by Lucinda Dark
Olivia frowned down at my grip on her arm. “I’ve got to go get everything arranged,” she said, wincing. “Barbie, you’re hurting me.”
I couldn’t let go. My gut was churning. She was so close. I could smell her. My mouth watered. Saliva coated my tongue. I opened my mouth and took a step towards her before I even realized my own movements.
Barbie, stop! Satrina’s voice shocked me back to reality, echoing as Beth called my name as well. I released Olivia abruptly. She looked at me with a frown, rubbing her arm.
“I-I—” I stuttered and stepped back as I bumped into the end of the stairway railing. “I’m sorry.”
Olivia’s frown didn’t go away, but she didn’t look particularly angry, just confused, as her brows lowered over her eyes. “It’s fine,” she said with a shrug. “But I do have to go. Let me know if Torin’s taking you to prom, I’ll have a list of colors that would look good on you both when we get to the city. I’ll pick you up.”
I nodded, turning away as I lifted my hand to my mouth. My gums burned, my fangs threatening to descend. “Barbie?” Beth’s hand settled on my shoulder as I heard the front door close behind Olivia. I pulled away.
“I’m fine,” I lied.
“Are you—”
I didn’t wait around to let her finish her question. My feet hit the stairs and I booked it to the second floor, not stopping until I was in my bedroom with the door closed and my back pressed against it. I panted with the effort it took to keep from going back downstairs. My eyes were on fire, a glowy red film falling over my vision.
Barbie? Satrina’s voice felt far away.
You need it, why don’t you just take it? I froze, my hand still on the knob. I yanked it away as fast as I could, turning and backing away from the door as if it were on fire. The backs of my knees hit the mattress on my bed and I sank down shakily. That voice…it wasn’t Satrina and it wasn’t me.
Hunger ripped through my gut, doubling me over. My hands clutched at my abdomen as I breathed through the pain slicing into my organs.
Just feed. One little sip will take this all away. It’s not wrong. It’s what your body requires.
Tears came to the corners of my eyes. I didn’t think. I didn’t stop. I reached for the bag with Torin’s blood in it and ripped it open, tearing the seam and the zipper as I tried to get it open. The vials fell out and I snatched them from the floor, popping the cap on the first and downing it.
I didn’t stop when the pain in my stomach faded, but instead, kept going. I popped the second one, opened my mouth and tipped my head back. Torin’s blood flowed into my mouth, cold from the bag’s cooling insulation. Some of the blood leaked out of my mouth as I poured in more and more until I was sure that there was no way I could ever crave it again. I gorged, sucked it back and let it fill me up until I felt bloated and angry.
My fingers shook as I finally downed the last drop of blood, letting the final vial drop to the floor as I sat back.
“Barbie?” Beth’s voice outside my bedroom was followed by the light sound of her knocking. “Are you sure you’re okay, sweetie?”
I looked up and froze. I met my own reflection’s gaze in the vanity’s mirror. It took considerable work to clear the roughness of my throat even as I couldn’t tear my gaze away. “Yeah,” I rasped. “Just fine.”
“Are you feeling okay?” she asked.
“I’m tired,” I lied. “I think I’m gonna lie down.”
“Okay, honey, if you need anything, let me know.” I thought that would be the end of it, but I could still hear her through the wood, hovering on the other side of the door. It was then that I realized she was waiting for me to reply.
“Yeah,” I forced myself to say. “I will.”
“Get some rest, Barbie,” she said.
As Beth’s footsteps faded behind me, I kept staring at my reflection as my red eyes reverted to blue. I reached up, watching my hand in the mirror as I touched the corner of my mouth. My fingers came away wet and sticky with blood, and even as I stood up, preparing to wash away the evidence of what I’d done, I knew there was no hiding from it.
I was so far beyond the realm of human that there was no going back.
Eleven
Maverick
I tightened my fists and stretched my neck as Coach rambled on, pacing the back wall of his office like a caged tiger. My muscles felt warped—too tight—and no matter how much I tried to flex them, they only grew tighter. Tipping my head the side, I tried to crack my neck to no avail.
“—missing. Though it’s downtime, I get that. Scouts were very impressed with your performance in the fall. Have any of them contacted you? Do you have any plans for playing at college?”
“What?” I snapped my leg down and sat forward with both feet planted on the floor, propping my elbows on my knees as Coach stopped in front of me with a scowl.
“College, McKnight,” he repeated, placing his hands, palms down on the desk and leaning over it. “You’ve been very closed-lipped about where you’re going or whether or not you’ll be playing in the fall. I want to know where my star players are going, what their plans are. You’ve also been out of school for damn near a month—”
“My school work hasn’t suffered,” I barked, interrupting him as my irritation rose. “And it’s not football season anymore, so what’s the issue?”
His eyebrows shot up to his nonexistent hairline. “You’ve never spoken to me like that before, McKnight,” he said. “What the hell is going on with you?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. I’m fine.”
“Well, obviously something is going on. This about a girl?” He crossed his arms over his barreled chest. I had to force my eyes not to roll. They always thought it was over a woman.
I stood abruptly and cracked my neck the opposite way that I had earlier as I stared him down. “Drop it,” I snapped. “I don’t know about college, yet.” Whether or not I’d get the chance to go was completely unknown at the moment and the very least of my problems. “Is there another reason you called me here?”
Coach stared me down, his bushy gray eyebrows drawing together as he seemed to debate something in his head—likely whether or not to call me on my insolence. Whatever. Didn’t fucking matter to me what he did. In less than six weeks, I’d be out of his hair. Apparently, he came to the same conclusion because he merely closed his eyes and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose—one of the signs of an oncoming headache.
“You’re something else, McKnight,” he muttered more to himself than to me as he shook his head. “Something fucking else. No. I ain’t got nothing else to say. Go on and get out of here.” He waved his hand towards the door.
I nodded and snatched up my backpack as I made my way out of his office and into the adjoining locker room. Even though it was off season, there were still several bodies milling about. I lifted a palm in a half-wave to a few of the guys I knew from the baseball team and they waved back.
I was almost in the clear, the exit locked in my sights a moment before a familiar nasally tone assaulted my ears. “—give anything to fuck that pussy raw.” The edge of my teeth scraped together as I came to a slow stop, turning my head as Milner came into view—wet from a shower with a towel wrapped around his hips. I knew he was playing the baseball angle for an extra chance at a scholarship, but I’d hoped to get out of the way before I saw the shitstain.
And as always, his fucking sidekick, Russo was right at his back. “Shit, don’t let the wrong people hear you talk like that,” Milner’s smarter counterpart warned.
“Talk like what?” Milner laughed—the sound sharp and echoing in my ears. A muscle in my jaw jumped against my flesh. Violence rippled beneath the surface, rising forward, stretching my body as I took a breath like I was nothing but a suit worn by something far more dangerous. “Ain’t no one gives a shit about a chick like that. Sick? Ha. She was probably shacked up with Torin and Maverick. Those two suckers pant after the bitch like she’s in heat.”
I lowered my arm and the strap of my bag slid down until the pack touched the ground. As if sensing the impending fight, several of the guys snapped their lockers shut. Many just backed up but more than a few booked it right out of the locker room. “Milner,” Russo spoke, but the idiot didn’t fucking hear it.
“I mean seriously, do you think she double teams them? Probably, am I right? She’d probably do us if we asked. She seems like the type who can’t get enough—” His voice cut off.
“I would suggest you shut the fuck up right now,” I said without looking his way.
There was a snort. I clenched my fists. “Hey, Mav, didn’t see you there, buddy.”
I cut my eyes Milner’s way and what I saw made red bleed into my vision. Milner tipped his head back with a smirk as he leaned back against the lockers. “Tell me,” the idiot continued, “was she any good? Barbie, I mean. No one believes she was really sick, you know. I bet you and Torin finally got some, yeah? I saw that you two were back to being buddy buddy. Didn’t know you were into sharing, though.”
I couldn’t have stopped my reaction even if I’d wanted to. Instead, I let my eyes slide shut and the beast come forth. I didn’t transform, but my muscles bulged. I shot forward, my hand going to the prick’s throat and slamming him against the locker at his back so hard that the metal dented.
“Every word out of your fucking mouth is disgusting,” I said quietly as I reached up with my opposite hand and grabbed ahold of his jaw. His friend Russo stared in shock—as did everyone else in the vicinity as I leaned down close and brought my mouth next to Milner’s ear. “I warned you to shut your mouth, and you didn’t listen. I told you before not to talk about her like that.”
“You said not to touch her!” he snapped, squirming in my grip. “I didn’t! I don’t want no disease-infested bitch.”
I tsked. “You never fucking cease to amaze me,” I replied. “How anyone could be so stupid…” I pulled away and looked at him. “I’ll never know.” I pulled my fist back and slammed it into his jaw.
“Fucker!” he screamed as I did it again. No one tried to stop me—not even his supposed friend.
Of course, Milner didn’t simply sit there and take it. He fought back, his body bowing under my superior strength. His eyes widened as I tightened my hold on his throat and kept punching. When he realized he couldn’t break it, he began to flail. He yelled for his friend, Russo, who stood to the side—shock and fear converging into one head shake as the pissant stumbled back and raced out of the locker room—his towel still wrapped around his hips.
I laughed. “What?” I asked. “Thought he could fucking save you, you little worm?” I punched him until blood poured from his nose. I held his throat in my grasp until his eyeballs were split as wide as his lips as he gasped for air. A completely new being overtook me and I let it. Control was ceded and I relished in the bones and cartilage as they crunched under my knuckles.
Milner’s puny fists were nothing—they barely grazed me or if they did, I hardly felt them. They were nothing. He was nothing. I shook him against the lockers as something grabbed my shoulder. I shoved it off as my fist made contact with Milner’s cheek—his bone fracturing under the force.
“McKnight!” Coach’s voice invaded my thoughts and I slowed to a stop, staring down at Milner as he sagged in my grip—his eyes closed. I took a step back, releasing the prick and my foot met something wet on the ground. I looked down and scowled. The fucker had pissed himself. “Jesus fucking Christ, McKnight. What the hell were you thinking?”
We stared down at the pulpy face of Milner. My lips parted. Dry air escaped. I didn’t have an answer, but if he and the rest didn’t fucking know it before—then they knew it now. No one said shit about Barbie in my fucking presence.
I looked down and blinked. The fuck…? The shadow of scales littered my forearm, reaching up beneath my shirtsleeve. As Coach moved forward, shoving me out of the way as he reached for Milner’s unconscious body, the scales faded—but the images of them in my mind never did. I stepped back and searched internally. The beast was still there.
You have to protect her, don’t you? the beast asked.
I froze. His voice—which I hadn’t heard in weeks, was loud in my head, startlingly so. Not from men like him, I replied, though the phrase was too kind for the punk that I’d just destroyed. Milner wasn’t a man, he was hardly a piece of shit beneath my boot.
You asked for my power to protect the girl, the beast replied. I simply gave it.
I stumbled away from the scene before me, and the guys still standing in the locker room—those that had watched me lose control—quickly got out of my way.
You… I sucked in a breath, but no air entered my lungs. I felt suddenly empty—bereft. As if no oxygen could enter me. You tried to take control, I accused.
I will never try to take control, the beast replied, his words and tone sharp with annoyance. I simply gave you the power and ambition to do what you wanted to do.
Ambition. As I stared down at my hands, my knuckles split and coated with Milner’s blood—I realized that was the true beast. The unleashing of my desires.
Whatever else we did, we needed to find Esperanza, and soon.
Twelve
Torin
I was aware that there was someone else in the room before I was even fully awake. I felt their presence as if it were attached to my own. I knew when they opened the door. Knew when they reached my bedside. Knew when they reached out to touch me a split second before I moved. My hand shot out and grabbed the unknown intruder by the wrist, and I pulled. Their body came down on top of mine as I rolled until they were beneath me. My free hand wrapped around a slender throat. Only then did I open my eyes.
“I don’t know who you think—Barbie?” I blinked down at the figure beneath me. Red eyes met mine and her body undulated beneath me as her mouth split into a sly grin.
“Do all vampires have a thing for necks? Does it just come with the territory?” she asked.
I yanked my hand from her throat, belatedly realizing that I still held her in my grip. “What are you doing here?” I flicked a look back to the doorway. “How did you get here?”
She lifted her arm, spinning a ring of keys on one finger. “I think human Barbie likes to conveniently forget that we have wheels, too.”
“Human Barbie?” I had no sooner repeated that last bit when she turned the tables on me, hooking one leg behind one of my mine and shoving against my chest. I rolled awkwardly, my spine hitting the mattress as her soft, sleek body made its way on top of mine. Her breasts pushed against my naked torso as she leaned down and licked a path up my throat to my ear. My muscles tensed at the obvious invitation.
“Don’t you like this side of her?” she asked right before she bit down. I winced, feeling the slice of a fang through skin and then the warmth of her tongue as it soothed over the puncture wound.
Shit. This wasn’t Barbie. This was her vampire. She’d completely taken over and I was willing to bet the real Barbie had no clue. I reached up, locking my fingers around her wrists, stilling her hands as they roamed over my chest. Vampire-Barbie pulled back with a pout.
“What?” she demanded.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I growled, shoving her back. “Taking over her body and—”
“It’s our body,” she interrupted with a huff. “Or have you forgotten what it’s like with your vampire?”
“He and I have an understanding.”
“Yeah, one where you keep him locked up until you need him. Barbie completely denies my existence, which is quite hurtful, I’ll have you know.”
“Bring her back, now,” I ordered, squeezing her wrists until I threatened to break them.
“I just wanted to have some fun,” she growled, dropping her keys to the mattress. A wicked glint entered her eyes and before I could block her, she had both of her long legs wrapped around my waist and her core pressed against the front of my boxers. I could feel her heat t
hrough the fabric. My mouth watered and my fangs itched to descend. “Don’t you want to have some fun with me, Torin?” Big red eyes blinked up at me—they might even have appeared innocent if it weren’t for the bloody glow of them.
I growled. “Now,” I repeated. “I won’t ask again.”
“Fine then,” she snapped, but she didn’t drop her legs. “But you can explain to her why we’re in this position, lover boy.”
Before I could reply, the red glow disappeared from her eyes completely and Barbie’s face slackened with shock as she stared up at me. “T-Torin?” Her legs dropped from my waist immediately. “What the fuck? How the hell did I get here? Did you—”
“I didn’t do anything,” I said, releasing her wrists as I sat up and moved back, angling my lower half away so she wouldn’t see what was going on down below.
“Then how the fuck did I get here?” Barbie’s eyes—completely blue and human now—narrowed. “I swear to fuck, Torin, if you—”
“Your vampire brought you here,” I said, interrupting her as I scrubbed a palm down my face. Even for me, running on such a short amount of sleep was beginning to take its toll. I hadn’t had a full night’s sleep since I’d turned her, and all at once, it seemed that every sleepless night had caught up with me and my body sagged against the mattress as I bent over, resting my elbows on my knees. “You should go. She said she drove here in your car.”
Silence dragged between us. I waited, listening for the sound of her getting up, finding her keys, and leaving the room, but none of it happened. I peeked out from between my fingers and found her scooting to the end of the mattress alongside me. Her cheeks were pink, but her eyes still sparked their normal fury as she glanced my way and then down to the floor.
“Why,” she started, swallowing before continuing, “why would my vampire take over?” she asked.
