish,” but it didn’t matter. She wasn’t about to give this vampire her sob story. From what little she knew about them, it had been apparent that whatever place they’d come from was a lot worse than Seattle, even under this siege state. “What’s your name?” she asked, suddenly realizing that she didn’t even know the name of the creature carrying her all the way home.
He looked down skeptically at her. “Does it matter?”
