by Casey Lane
“He said all that?”
“Yes, he was feeling chatty.” Her tone lacked the usual venom.
“Everything okay with you and your father then?”
“I think I understand him a bit better now. I still hate what he did to Xave, but I get it. Changing Castle has given me a bit of an idea.” She rubbed a cheek, almost rueful.
“Wait, did I just hear you say you were wrong?” He backed away.
“No!”
“I think I heard that.” He darted for the door, but didn’t make it. A second later he was shoved up against the wooden panel, and Aria was pressed right up against him. He hardened instantly.
“Do I have to move my stuff right now?”
She bit his chin.
“Ow.”
“Maybe not right now.”
And then her lips were on his.
“I love you.”
She paused. “Good.”
“Nothing to say back?”
“Not right now.”
The minx.
Then she was dragging his head down and kissing him, the taste of frozen strawberries dipped in sugar driving him crazy.
Epilogue
Naomi was a dead woman walking.
Once her family found out she was alive, they’d come looking. If they came, Hunters would follow, and Naomi’s eyes were a dead giveaway as to what she’d become.
It was strange. A few days ago, she would have welcomed the wooden stake, but not anymore. Her power, still great, was no longer a yawning chasm at her feet. With part of it being siphoned off into Aria, for the first time in her life, she could breathe.
She opened the door to Parker Ash’s office with her mind, and then shut it behind her the same way. She strolled casually up to his desk and took a seat opposite the duke. “You asked to speak with me?”
She refrained from looking at him directly; he was still too handsome for his own good, and her body had a habit of reacting to it, which she didn’t like. He was a vampire.
So are you.
The duke lowered his pen, and pushed aside his pile of paperwork. “Yes.”
“Well?”
Both of his eyebrows rose, just slightly. “I thought we should discuss what was found in your apartment.”
Naomi forced a smile. “I’m sure it was rather boring reading.”
“Yes, considering it was all in code, which I am still in the process of cracking. I’m about halfway there.”
“I wouldn’t bother. It’s all pretty dull. Financial reports.”
“You know, I can tell when you lie. It’s off-putting, so please stop.”
She wondered how he managed to do that, but she wasn’t going to think too hard about it. The less she thought about Parker Ash, the better.
“Can I have my books back?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have a feeling they detail the results of your spying, and I don’t want people finding out about Aria. Is that sufficient reason?”
While it gutted her that she’d never get back all those meticulous records, she could see his point. She’d just have to hunt them down, later. They were hers, after all.
“Well?”
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were actually asking a question. Yes, it’s sufficient.”
He tapped a finger on the blotter. “I’m glad to hear it. Now, the other reason I asked you here. I may have sent a note to your family. I found their address in your correspondence.”
“What?” She burst out of her chair, and everything in the room jumped with her.
Parker shoved himself back from the desk, probably to avoid having the heavy metal furniture land on his toe. “That is going to take some getting used to.”
“I won’t be sticking around for you to get used to it.” Now her family had been alerted to her situation…
“Where would you go? You need to stay with your Chooser.”
“Changer.”
“Excuse me?”
“Aria has decided that she Changed me, rather than Chose or Bit.” Naomi didn’t really care what it was called, she just wanted to annoy the duke.
“I see.”
He probably did.
“Fine, you need to stay with your Changer – especially considering your…ability.”
“But if I stay here, everyone is in danger.”
“From you?”
“From my family.”
The duke frowned. “Oh, I see. Well, that’s the part I haven’t told you.” He coughed into his hand. “I may have written to them and said you died in a fight, while trying to save my – young – daughter from harm.”
Naomi blinked. “You said what?”
“That you were dead.”
“You lied.”
“You could have died.”
“You lied.” She fought a smile. Mr.-I-am-so-into-honesty had fibbed. And what a fib.
“Well, I couldn’t have more of your kind coming here.”
Her amusement died. “My kind?”
“I saw what they did to Aria and Sebastian, and I saw what they did to you. You are one of them. If they could kill you now, what would they do to you later? Family or not, I was not inviting them here.”
Wait – he was protecting her?
Protecting Aria. She Changed you, and now you’re her responsibility. And you’re psychically linked to her. Naomi dying could cause massive mental trauma to Aria. Who’d probably heal, to be fair, but it wouldn’t be pleasant.
“I hope you won’t be angry, but I can’t let you contact your family, either. They have to believe you’re dead.”
“They’ll come here anyway. They won’t believe I’m gone until they see the body.”
“I may have mentioned I’d had your remains cremated in the vampire tradition.”
Wow, he’d been on a roll.
“They will still be suspicious. Grays of my…strength…don’t usually go down without a fight.” Or half a city.
“Then they can come and visit. But we will deal with it at the time.”
My family think I’m dead. Her heart broke at how Marcia would feel upon reading that letter. Her sister was a Blue, and had always felt too deeply. Petra would be sad, but they’d never really been close – mostly because Naomi had been too afraid of hurting her non-Graced sister. And Fin, well, she hadn’t seen him for a decade. He wouldn’t even know.
That left Faith.
Faith was the deadliest of the lot. Naomi just had to hope that the letter would take a really, really long time to find her.
She’d miss her siblings, oh, how she’d miss them, but she had a new life here. A new beginning. What’s more, if they knew about her, they’d probably try and protect her – maybe even Faith would, too – and that would put them in danger.
Her power was no longer overwhelming. Her mind was unburdened, and her neck was repaired. Meeting the duke’s stare, she gave a small, rare smile. “Basically then, I’m free.”
Ash’s expression lightened, and he reached across the desk, taking one of her hands in his. “You’re free.”
The End
Continue the Graced series with book one, Graced.
https://www.amandapillar.com/graced
Join Amanda’s newsletter and get a free Graced novelette!
http://subscribe.amandapillar.com/newsletter
About the Author
Amanda Pillar is an award-winning editor and author who lives in Victoria, Australia, with her husband and two cats, Saxon and Lilith.
Amanda has had numerous short stories published and has co-edited six fiction anthologies. Her first solo anthology, Bloodstones, was published by Ticonderoga Publications in 2012. The award-winning sequel, Bloodlines, was published in October 2015. Amanda's first novel in the Graced series, Graced, was released in 2015, and was followed by the sequel, Bitten, and two novellas Captive and Survivor.
In her day job, she works as an archaeologist.
Read More from Amanda Pill
ar
www.amandapillar.com
Awaken
Sharon Stevenson
Awaken © copyright 2017 Sharon Stevenson
* * *
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Awaken
How far would you go to survive?
Skye is a party girl who hit on the wrong guy. Waking up in White Oaks one and only vampire brothel, she’s determined to survive.
Theo doesn’t want to live anymore. The only problem is, he’s already dead. Presented with Skye, his instincts take over.
Things take a turn for the worse when the brothel goes on lock-down, and one fatal decision will change everything for them both.
Chapter One
Waking up on the cold hard floor wasn’t an entirely new experience for Skye. She remembered being in Haven the night before, being plied with their famously delicious Mud Slides by a very hot, very interested guy. She remembered dancing and she remembered the heat of his hard body as he scooped her into his big, muscular arms. The kiss, she couldn’t seem to recall. He’d stared down at her for what seemed like forever and then... she groaned and pushed herself up. The bathroom floor felt weirdly slick under her hands. Had she thrown up? She grimaced at the thought of that, she wasn’t together enough to even think about cleaning up right now. Her head was swimming. She’d definitely gone past her limit the night before. When she took a good look around she knew something was really off. Her vision was totally messed up. There was no way she was seeing what she thought she was.
Sitting up, she closed her eyes tightly and rubbed every trace of sleep out of them, along with the last of the mascara she apparently hadn’t bothered to take off the night before. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes again. Nope, something still wasn’t right. She got to her feet and walked to the bars in front of her. They were cold in her hands. She shivered, rubbing at her bare arms. The top and skirt she was wearing were perfect for a night out, not so much for whatever freezing layer of hell this was.
She touched her wet hair and realised she felt slightly damp all over. She glanced at her arms. The wet patches on her skin appeared to be water. As relieved as she was that she hadn’t puked up her guts, she was too stunned to properly appreciate the small mercy. Her gaze whipped around the cell. The tiled floor under her feet was wet, just enough to give her shivers now that she noticed it, with a big drain in the corner. When she glanced upward she saw there was what looked like a showerhead embedded in the ceiling.
She groaned. “What the hell is this?”
When she turned to her left she could see a row of cells just like the one she was in, each of them with people in them, most of them inert; sleeping, she wagered. She pulled at the bars, unable to find a way to open her cage and unwilling to believe that any of what she was seeing was real.
“Don’t do that,” a girl in the cage next to hers said quietly. “The guards don’t like it. Some of them will use any excuse to hurt you.”
Skye’s eyes flitted to the guy across the room, sleeping in a chair with his feet up on a desk. A ring of keys dangled from his belt. She looked at the girl.
She was leaning against the back wall of the cell, long, dark hair mostly covering her face as she slowly turned her left wrist about, right fingers tracing her skin.
“How long have you been here?” Skye flinched as the girl scraped a sharp fingernail down her wrist.
The girl shrugged, her dark eyes trained on the bead of blood that swelled where she’d split her skin. “A few weeks, months, who knows? They don’t feed us regularly, so it’s hard to tell. I got one of the good ones. He agreed to make me his shade so they can’t let one of the others drain me.” She sighed softly. “I’m his.” She bent her head and licked the blood from her arm slowly.
Skye shook off the disturbing image, zeroing her attention in on what the crazy girl was saying instead. “What are you even talking about?”
“Vampires,” she whispered. “Don’t tell me you live in White Oaks and you don’t know about them. Don’t make me laugh.”
Skye stared at her. She’d gone stark-raving mad, obviously. Though, those little bloody holes in her neck did look kind of like a vampire bite. “So, what’s a shade then?”
“I’m like...his property. I know it sounds bad, but it’s awesome really. I get to leave when he does. With him.” She spoke in hushed tones, her gaze flitting to the guard and back again. “It means I won’t die in here. Like some of the others.”
Skye was shocked into silence. The thought of dying in this cell made her chest tighten. She was only twenty-three, she’d barely lived, and now she might die? She swallowed. It couldn’t happen. She wouldn’t let it. She’d do anything.
The crazy girl had started to chew on her nails.
Skye rested her head against the bars between them.
“Hey,” she whispered.
The girl looked up.
“How do I get one of the good ones?”
“You just have to hope,” the girl said with a shrug of her shoulders. “You won’t know who they’re taking you to until it happens.”
Great, Skye thought, my life is in the hands of fate.
Chapter Two
The face staring back at him in the mirror was that of a monster. Theo turned his head this way and that, but the image never changed, never showed him who he used to be. Squinting his glowing amber eyes didn’t help. He sighed as he looked away. It didn’t matter. He’d never be the man he was before. Inside and out, he’d been changed.
“For better or worse,” he mumbled, ignoring the hunger pangs that made his stomach spasm.
No-one had ever told him how long he could last without blood. Three days was longest he’d gone before in five long years as a vampire. He was close to the edge now, he could tell. One more day would make it a week. The pain in his gut had been getting sharper, more frequent. His undead body couldn’t possibly hold up for another day without blood. Could it?
He groaned as he moved back into his bedroom. It resembled a luxury hotel suite without windows but was in fact a room within White Oaks one and only vampire brothel.
He lay on the bed and waited. Losing track of time was never a good idea when it was your job to service clients, but he’d already called Stacy and told the girl to cross out his week. He was entitled to the time off. Being there voluntarily had its perks.
The agony of unslaked thirst made his body shudder. He closed his eyes. It wasn’t going to be long now, surely…
A quick-fire knock made him sit back up, slowly. He controlled the shudder, leaning against the headboard as the door opened. His mouth opened to immediately complain to whoever was entering that he’d taken the week off, that he was entitled to be left alone. When the brothel’s manager walked in, he held his tongue. Brody was the one who’d found him. He was the reason Theo had made it through his first months as a vampire. He was the reason there was no demon for Theo to fight against daily inside his own skin. If he owed anyone anything, this guy was top of that list.
“Theo,” Brody started, squinting and stumbling over his own feet as he entered the room.
The lights were out. Theo’s enhanced vision had adjusted to it. He reached for the lamp and foun
d the switch. His fingers trembled as he flipped it.
Brody blinked slowly. His expression flickered from neutral to suspicious and back again. He sighed. “What are you doing? We all thought you signed out for the week.”
Guilt kicked in as Theo considered his reply. Lying to Brody felt wrong, but he couldn’t let the truth spill out. He was too close to achieving oblivion. A cry for help now would ruin everything.
“I came back today,” he said, hoping his voice wasn’t as shaky as he felt. “But I’m off until tomorrow.”
Brody frowned at him. “You don’t look well.”
“I’m fine.” He couldn’t look the guy in the face as he said it. He’d never been a good liar, and apparently dying hadn’t changed that.
“You don’t look fine.”
He shrugged, fighting off a wince as his stomach clenched. This had to be it. He had to be close.
“I don’t think you left this room all week,” Brody said, his arms folding. “And that means you haven’t fed in all that time. Mind telling me what’s going on?”
He let the wince show this time. Clearly Brody had come here knowing the truth already. He tried to pull together an explanation, but he didn’t have one that wouldn’t sound weak and pathetic. “Maybe you should never have let me put my demon to sleep.”
“Or maybe you should have told me something was up.” Brody sounded pissed. “Since you didn’t, and you won’t, I don’t think I have any other option.”
Theo started to stand up, wondering if he’d even make it out of the brothel before he died of starvation. Was it daylight outside? The quick death sunlight would give him was probably something he should have thought of before now. It was so much more sensible that slowly wasting away.
