Enchanted (Torn Book 1)

by M. D. Bowden

  “No, it doesn’t, right? But the vampires are seriously outnumbered now. The werewolves should be able to take them on easily if they get the opportunity.”

  “Let’s hope they do. And soon,” says Mark, and he goes back to staring out at the water.

  I look at the ripples, but my thoughts are elsewhere. What if they do have a battle? Vampires against werewolves. There are twenty-one werewolves – but how many vampires are left? Four? Five? The werewolves really should take them out easily. If they can find them… But … what about Casper? I feel a twinge of fear in my heart.

  As though Mark has read my mind, he says, “How do you feel about the werewolves killing Casper?”

  “He should die. He’s a murderer.”

  “But regardless of that … you like him. Right?”

  “I don’t ‘like’ him. But I admit – I am attracted to him. I have to remember that it’s just because he’s worked his vampire mojo on me though.”

  “What if that’s not the case?”

  “He’s still a murderer.”

  “True. So you won’t be upset if he gets killed?”

  “Err … well … maybe I will be, but it’s something I’ll have to deal with. It’s better that I feel upset than he takes people’s lives away - which would cause a whole lot more pain than I’d feel. And anyway … I really like Alfie. Maybe even love him. Me being attracted to Casper is ridiculous. And wrong.”

  “Which doesn’t make it not true,” Mark says.

  He’s silent again, and I’m relieved. This topic of conversation makes me feel uncomfortable.

  “Shame they don’t know where the vampires are now,” Mark says. “If they did … they could stop this all tonight.”

  “Ha, I’ve an idea,” I say, jokingly. “Why don’t I let myself be captured by Casper – he could take me back to his vampire den – and then I could tell the pack where to find them.”

  Mark laughs. “Don’t even think about it,” he says, warning in his voice.

  I drop Mark back at the station in time so I can get back before dark. He promises that he’s going to get his stuff together and contact the university about coming back. And he makes me promise not to do anything stupid.

  At seven, Alfie knocks on my door. I buzz him up and he takes the stairs in his fashion – three at a time. He grins when he sees me and wraps me up in his arms, and I feel a surge of warmth and affection.

  “Hi, Alfie.”

  “Two days without you is too much,” he says, and laughs, then leans down and kisses me on the lips.

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “Sammy and Mathew are outside. Ready?”

  We stay out all night, wandering the streets, looking for vampires. I stay with Alfie, and Sammy and Mathew stay together, but we stay within shouting distance of each other. I keep on wondering whether I should tell Alfie that Casper came by. It’s on the tip of my tongue all night, but each time I’m about to tell him I reconsider. How would he react? Would I be worrying him unnecessarily?

  Alfie and I are loitering in an alley, hoping to attract the attention of a vampire, or even draw out a gang of them.

  “You know,” I say to Alfie, “if I were to wait here alone – and the three of you keep out of sight – we’d have more chance of luring a vampire out.”

  Alfie laughs at me. “Use you as bloodsucker bait? – I don’t think so!” He loops his arm around my waist and pulls me against his body. “Much better that we make out and hope they think they can catch us while we’re preoccupied.” He kisses the side of my neck, and then my jaw.

  “What if we really are too preoccupied?” I say, running my fingers down his bare arms.

  “Then Sammy and Mathew can save us,” Alfie says, his kisses getting closer to my lips.

  It feels heavenly. “I’m happy with that plan,” I whisper, sliding my fingers under the bottom of his t-shirt and touching the skin at the base of his back.

  His mouth touches mine and then he kisses me firmly, my lips separating as he opens his mouth, his tongue pushing against mine. I practically melt into him. I wrap my hands around the back of his head, winding my fingers through his soft hair. He hooks his hands under my thighs and lifts me up so my face is level with his and I wrap my legs around his body. He kisses me again and pushes me back against the wall, then taking my weight with one arm he slips a hand under my t-shirt and cups my breast in his hand, squeezing as he keeps kissing me. I shiver at his touch and clutch his body, kissing him back, biting his lips, kissing his jaw. He presses himself against me, his breathing getting deeper.

  “Ava,” he whispers, “I want you.” And he kisses me back on the lips and pushes his tongue into my mouth, and groans. “But we can’t take this any further here.”

  “I know,” I whisper, and I kiss him again, but with a closed mouth, holding the kiss, but then I break away reluctantly and wrap my arms around him, resting my head in the crook of his neck. He kisses my shoulder through my jacket and holds me right back.

  “It’s hard to stop though,” he whispers back at me.

  “It is. Maybe … instead of going back to your base in the morning … you could stay with me?”

  He pulls back and his eyes lock on mine, and he smiles mischievously. “You sure?”

  I nod, and smile at him shyly, blushing.

  “I guess I better put you down now or I really won’t be able to stop.”

  He lowers me to the ground and I feel disappointed – I really want to carry on – but I’m looking forward to being alone with him at my place. And nervous.

  He picks up my hand and kisses it.

  “Well, that plan didn’t work for attracting any vampires,” I say.

  “Nope – but it was good in other ways.”

  I smile. “Yes, it was.”

  For the rest of the night we keep exchanging glances with each other but don’t say much. I feel like telling him about Casper now would ruin the mood and as the night draws to an end I have still not told him. The sun is rising when we say goodbye to Sammy and Mathew, and Alfie comes inside with me.

  I close the front door to my building and Alfie puts his hands on my waist from behind. He pushes my hair aside and slowly kisses my neck, putting his hand under my t-shirt and stroking the skin just below my belly button. Shivers go through my body and I turn to face him, and he picks me up in his arms and pushes me against the hallway wall. I look into his gorgeous eyes, admiring the amber rings, and then kiss him on the lips, gently, but his tongue touches mine and our kisses get deeper, and more urgent.

  He holds onto me and carries me up the stairs, and, still in his arms, I fumble for my key, and giggle as he leans down so I can get it in the lock.

  Alfie kicks the door closed behind us and walks with me, kissing me, to the sofa, and lays me down on my back, climbing towards me. I reach forwards to pull him down onto me, and kiss him again, my heart rate climbing as he works his hand under my t-shirt and fumbles with my bra, still kissing me as it comes undone and he touches the bare skin of my breast, squeezing and tweaking my nipple, and then rubbing as his tongue meets mine.

  I pull up his t-shirt and run my hands up and down his spine, and then down, over his jeans, I touch his bum and pull him against me, and his kisses get faster. He breaks away and pulls off his t-shirt, and I watch, light from the rising sun streaming into the room, highlighting his muscular chest. His eyes meet mine and they’re glowing in the sunshine. I sit forward and pull off my jacket, and my jumper, and then he stops me, and takes over, pulling my t-shirt over my head, and then taking off my bra.

  He looks down at my breasts. “You have a beautiful body, Ava,” he murmurs.

  “You do too,” I say, feeling cheeky.

  I reach for him and he’s back on top of me. He cups my breasts in his hands and kisses my collar bone, and his mouth gets lower, his lips brush over the skin of my breasts, and I respond by running my hands over his body, grasping at him, pulling him closer.

  “I can’t get enough
of you, Ava,” he says. “I’m taking you to bed.”

  I don’t object. He picks me up and carries me into the bedroom, tossing my covers aside and resting me back against the sheet. It is a long time until we fall asleep…

  ***

  I wake up first. I’m lying on my side and one of Alfie’s long legs is touching mine – it feels soft and warm – in fact he’s so warm I had to roll away from him so I could get to sleep. I open my eyes and look at him, grey winter light is filtering in around the edge of my blind, but it’s plenty light enough to see Alfie sprawled out on my double bed. He’s lying on his back with one arm under his head and the covers down to his waist, allowing me to see his chest. He’s looking very comfortable and relaxed – and he’s in my bed.

  A man in my bed. An Alfie man. Who’s a werewolf. A very yummy attractive werewolf. Seeing him asleep like this no-one would ever imagine what he’d be like on a full moon – he looks so soft and lovely. I wrap my arm around his chest and snuggle against him. He stirs and wraps his arms around me and kisses the top of my head, and then his deep breathing returns and I just lie there thinking about last night; about Alfie’s kisses and touches and how he makes me feel.

  Alfie’s phone starts ringing. He kisses the top of my head and lets go of me so I can roll off him, then he swings his legs out of bed and walks into the living room naked. Naked! Ha. Alfie is naked in my flat. I grin to myself, but the grin falls off my face as I hear Alfie’s voice, sounding angry, coming from the other room.

  I hear him toss his phone down and he walks back in with a scowl on his face, grabs his boxers off the floor and starts putting them on.

  “What is it?” I say.

  “Four girls were killed at an event at the uni last night. Four! The whole city will be on lockdown soon. And we didn’t get any of the bloodsuckers! Mic is calling an emergency meeting to see if we can get ourselves a better plan – as our current one sure ain’t working.”

  “Should I come too?”

  “Nah, don’t worry. I know you have work to do.” He sits down next to me on the bed with his jeans on but his chest still bare. “I’ll see you later and fill you in.”

  He leans over and kisses me on the lips. One kiss.

  “I wish I could stay though,” he whispers in my ear.

  “I wish you could too.”

  “I love you,” he whispers, just before he closes the door behind him.

  Once he’s gone I get in the shower and as I wash I think about the girls who lost their lives last night. Four girls in one night – things are definitely getting worse. I think of Trish and the girl Casper murdered, and tears run down my face. I wish there was a way we could get them all together and end this! Too many people are dying. One death is too many. How many people have the vampires killed in Exeter? It’s so many I’ve actually lost count … but it must be near thirty now.

  I wonder … that idea I had … letting Casper capture me. Could that work? No. It’s a terrible idea. It would never work and it would be incredibly dangerous.

  NOTHING’S WRONG

  Alfie turns up at seven, as is our normal routine. He comes up by himself and picks me up, hugging me to his chest.

  “I wish I could just keep you in a safe bubble, Ava – and not take you out on these hunts.”

  “You know I’m safest when I’m with you.”

  “That’s not true – I take you into the most dangerous situations. You’d definitely be safer at home.”

  Casper flits into my mind, and I wonder again if I should say something to Alfie about him coming by.

  He must see something cross my face, for he says, “What’s wrong?”

  But if I tell him … if I do decide to do my stupid plan … it would never work. He’d sit outside my flat watching to see if Casper turned up again. He’d kill Casper.

  “Nothing’s wrong … or everything’s wrong. I just wish we could stop them. What happened at the meeting?”

  He puts me down and starts pacing. “Everyone’s worried – we think – maybe they are increasing their numbers – turning more people.”

  “More vampires?”

  “Yep, more blood sucking bastards.”

  “I guess that would explain the increase in deaths.”

  “Yeah, new bloodsuckers are crazy killers.”

  “Even more so than normal ones?”

  “Yeah, when people change they lose all sense of human feeling – and don’t care about anything – not even getting discovered.”

  “What about older vampires? Does that mean they regain a sense of humanity?”

  “Well … in comparison I suppose … not entirely though … or they wouldn’t still kill, would they?”

  “Guess not…. If the new ones are more reckless it might be easier to catch them?”

  “Yeah, except all events at the uni have now been cancelled. And less and less people are going out each night – which makes it harder for us to remain unnoticed. I was so confident – we all were – but now I’m worried. It’s never happened like this before.”

  “How’s it happened before?”

  “It’s always been straightforward. Once we work out there are bloodsuckers in a town; we move there, seek them out, and kill them. They’ve never evaded us this long – and we’ve always stopped the problem before it’s gotten out of hand! And now we don’t even have a plan! Just more patrolling. Patrolling, patrolling, patrolling! It’s just not working!”

  “Hey, Alfie, come here,” I say.

  He walks up to me and I wrap my arms around his chest. He’s breathing deeply and giving off even more heat than normal.

  “We’ll come up with a plan.” My stupid plan pops into my head. “We’ll think of something.”

  He wraps his arms around me too. “I hope so, Ava. I do.”

  We have another night where we don’t meet another vampire. Alfie is agitated throughout the entire hunt, and I don’t blame him – I feel pretty agitated too. When the night draws to an end I don’t invite Alfie to stay again – even though a big part of me wants to. Another part of me thinks this shouldn’t be rushed – I don’t want to ruin it by pushing things too quickly.

  I also need to think … about whether there’s a way my plan could work. If Alfie’s with me I won’t be able to think about it reasonably – and if I keep drifting off in thought he’ll ask me questions – and then I’ll probably give in and tell him – which will most certainly ruin any chance of the plan working.

  In the afternoon, news reports begin to come in that more people have been murdered. The city is seriously debating a curfew – which is getting the werewolves pumped up – if a curfew comes in it won’t prevent people getting killed – it will either make the vampires move to another city, or just drive them onto the streets earlier – as people are heading back from work.

  The total murders for the night creeps up to six.

  The next night there are ten murders.

  I start to feel an increasing sense of panic, and the idea I’d had creeps into dominance in my mind. Maybe getting Casper to capture me wouldn’t be such a bad idea. It would be risky – and scary – but how many lives could I save? It could be worth it.

  After another night hunting Alfie kisses me goodnight and then leaves with his brothers. I go to bed and can’t sleep – thoughts are spinning and spinning around in my head; I could pretend to be ill and wait at home to see if Casper comes by again, and this time I could go out and see him. And then what would happen? How would I get him to take me back to their coven? Could I just ask him to? Maybe … but I couldn’t just come out with it – it would be too suspicious. I’d have to spend some time with him first, and make him believe I really liked him. That wouldn’t be hard – the effect he has on me. What would be harder is remembering why I don’t like him. What he’s done. But that should be easier than it was … with the way I feel about Alfie now. I’ll remember that when I’m with Casper and it will help me keep perspective.

  I’ve still got th
at GPS tracker in my jacket pocket. And I’ve got my phone … I could message Alfie once Casper has taken me to his coven. But … at the coven there will be other vampires – what if they react like that blond vampire – and try to kill me? What if they don’t respect Casper? Maybe Casper would kill another vampire to protect me – that wouldn’t be a bad thing, another one down and all, but what if they ganged up and killed him? And then me?

  What if Casper just kills me?

  Or changes me into a vampire?

  Then Alfie would have to kill me. Could he do it? How would that affect him?

  But all this going out and looking for vampires; Alfie is right – it’s not working anymore. Not since they discovered the werewolves are here and searching for them. The vampires are multiplying. If I don’t do something soon it will be worse. This could be the only way.

  The best way.

  I think I should do it.

  I wake up early in the afternoon feeling a grim sense of certainty. I really should do it, and I should do it tonight. It’s the only way we’ll stop this quickly. I don’t want to die – but my life will have been worth losing if it saves countless others.

  I hope it doesn’t come to that though. I don’t believe Casper will kill me. So far he’s protected me. He thinks we’re meant to be together. I think he will try and protect me again.

  I decide to ring Alfie and tell him I’m ill.

  My stomach is filled with butterflies as I pick up the phone.

  “Ava,” Alfie says, “You alright?”

  “No, but nothing to worry about, it’s just I feel like shit. I don’t think I can go out hunting tonight.”

  “What’s wrong?” His voice is filled with concern, it’s so sweet, and makes me feel very guilty.

  “I feel sick, and fevery, and like I just need to wrap myself up in my duvet and watch TV until I get better.”

  “Do you want me to stay with you?”

  Shit – that would most certainly ruin the plan.

  “I’d like you to – but you know you can’t. You’ve got to stay out there and try to catch them.”

  “Not working too well at the moment though, is it?”