by Edith Warner
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2Read More
CHAPTER 1
~
THE COLLEGE GIRL LOOKED SO peaceful in her sleep. Her chest rose and fell with each breath, sending a heady sweet scent into the air. Wren brushed back the hair from her forehead, taking in the quiet moment before she would fight him with all of her might. She’d made a terrible mistake by leaving the window open. The screen could hardly be a barrier for something like him. He was a predator that was superior to anything human.
The girl moaned, capturing his full attention again. He didn’t think that it was anything sexual, but it was enough to set him on edge. It had been awhile since he’d had new warm flesh beneath him, and the girl was ripe for it. He leaned in closer and took a deep breath; her feminine scent made his head swim with anticipation. The blood of the last girl had reawakened his most basic desires. He couldn’t bear to wait for another second.
The pistol slipped quietly from the front pocket of his slacks. It was the best tool to use for these situations. People understood that a gun was capable of killing them in an instant. They didn’t realize that about vampires, at least not usually. The more observant ones seemed to, but he didn’t want to take any chances. He’d tried abducting women in the past with only his bare hands. It worked, but they struggled and that always ended badly for them. It was as quick as being shot; it just involved him snapping their necks.
He pushed the covers back with the end of the pistol. The girl woke, looking confused at first, and then her eyes widened as she distinguished his figure from the darkness. He muffled her scream with his hand. She was loud, too loud. It was enough to wake her roommate. He could hear her heartbeat accelerate in the other room.
Wren raised the pistol, showing it to the girl before snatching her from the bed. He carried her through the window before the roommate even made it into the hallway. It only took a couple of seconds to reach his vehicle. He made sure no one was around before throwing her into the trunk. It would be straightforward from there. People would be looking for her, but they would never find her. His home was nestled under the ground in the outskirts of Atlanta, which was six hours away from where she disappeared, and he sensed no witnesses.
~
What in the hell was that?
Selene breathed rapid, shallow breaths but her lungs never seemed to fill with air. The trunk was sweltering and stuffy. Sweat beaded up on her forehead as she recalled how fast the man had carried her. His strength was unbelievable; he had a grip like steel. The weight of her body had absolutely no effect on him, even when she tried to drop down to the ground.
The air seemed even harder to breathe. She needed out now! Her hands reached around the trunk but felt nothing except rough carpet and plastic. Pain shot through her chest; she realized that her heart was beating harder than she’d ever felt it before. Was she about to have a heart attack?
Her lungs heaved for air but found little relief.
Just take small breaths, she told herself. Her chest wheezed as she sucked in a small amount of air. It was enough to keep her going. She took another breath; this time, it sounded much quieter. She felt around for a trunk release, but there was nothing.
Her breathing began to feel restricted again. Calm down. Just calm down. Her heart pounded on and on. It was impossible to control it, so she began to try and focus on an escape plan. Someone had once told her that a victim had drawn attention by tearing the wiring for the taillights to make them go out. She pressed against the back end of the trunk but couldn’t find where the wiring would be.
Damn it!
She scooted toward the corner of the bumper on her elbows. Chunks of dirt filled the carpet and crushed into powder beneath her weight. Her breath hitched with the realization that this man could’ve recently buried a body. More desperate to escape, she plunged her fingers into the corner and ripped the carpet. At first, she felt nothing but metal, but then her fingers slid across something that felt like a rubber string. She began tearing the wires from their connections until there was none left. The smell of mildew rose when her arms brushed across a wet spot. The thought of a dead body having occupied the same space she was forced to stay in made her muscles tense. She remembered holding her breath as a little girl whenever she passed by a cemetery. Holding her breath would be so nice now, but she needed all of the oxygen she could get. She told herself it was just rainwater and began stripping off the wires on the other taillight. Her captor must’ve noticed because the car came to a screeching halt.
~
Wren stopped the vehicle in the first secluded spot he could find. This girl was going to cause more trouble than she was worth. She was too smart. He grinned at her ambition and found that a bit surprising. He hadn’t felt anything like that in a long time. Now he appreciated things? What had that first girl’s blood done to him?
Young blood.
He stepped out of the car and headed for the trunk, unsure of what he would do to the girl. As soon as he unlatched it, she launched herself out and began to run.
No surprise.
He leaped forward in what felt like one bound and wrapped his arms around her. Her struggling to keep moving forward was nothing short of pathetic. He let out a sigh and dragged her back toward the vehicle. When he had her securely pressed against the side of the car, she began to scream. He hushed her soft lips with his finger and shook his head. It was enough to make her go silent, but more than that, it was enough to save her. She became a prospect for turning in his mind. He loathed people who wouldn’t yield to his control.
She was even more beautiful than he’d realized before. Long dark hair framed her face and hung on both sides of her alluring chest. She was an intoxicating cocktail of fragile, gorgeous features. All of that would change of course. His blood would either kill her or build her up to be stronger.
But either way, it will break her down first. He looked in her eyes and envisioned the suffering. The dark ring around her hazel irises meant it was very probable her genes would be capable of mutating. That was promising, especially since he was beginning to like her.
“Please don’t hurt me. You can let me go. I won’t tell anyone. It’s not too late.” She began rambling sentences he’d heard so many times before, but she still somehow managed to make him feel a tinge of sympathy. This was going to be good.
“Shh.” He placed his finger on her mouth again and was fascinated that she didn’t even tense up her lips. Either she was petrified or naturally compliant.
“Good.” He smiled and could sense that she mistook it as a menacing gesture. Perhaps it was; he was still was unsure of his feelings.
“I need you to realize something.” He placed his hand beneath her chin, forcing her to maintain eye contact with him. “You belong to me now.”
“No. Please, I have a family that—”
“I wasn’t finished.” Wren raised his voice. He felt her swallow beneath his fingers and knew it had the desired effect. “You need to believe me when I say that listening to me is always the best thing to do. You’re mine now, and I only keep things around that are pleasing to me. You’ll see that belonging to me has benefits if you make it long enough.”
The girl’s eyes became unfocused and filled with tears. He knew he was crushing her will. Making a woman cry always made him hard, but he ignored the urge to continue to push her. She wasn’t ready yet. He could tell she wondered about his abilities, but he doubted that she understood how wonderful she could be. He was offering her the ultimate gift—a long lasting life. If her body could receive it, he’d offer her much more than that, and when the sire bond was formed, she’d want him to.
“I look forward to when those tears won’t be so pa
inful for you. You’ll want to release them soon. You’ll beg me to make you cry when I change you.” Her eyes lit up at the word change. He could see the wheels turning in her head. She gave him a confused look, and he couldn’t help but smile.
The warm emotion was unwelcome, especially when he realized he’d just been pacifying her. Feelings of past love lost rushed through him, and it made him uncomfortable. He’d thought he was ready to feel again, but the hole in his heart hadn’t healed. Was he suddenly looking to fill it with this new girl? He couldn’t get attached to her before the change; she might not make it. And he sure as hell wasn’t getting attached to a human again; their lives were far too short.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back toward the trunk. She fought him harder than ever; she was terrified of going back in there. It gave him the perfect opportunity to teach her a first lesson.
“Listen, I want you to stand right here.” He clutched her shoulders, forcing her to stay in place. “If you move or make a sound, you will go right back in there, and you won’t be getting out.” The girl’s muscles relaxed beneath his hands, though they were still tense.
“Good girl.” As soon as he turned his back to fix the taillight wires, he saw headlights in his peripheral vision.
Fuck. I’m going to have to be hard on her.
The girl did as expected and waved the truck down. He really couldn’t blame her. He would’ve done the same if he were in her situation, but he couldn’t let her behavior go unchecked. The man stopped the truck a few feet behind the car. Wren thought his headlights were annoyingly bright. It was justification enough to immediately snap his neck.
The girl screamed when the body fell toward the steering wheel, drawing even more unneeded attention. She must’ve finally realized that running was useless, which it was.
“If you keep screaming, I’m going to have to kill someone else. Is that what you want?” Wren shot her a harsh look. She shook her head, fresh tears spilling down her dainty cheeks. This time, Wren would allow himself to give in. It was far too tempting, and he owed her some chastising.
If you would’ve behaved, this wouldn’t have happened, he began to say but found it to be too harsh. Damn girl! Damn young blood! How is she having such an effect on me?
“Now, you’re going to stand there until I get these wires fixed. Then you are going back in the trunk.” The girl froze like a statue, except her chest heaved. Wren could feel her frightened energy in the air. There was nothing like it. He took longer than necessary to reattach the wires, just to make her anticipate what was coming.
“You need to calm down or you won’t be able to breathe well in there,” he finally said.
His head was starting to spin. One side of him wanted to rip her apart, another wanted to fuck with her mind, another wanted to fuck her, and even another smaller but growing part of him wanted to protect her.
The girl showed no signs of calming down. He knew she would be prone to hyperventilating if she didn’t. “Sit down for a minute.” He pressed on her shoulders until she curled up into a ball on the ground. “Take a few deep breaths.” The girl breathed in and out as instructed, not realizing that it sent her scent right to his nose. She smelled delicious.
“When I come back it’ll be time for you to go back in there.” Wren turned his back to her, pressing back the predator that wanted to drain her life away. He focused on disposing of the evidence from his most recent murder, but he still kept a close eye on the girl. She was watching him too. He quickly realized that he needed to drink more blood. Otherwise, he would very likely slaughter her before the night was over. He took a knife out of his pocket and sliced the man’s arm who he’d killed. The blood was still warm and quite refreshing. Too refreshing. One look at the man’s face and Wren realized he was less than 30 years old.
More young blood.
After the loss of Annabelle, Wren hadn’t drunk blood from the source in over half a decade. The woman he loved had been killed by her own brother. Not intentionally, but Wren placed trust in him to protect her and he failed to do so. Giving retribution for that was the sweetest and last thing he’d felt for a long time, except for depression. He became slower, weaker, and felt close to nothing as time passed without fresh blood. It made him numb enough to withstand her loss. He wasn’t raw from it, but his heart was still hurt. He’d never forget Annabelle, and he’d never forgive her brother. The son of a bitch was lucky to be alive. He hoped that the scars on his body would remind him of what a fuck up he was. She shouldn’t have died while hunting for humans.
After only drinking bank blood for years, he was dumb enough to go kill a young girl. He’d forgotten what it was like to feel things so intensely, and he was having to reign himself in more than usual from the rush of it. If he didn’t know better, he’d think he was a newborn all over again.
After he was done drinking, he wedged the young man’s foot down on the gas pedal and let the car crash into a tree. He didn’t drain enough blood for it to be conspicuous. The cut and broken neck could’ve easily happened in the collision. He’d used a knife instead of his teeth so there would be no outstanding evidence of vampire involvement. Humans didn’t know about their existence for the most part, but the ones that did were bad news. There was little chance that they’d be involved in a traffic case, though, so he didn’t let himself worry about it. Especially since there would most likely be no case at all.
He turned his attention back to the girl who seemed to be breathing better. Her eyes were wide with horror at the sight of him; she finally realized the monster he was. He used some rope that he found behind the truck seat to secure her hands and legs. She seemed to be in shock while simultaneously recoiling from his touch. He didn’t like seeing her do that when he was trying to be gentle with her. He loaded her into the trunk without speaking a word. She gave him a pleading look that stuck with him long after he shut the lid. He found himself wanting to let her out, but he kept his word. She needed to learn that his words were her new law, and she needed to know that she could rely on them to be absolute. He hoped that her next lesson would be more forgiving. She’d been through a lot in one night, and it wasn’t good for her health. She’d need all the strength she had if she was going to make it through the change.
CHAPTER 2
~
THE SOUND OF THE TRUNK lid creaking open jostled Selene out of her stupor. Large hands reached down and began untying her; they were gentle but quick. Numb limbs receiving blood flow again was the first sensation she’d felt in several hours, besides her knees and face rubbing against the carpet and intense thirst. Those same hands pulled her body out of the trunk. Her legs cramped so badly that she couldn’t stand upright.
They were parked on a remote piece of land with trees nearly surrounding the entire lot for as far as she could see. She saw lights in the distance, but they must’ve been at least a quarter mile away. Her head told her to run; her heart told her it would only make things worse.
Her mouth was so dry that her tongue felt rough and scaly. The fresh air was overwhelmingly crisp; she’d forgotten how easy it usually was to breathe. Suddenly, something as simple as that became a freedom she was intensely grateful for.
The ground seemed to shift from beneath her feet; she realized he was carrying her again. They moved so quickly it didn’t feel like reality. Either she was dreaming, or she’d been kidnapped by a vampire. It was far too real to be a dream, though, especially when she saw him murder someone and drink their blood. It was her fault for flagging the truck down, and the guilt was crushing. That was the main reason why she didn’t struggle more, even when they entered the tree line and leaves crunched beneath his feet. She was already a dead woman; normal life would never be the same for her nor for the family of the man whose life she was responsible for taking.
Suddenly her captor stopped. More leaf crunching, followed by some clicking noises. It was too dark to see what he was doing, but she soon realized he was taking her through some metal d
oor under the ground. It was still pitch black, even after they reached the bottom of a set of stairs. She heard voices like demons hissing in the pits of hell, except they had a sexual undertone. Then she heard something else. Was someone being beaten?
“Did you bring something home for me, Daddy?” A woman’s soprano voice called out right beside Selene’s ear. “She looks like she’ll be fun to drain the life out of.” Her fingers were in Selene’s hair; the animalistic instinct to seek protection sank in. Selene found herself hiding her face in her captor’s chest. Yuck. Even worse, he cradled her head, and his musky scent was actually pleasant to smell.
“No. She’s for me. Why don’t you go join in on the fun over there and leave me to get acquainted with our newest member of the family.” His tone was casual, but Selene could sense the underlying tension.
“But she’s not even a vampire yet!” The woman raised her voice, like a child throwing a temper tantrum.
“So help me, Abby, if you raise your voice to me again, you will regret it, and if you so much as lay a finger on this girl again, it’ll be the last thing you ever do.” His voice boomed through the room. The noise in the background stopped.
“Yes sir,” Abby said in a meek voice before a rush of air hit Selene’s face and she was gone as quick as she’d appeared. Selene didn’t understand the dynamic, but she also found it hard to question. Something about her captor’s demeanor seemed to demand it.
“I’m terribly sorry about that. She’s been testing my patience for some time now.”
Now he’s apologizing to me?
He took her straight down more stairs until they reached another door. He rotated the handle on the front like a bank safe. As soon as they were inside, he placed Selene down on her feet.
“I usually prefer to stay in the dark, but let me turn some lights on for you.” His voice was low, patient.
