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ALSO BY ELIZABETH STEVENS
Netherfield Prep
No More Maybes
the Trouble with Hate is…
unvamped: book one
unvamped
Elizabeth Stevens
Sleeping Dragon Books
unvamped
by Elizabeth Stevens
Print ISBN: 9780648012252
Digital ISBN: 9780648012269
Cover art by: Izzie Duffield
Edited by: Izzie Duffield
Copyright © 2014 Elizabeth Stevens
First published 2015 Caliburn Press
Second edition published 2017 Sleeping Dragon Books
This edition published 2018
Worldwide Electronic & Digital Rights
Worldwide English Language Print Rights
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any form, including digital and electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the Publisher, except for brief quotes for use in reviews. This book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For Kate,
Who gave me the confidence I needed to get my work published.
Contents
Prologue
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
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Epilogue
Prologue
T
he breeze cavorted about, tussling his hair and tugging playfully at his clothes. It brought the scent of bread to his nose and, to his ears, the tinkling laughter of his little brothers as they ran through the tall grass. He watched them, smiling, as he heaved another log onto the block. The axe was comfortable in his hands, sitting within his calluses snugly as he hefted it into the air. He swung and the axe crashed through the log. He stopped to wipe the sweat from his brow before it could sting his eye, and felt a droplet of sweat trickling down the small of his back. He regretted not bringing his hat out, but now he was here he would finish the job. His heart beat hard in his chest and his temple throbbed.
“Bring your brothers in for lunch now,” he heard his mother call, “and don’t forget to wash up. Did you hear me, Charles?”
****
Charles sat up abruptly, his eyes flying open. He felt his heart beating hard, but no… That must just be a memory.
The remnants of his dream were floating away and he had trouble fully remembering it. Laughter came to him as though from far away and he could still feel the heat bearing down on him.
He shuddered.
He rubbed his smooth, manicured hands and felt how sweaty they were. Sweaty was uncomfortable, unusual. He wiped his hands on his bed sheets, and noticed they were not the ones he had gone to sleep under. He jumped a little, scrambling up the bed and sitting on the pillows.
He looked around.
“Charlie! You up yet?”
Chapter One
L
umbering along, muzzle to the ground, the wolf was overwhelmed with scents. He felt his blood pumping wildly around his body and heard it thumping in his ears. The fur along his shoulders was standing up and his tail quivered. A car rushed past and he bounded behind some bushes, watching for other potential enemies.
Seeing the car, he suddenly remembered being in one.
He shook his head and growled softly.
A faintly flowery smell hit his nose and he felt his blood slowing down, calming. Interested, he peered a little further out of the bush. A girl was walking along the road, her head down. Her hair sparkled dark blue in the light of the beloved moon. She smelled familiar to his subjugated human brain, but the wolf was in control and the wolf could not remember how he knew her.
She made him think of books and deadlines.
He wriggled and she stopped walking.
“Good night, brother,” she said.
He looked into her blue eyes and felt like smiling, if his wolf mouth could make such an expression.
He shook his head, unsure why she would call him brother. She could not be like him... She was human. He looked her over once more, paying closer attention to her scent, and realised that she was not human after all; she was supernatural, but what she was he could not tell.
Deciding she was no threat, he pulled back into the shadows. She sighed and began walking once more.
Her smell calmed him, so he followed her. She walked hurriedly, as though she was afraid. He followed her down the road, sticking to the shadows, until she came to where the suburbs ended and town began. He was not sure if she knew he was following her, but he continued in the shadows anyway. She hesitated at the corner; then quickly crossed the road.
The wolf waited for a car to pass and darted after her. He stuck close to the wall but she never looked back. He smelled her fear increasing as she walked down the road and heard her heart beat louder. She paused again, then turned into a back alley. The wolf paused, wondering where she was going, then continued following her.
As he turned into the alley, he stopped. A scent he had never encountered before assaulted his nose. He stood in the entry of the alleyway and growled. He smelled cigarette smoke, alcohol, but underneath that... He was not sure how to describe it. It smelled sweet but musty, with an underlying hint of something that tickled his nose. It was like a strong perfume he had walked past in a shop once; something fancy he could not afford, would have been embarrassed to buy, but would have liked smelling of. The smell was coming from five men further up the alley.
He whined as he saw the clouds cover moon.
The smell was…unnerving and he was sure the girl should not be anywhere near something that smelled like that. He wanted to run to her and protect her, but he did not know what to do. His heart raced as he heard the smelly things talking to the girl, closing in on her. He growled softly. Then louder. And again, growing more confident and louder.
The smelly thing closest to the girl turned towards him and laughed.
“Witchy has a protector! Run along, wolf,” he said, dismissively.
The wolf looked at the smelly thing and its friends, and realised he would have no chance against all five of them. His tail dropped between his legs as he turned and ran away, hoping she would be okay. A bad feeling came over him. Somewhere inside his mind he made a mental note to look out for her on Monday. He shook his head again and ran home, swerving between the traffic.
When he got to his house, he jumped over the fence and ran around to the backyard. There he found his parents watching his two older brothers wrestling. Had their wolf faces been able to show it, he knew they would be beaming with pride.
He sighed and curled himself up to
sleep away the rest of the night.
****
Ellie walked quickly, head down and hands stuffed deep in her pockets. The night was cold and dark, the wind swirled around her legs, and the moon was full. Ellie was in a rush to get home. She knew she shouldn’t have stayed at Melissa’s so late, but her friend’s mum always plied her with dessert. As Ellie walked past some bushes, she heard a rustling and, looking towards them, she saw them move. She hesitated in her step and saw gleaming eyes peering out of the dark between the leaves.
“Good night, brother,” she said, staring deeply into the eyes, trying to convey calmness and friendliness.
The bushes wriggled once more and she held her breath waiting to see what would happen next. She sighed with relief as the eyes disappeared and she continued on her way. She looked up at the full moon and, not for the first time, thanked her parents for her heritage.
She pulled her right hand out of her pocket and watched as blue sparks played along her fingertips. Stopping the flow of magic, she put her hand back in her pocket and walked faster. She might be able to deter werewolves, but there were other creatures of the night that were more powerful than her, and she still had to cut across the shadiest edge of town.
She got there quickly. At the corner, she hesitated and, though she could not see him, she knew the wolf was still with her. She smiled slightly, feeling somewhat safer, but knowing that at the first sign of trouble the wolf would take off.
Ellie crossed the road, her heart racing faster as she approached the back alley she had to venture down. Part of her knew she should take the safer route and go around, but it was late and she was tired. Besides, she’d never had any trouble before. She said a silent prayer and turned into the alley.
As soon as she had taken a few steps in, she knew she’d made the wrong choice. Voices floated to her and she saw five figures further down the lane. The shadows played across the walls beside her and the scant lights lit the area poorly.
But, she continued walking towards them.
She knew the figures had seen her and she suspected who – or what – they were. Desperately wanting to turn and run, she squared her shoulders and headed on, knowing the figures would no doubt follow her. As she got closer, they began talking in louder voices.
She looked up as the clouds covered the moon and took a deep breath.
“Well, what do we have here?” asked a rough voice as of the figures came forwards. A spark flew from his fingers, making Ellie jump, but it was just a cigarette.
As Ellie came nearer, she saw that it was a young man with a scarred face. He was perhaps twenty-five years old, or, he would have been, had he not been dead. The other four looked to be about the same age, or younger.
They came to stand behind their apparent leader. Ellie saw a younger-looking one with light brown hair pat the scarred man on the shoulder and laugh heartily, then step forward.
“Now, what is a nice girl like yourself doing out so late?” the brown-haired boy asked.
Ellie slowly pulled her hands out of her pockets and let them fall by her sides. She released a small amount of energy and let the blue sparks play along her fingertips once more. She tried to hide a blush as she knew her hair would be embarrassingly sparking along with her fingertips.
“Watch out, Charlie, she’s a witch,” one of the others said.
“Sorry, miss,” the scarred man said and stepped back slightly.
“No, no, Red. That doesn’t matter to us.” The brown-haired boy grinned, stepping towards her.
“Come on, Charlie, you really want to do this?” Red asked, looking at this Charlie hesitantly.
“Why not? I haven’t had a witch in a good long while-”
“Yeah, look what happened the last time!” one of the others laughed.
“She’s only a young one, not much harm in her,” Charlie chuckled and continued walking towards Ellie.
As she backed away from Charlie, Ellie tried to look for an escape route without being entirely obvious.
“Oh, witchy’s scared,” Charlie laughed again.
Ellie's mind raced; of course she was scared, she couldn’t think of anything to do. She heard a soft growl from further back in the alley and turned to see the wolf standing in the middle of the alley entrance.
Charlie turned around at the sound. “Witchy has a protector! Run along, wolf,” he said, dismissively.
Ellie watched as the wolf’s tail fell between his legs and he turned and slunk away. Charlie still had the smirk on his face when he turned back to her.
“Now, where were we?”
Ellie backed up further and tried not to panic as she hit the wall of the alley behind her. She silently cursed and said another prayer. Charlie stopped not a hand’s breadth from her. The clouds sped away from the moon and its light shone down on Charlie’s face. Ellie’s heart lurched; his light brown hair framed his face and his eyes were green. He was actually kind of hot. He was kind of hot and he was likely going to kill her. As he leaned forward, she tried to remember the spell to talk to her parents’ minds over distance.
He put his arms around her body and, as his teeth sank into her neck, she couldn’t stop herself from crying out. As he fed from her, she regained her concentration and her mind connected with her dad’s. With fear overcoming her, she hastily sent her location and knew he’d come quickly.
She felt her heartbeat slow and, through a haze, she panicked her dad wouldn’t arrive in time.
“Settle down, Charlie, you’ll kill her…” she heard, as though from far away, and she felt the vampire pull away from her and drop her on the floor.
“So I may,” she heard Charlie say and sensed the group walking away.
Anger stirred inside her. How dare this vampire just feed on whomever he wanted without a care in the world! How dare he pick her?
Her heart beat feebly and she felt cold.
A pair of arms grabbed her and she heard her name called. She opened her eyes wearily and saw her dad, mum and older sister around her. She smiled slightly at the thought that they all came to her rescue.
“Gods, Pet… Hold on,” she heard her dad say. It sounded like he was crying. Now she focussed, her mum and sister were both crying too.
“Al, she’s not going to make it… What can we do?” he mum asked.
“Hush, Ethel, She’ll be all right.”
“No, Al, I don’t think she will!”
“Ethelred! Petronella needs us to be strong. Call an ambulance and we’ll do what we can until they get here.” Her dad’s angry voice floated to her.
Panic welled up inside her again as she realised she was quite likely going to die that night.
Anger flooded her body, stronger than anything she’d ever felt. She was angry for herself and for her family, and for all of Charlie’s past and future victims. She felt a huge surge of power go through her and, before she passed out, she was blinded by a flash of bright blue light.
****
Charles Dumphrey was quite pleased with his life, thank you.
He and his friends were coming to the end of a particularly good full moon night. Red, Peter, Dan, Tim, and he wandered around the town, finding themselves a meal whenever it came walking out of a nightclub or bar.
Very rarely did Charles feel bad about feeding on humans anymore, but the liberties he took on full moon nights made a part of him think back to his past.
He had spent the previous seven hundred-odd years finding himself.
He had been through the ‘absolute bloodlust’ phase, the ‘oh no, I’ve lost my humanity’ phase, the ‘I cannot not give into my vampire nature any longer’ phase, the ‘oh, I feel so intensely guilty about my blood-thirsty actions’ phase, and all the other numerous phases vampires go through before they find a version of themselves they are happy with.
Charles considered himself to be a fairly decent vampire.
He only killed when necessary, and fed with restraint �
� except for full moon nights, when they allowed themselves to be a little bit overindulgent. For the most part, he aimed to keep as many of his victims alive as possible. He saw humans not just as food, but also as potential lovers or friends. Without humans, he knew he would not be where he was today and, over the years, he had made many close human friends. He had even found fleeting love with one or two.
He and his friends walked out of the back door of the latest nightclub. Charles looked around, wondering if there were any girls out there for them to feed on. There was no one there but the five of them. He shrugged and turned to face his friends.
“What shall we do now?” Red asked him, lighting up a cigarette.
“We can head over to-” Charles stopped. He smelled and saw someone coming down the alley, someone who smelled delicious. He smiled as clouds covered the moon. “We could stay right here.” He directed his friends to the other end of the alley.
Red looked back at Charles and cracked a smile. Charles looked around at the others and saw they were smiling too.
He watched the girl come down the alley and smiled as her blue hair shone sickly in the fluorescent light. He heard her heartbeat quicken and she breathed deeply in what he was confidant was a vain attempt to settle her racing heart.
“Well, what do we have here?” Red asked taking a step forwards, flicking his cigarette away from him.
As the girl came closer, her scent became sharper to Charles. She smelled like fruit and a crisp evening, and reminded him of a warm berry pie. He wished he could take his time with this one; she smelled special and witches could be fun if they were treated right.
Witches had to be treated right, he thought to himself, thinking back on the last time he had fed from a witch with a slight shudder. But, tonight was not the night to appear soft; he had an image to maintain before his group.
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