While it is true that I had been partying pretty hard lately, I wasn’t prone to blackouts. Had I been drugged? If so, I don’t think my “sleepover buddy” was the one who did it. In fact, he’d been really big on consent and asked me several times if I was sure I wanted to continue. Way more considerate than a lot of the guys I had been with…
Why is it I could remember that, but I couldn’t remember what happened after? In fact, I remembered everything leading up to us actually having sex, and then… nothing. Just a big, black hole until I woke up this morning, naked in a strange bed with a massive headache and decided to bail before Mr. Knight Before woke and expected an encore.
I really hated that feeling. I suppose no one likes to feel out of control of their own bodies, but this was an exposed, vulnerable feeling that I did not care for at all. Maybe I did need to cool it on the partying a bit.
All of these thoughts raced through my head as I stood in the bathroom now, the cool tiles on my feet, and pulled my shirt off over my head, dropping it to the floor. The mirror in front of me showed a tired girl with yesterday’s mascara smudged below her eyes, looking like a racoon.
My neck was really sore…
As I thought about the pain in my neck, I moved my long auburn hair over and saw something that completely shocked me.
That wasn’t a hickey!
It looked like… well, it looked like a wound, if I was being honest. There was a huge bruise about the size of a half dollar forming on my neck, that was already turning different shades of black and blue. But there was more than that… there was dried blood.
Reaching up with my hand, I rubbed at the dried blood that was crusting on my bruised skin, although it was very tender to touch, and some of it flaked away revealing two small holes in the skin, in the middle of the bruise.
What the hell?
Panicking a little, I leaned in closer toward the bathroom mirror to try to get a good look at it, but the angle and location of the wound made it very difficult. I picked up a hand mirror we used for doing our hair sometimes and tried to get a closer look with that.
Yep, it definitely looked like two tiny holes in my neck and lots of bruising all around them.
I glanced down at my shirt on the floor and noticed bloodstains on it as well. How had I missed that before? Honestly, it’s probably because the world was spinning, and my stomach was trying to eat itself. And because I left his place like a bat out of hell, eager to get home as soon as possible.
Why am I such an idiot? I thought, vowing to never drink again but knowing I’d probably break my own promise to myself in less than 24 hours. Turning on the shower to hot water only, I peeled off the rest of my clothes, looked one more time at my neck in the mirror, sighed deeply, then turned on some of the cold tap, too, before climbing into the shower. I just needed to wash it all away. I was sure I’d feel better after that.
After the warm water ran over my face and body for a few minutes, I shampooed my long hair, massaging the roots, and taking in the nice berry scent. I was starting to feel better already.
As I washed the rest of my body, I searched for evidence of more damage, but there was none. No bruises, no cuts, no sores, no blood… everything seemed fine. I guess that was a good thing, but I was still feeling really weird about what happened and my inability to remember it.
Then I rinsed the shampoo from my hair and some soapy water ran over my neck and it burned like getting alcohol in a cut.
“Ahhhh!” I cried out loud in the shower, which echoed and probably got the attention of at least one of my nosy roommates. They’d probably be cracking dirty jokes when I got out.
Rubbing my neck again with my hand, I tried hard to remember what had happened last night. It started with a club crawl with my girls, then I met him and after swearing to them I was fine and I would text, I decided to leave with him.
Retracing my steps in my mind, I tried to recall as many details as possible. He said he lived just a couple of miles away. We left the bar and went back to his apartment in an Uber. His hands were all over me as we made out in the backseat. His big, strong hands that felt so good on my skin, around my waist, on my breasts…
Then, the Uber driver stopped at his address. I could hardly wait to get inside and tear his clothes off. The make out session in the car had me so riled up. He was revved up, too, but he was so patient. He was going so slowly, and he asked me one more time, “Are you sure?”
“I’m positive,” I moaned in his ear before giving it a little nibble. “Enough teasing. I can’t take it anymore,” I purred.
“Careful now, I might bite back,” he had said, and I laughed, a little too loudly. I blame it on the cocktails. I’d clearly had too many. But still, I was in control. I knew what I was doing, and I had wanted this.
He lived alone, but in that moment, I don’t think it would have mattered to me either way. I kicked off my shoes as we kissed in the living room. Then, as his hands roamed my body and his tongue explored my mouth, I unbuttoned his shirt.
My hands explored his hard chest, and down to his slim waist, and although I wasn’t directly touching it yet, I could feel his hardness. He was excited for me, too.
He pulled my top up over my head and broke his mouth from my lips to kiss down my neck, my chest, and over my breasts that were firm and perky, still in my bra.
“Let’s take this someplace more comfortable,” he had said, grabbing me by the hand and leading me to the bedroom. I would have done him right in the hallway, if needed. I had never been so hot for a guy in all my life. When I looked into his eyes, I seemed to melt right into him. It was intoxicating.
Once in his bedroom, he slid my skirt down my waist and off over my legs, tossing it across the room. I was in my bra and panties now, on his silken bedspread, as dim light filled the room. It was just enough to see what we were doing, but not so much to be glaring or distracting.
Had he turned on lights when we came in here, or were they already on? I didn’t know, didn’t care, didn’t want to do anything else except continue kissing him and feeling his hands on my body.
“Are you sure you want this?” He asked again.
“Yes! Yes, I’m sure!” I shouted this time, not caring who heard. I needed him like I had never needed anything in my life.
With his strong firm body on top of mine, he held my hands up above my head with one hand, and he slid the other hand up and down my body as he leaned in to kiss me again, deep and hard this time, his tongue thrusting into my mouth and circling around mine.
He smelled divine. I closed my eyes in the shower as the water ran over me, remembering his smell. It was intoxicating and just thinking of it took me back to that moment, staring into his eyes.
Then, his kisses ran down my face and my neck again. This is where things went fuzzy. It was as if something was interrupting the timeline. Try as I may, I couldn’t bring those memories back.
He was kissing my neck and then…
Ouch! There was pain.
From what? I couldn’t remember.
Think, Carmilla, think. What caused the pain?
There was a flash of a memory – my hands were being held tighter now. I was struggling against him, but he was far stronger than me. Maybe this was part of the sex? I did like it rough…
Then everything went fuzzy again. Ugh! Why did I drink so much? It must have been catching up to me after the fact. I had a habit of getting in too deep before the buzz really hit me.
I strained hard, focusing all my attention back to my memory of last night. Out of the fuzz, I saw his face above me. He was hovering over my body, still on the bed.
That’s it… now I was remembering.
His face was above me and… I looked up into his eyes, his dark, dreamy eyes and … they flashed red. Red like fire or demon eyes or something else that I couldn’t explain because I had never seen anything like it before. I had started to scream then, and he laughed, showing long, white, sparkling fangs dripping with red bl
ood.
My blood?
I was suddenly jolted out of the memory and reminded that I was still in the shower. The water was starting to run cold over my back and my fingertips were starting to wrinkle.
Getting out of the shower, the earth felt shaky around me, my feet wobbly, my body unsteady.
I must have been drugged. He drugged me and that was why I couldn’t remember it all and that was just a vision; like a fever dream, but it was brought on by all the alcohol and whatever drug he gave me.
That had to be it!
As I wrapped a large, fluffy towel around my naked, wet body, I steadied myself leaning against the counter. Why did it feel so real then? If that was a dream, it was the most realistic dream I’d ever had. Also, how did that explain the holes in my neck?
Wiping the steam from the mirror, I looked again at myself. My face free of last night’s makeup now… my eyes less racoon-like, but still tired… and then I looked again at my neck. With the dried blood washed away, there were two very distinctive little holes in my neck.
Fang marks.
I felt the room spinning and growing dark, and quickly sat down on the toilet before I passed out. The last thing I needed was to be carted off naked in an ambulance after a crazy night of too much drinking and mystery sex with a stranger.
It didn’t make any sense. There had to be another explanation, even if I couldn’t remember it right now. My hungover mind was just playing tricks on me. Sitting was already making me feel better.
While still sitting on the toilet, I dried my body from the shower and began to slide into my new clothes. I didn’t want to make any sudden moves and black out again, but I didn’t want to spend the rest of my day hiding in the bathroom, either.
Once I had dried, dressed, and put some conditioner in my hair, I left the bathroom feeling as pulled together as I was going to be able to manage, for now. I’d just try to avoid my roommates and well… anyone else… for a little while, until I started to feel better.
You can do this, Carmilla. You just need some hydration and a decent meal.
I needed some fresh air, and my stomach was still churning, so I decided to go for a walk. Not usually the fitness or exercise type, this was new and random, but I just had to get out of that house.
My senses were on fire today! Every scent was so strong. All the lights were glaring brighter than ever. My roommates seemed so loud. And that growling in my stomach would not go away. I needed food, but nothing sounded good. I had looked at some fruit in the kitchen on my way out, but the thought of it made my stomach turn.
Now here I was, walking up the sidewalk a few blocks from the house I shared with my roommates, trying simultaneously to forget last night and also to remember what had happened to me in those forgotten, fuzzy moments. I wanted to remember, but I was afraid to remember.
What if I saw his face again, and those eyes, and those bloody fangs?
I was so lost in my thoughts, that I didn’t even notice someone walking very close behind me until the voice said something just inches from my ear.
“You’ve been bitten,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Excuse me?” I didn’t intend to have quite that level of snark in my voice when I said it, but I was having a day, and it was starting to show. I turned around and came face-to-face with a petite woman with a serious face.
“You were bitten, and you have the gene. The Turn has already started, I bet. You’re becoming a vampire, Carmilla. You can either come with me and learn how to do it correctly, or I have to put you down.”
“Put me… down?“
“I don’t make the rules. I just enforce them. You have 24 hours to decide. We can’t give you a minute longer than that. The Turn will be complete on the 3rd day after you were bitten.”
“Who are you?” I asked. She hardly looked older than me but something about her was different, more mature, as if she had lived a dozen lifetimes to my one. She didn’t look like she wanted to be trifled with, either.
“If you come to the Academy, you will find out. If you choose not to, it’s best you not know.”
With that, she handed me a card and walked away, leaving me standing there on the sidewalk with my mouth hanging open. I looked down at the business card in my hand. It was creamy white, with a red border and the letters MRVA were printed on the one side. This felt like high-quality cardstock here. Nice stuff, not what one would typically use for a prank.
The other side read, “When you decide, dial this number.” Below that, was a telephone number.
Before I could even process what had just happened, I felt those cramps in my stomach again, coming even stronger this time. I was so hungry. Why was I so fucking hungry?
I could eat a horse! Or a dog… like that little yappy dog right across the street being walked by his owner right now.
Mmmm…
Okay, what the hell, Carmilla?
Starting to feel like I was losing it, I stopped in my tracks and turned around. I needed to get home before I passed out here on the street, or worse…
I hardly remembered getting back to the house, but I managed to get inside and to the kitchen in a flash. No one else was around and I needed something to eat. I needed to eat NOW!
Pulling open the door to the fridge, I saw a package of ground hamburger inside. Missy had picked it up for Taco Tuesday this week. It was one of her specials. We all took turns cooking for one another in the house. Suddenly, I couldn’t take my mind off the meat.
I needed it.
I wanted it.
I had to have it.
My hands flew into the fridge like they had a mind of their own, grabbing the package of meat and pulling the wrapper off. Then, I began shoving the raw, bloody meat into my mouth without thinking about what I was doing.
Mmmm.
Before I knew it, the entire package was gone. The cramping in my stomach had stopped… for the moment. But I sat here in the middle of the kitchen floor, refrigerator door still open, fingers bloody from the meat, and was both horrified and confused by what I had done.
I had to move fast before one of my roommates saw me like this. Quickly, I hid the evidence in the trash, washed my hands in the kitchen sink, took a drink of water, but I could still taste the blood in my mouth… it sounded disgusting, but it tasted so very, very good.
What is happening to me?
Now, I ran back to my bedroom where I kicked off my shoes and threw my body down on the bed, closing my eyes and trying to envision this was all a big, stupid dream and I was going to wake up any moment now.
Tears welled up in my eyes but didn’t spill over. I could feel them there, right on the edge, just as I felt right now, as if I were teetering on the edge of something very dangerous but very exciting. At any moment, I could fall right into the unknown. All it would take is a little push, a strong wind…
Something was seriously wrong with me! My heart was thump-thudding in my chest so loud, it sounded like it would explode. I could hear the drip-drop from the kitchen faucet that wasn’t turned off completely. The light was killing me! I had already turned off the overhead light but the sunlight spilling through my curtains was making me feel nauseous. I just wanted it to stop!
I reached my hand up to my neck again. There on the wound, right where those two little holes sat in my flesh, I felt a thumping, heated sensation unlike anything I had ever felt before.
Then I felt him. He was inside me, and not between my legs. His teeth were inside me… his fangs. The fuzzy memories started to come back to me. The mysterious Mr. Knight had bitten me in the neck. He had drunk from me as I writhed and moaned with pleasure beneath him.
I had loved every second of the pure ecstasy of it, and then I had forgotten it.
Now, I couldn’t deny the truth. With the memories returning, even if a bit hazy, I knew what the mysterious stranger on the street was talking about. As much as I wanted to pretend it wasn’t true, my date last night had been a vampire, and now I was, too
.
The Turn happened quickly; this I knew to be fact. They’d made us learn about it in history class, although they glossed over the mass genocide part. They wanted us to fear the vampires so that we never tried to activate the gene hidden inside many of us.
Shit.
This was worse than any STD. Why couldn’t he have had chlamydia instead?
I reached across my bed for that card the woman on the street had given me that I tossed on there when I came in. Struggling to hold my phone steady in my hand, I dialed the number.
A male voice said, “Hello, Carmilla.”
Before I could think twice about what I was doing, I shouted into the phone, “I’m in! Please help me.”
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About the Author
Fantasy/ PNR/ Paranormal RH author ❤
Hunted: Call of the Wolf : Reverse Harem Werewolf Shifter Series Page 5
