Uniquely Unwelcome (The Shadow World, #1)

by Brandy Nacole

  Coy places his finger under my chin, tilting my head to look up at him. In a very low whisper, Coy says, “bite me.” I shake my head, unable to speak. Afraid if I utter a word, I will lose control. He isn’t deterred though.

  “If not me then who? As weak as you are, do you honestly think you could make it out of the hotel without attacking someone, some stranger?”

  He runs his thumb over my cheek, pushing my hair behind my ear. His gaze deepens. He says it again.

  “Bite me, Racquel.”

  My heart starts racing, and I can feel tears start to form in my eyes. I know I’m losing the battle. Everything he said is true, and I know if I don’t take this opportunity now, I could kill some innocent soul at random.

  I trace the vein down his arm, stopping at his wrist, which is resting on the small of my back. I lace my fingers with his, pulling his arm from around my waist. But Coy stops me, knowing what I’m doing.

  His gaze is still deep when he says, “Bite me, Racquel.”

  Well that’s what I was trying to do. I think as he pulls away to lie on his back, pulling me onto his chest. He arches his head back, fully exposing his neck. I lean in close and take a deep breath. My senses come to life as my gums start to throb. A small part of me is still screaming to stop, to not go down this path.

  I hover there, my teeth so close to Coy’s skin a hair couldn’t pass between. As I hesitate, Coy runs his hand up my back and rests it at the base of my neck. Then he urges me forward.

  I give in, letting his encouragement and my need wash away all the doubt and worry. My teeth sink into his skin, allowing his blood to explode into my mouth. My body goes into a frenzy trying to soak it up.

  I’ve had plenty of human blood before, but never like this. This blood, his blood, is so full of life. The blood bags are cold, with no life left within them. This blood is hot, and vibrating with living energy. Other feelings, feelings that aren’t mine, overwhelm me. Are those Coy’s feelings? Worry. Care. Fear. Admiration. Wonder.

  These feelings are not the only thing that overwhelms me. I become very aware of Coy. The way his muscles flex as he caresses my back, the warmth radiating off his warm skin as he moans softly in my ear. I get lost in his touch, his caress.

  Coy moans a little louder, snapping me out of my befogged state. I know I haven’t taken too much blood, so maybe I’m doing something else wrong. I start worrying about the bite stinging or that maybe I’m not biting him right.

  I’ve been bit by other Vampires before and I can tell you it stings. When a Vampire bites another Vampire, it’s painful, and sends a fiery burn through your veins. The only time a Vampire bites another Vampire is to show dominance. Vampire lovers can bite one another as long as they do a blood commitment ceremony to one another. It’s like marriage but with a deeper bond. Once the two Vampires have bonded, they can bite each other. Then the bite doesn’t sting, instead it intensifies the pleasure and passion. I’m pretty sure Coy isn’t feeling pleasure or passion.

  I lick his wounds. Most Vampire wounds will heal up in a few hours. I, however, can heal any small wound with a lick. I learned this when I was younger. I had cut my finger and stuck it in my mouth. It instantly healed. I’m guessing that it has something to do with the Vampire saliva and the Witches’ essence within me. Then again it could be rapid healing ability of the Lycan. It’s hard to know for sure.

  Coy’s wounds heal over in a moment, leaving no evidence of what I just did. He lays there a moment, not saying a word or even looking at me. He just stares at the ceiling, eyes unfocused. He’s probably disgusted with me now. But I need to know that he’s okay.

  “How are you?” I ask, concerned, as I sit up straighter.

  I bite my lip as I wait for the impact of his disgusted gaze. But when he finally looks at me, I’m stunned to see the opposite. Instead of disgust, there’s sorrow mixed with astonishment. He places his hand on his neck for a minute, and then pulling it away, sees no blood. He sits up, his gaze never leaving mine.

  “That was… amazing.” His expression is dazed, his eyes searching and full of curiosity. “I’ve been bitten a lot in my life, but never has that happened to me before.” He shakes his head, as if trying to throw off some confusion.

  Worried that it was something bad instead of something good, I tense. “What? What happened?”

  He reaches over, running his hand over my cheek. “You. I felt you. I could feel everything. That’s never happened before. Usually we can sense a Vampire’s hunger and rage, but never anything like that.” He scoots closer to me, cupping my face in his hands, forcing me to look back at him. “You are so amazing, yet so sad and lonely.”

  “Coy, I—”

  I try pulling away but he won’t let me. He pulls me closer.

  “You’re so beautiful, Racquel.”

  He searches my eyes, looking for what, I don’t know.

  “And you’re wrong about one thing.”

  Although my throat’s as tight as can be, I manage to squeak out, “What’s that?”

  He moves in closer and whispers, “You’re not alone.” Then he leans in and kisses me.

  I tense, my body stiff with unease. Never having let anyone in before, it’s hard for me to open up. His touch relaxes me and I find myself kissing him back. Our lips mingle in a gentle search.

  Coy starts moving his hands, running one through my hair and the other down my shoulder, over my arm, and around my waist. He pulls me closer to him. My body pressed so tightly to his that I can feel his pulse pounding along with mine. He moves both hands down to my hips, pulling me onto his lap. Our bodies twining together even more.

  As the kiss intensifies, a little voice invades this perfect moment, that little voice that I have always listened to and followed. The one of reason and logic. I remember his words about my pain and sadness, about me being alone. I remember his face when he was looking at me. It was full of pity and sadness.

  Was this a pity makeout session? Was all this because he felt sorry for me? He hadn’t made a move to kiss me before. But now that he has seen my sorrow and fear, seen my loneliness and pain, he’s suddenly kissing me? The conversation between Jobe and Coy comes to mind. He didn’t want this earlier, so what changed?

  I pull away, shoving him back against the bed.

  “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Coy’s reaches for me again but I pull back. I’m not getting sucked in out of pity.

  I stand, walking back away from the bed, pointing to the door. “Get out.”

  He looks at me in disbelief. “What? Why?”

  “I said get out.” My angry stare never falters, not even when a single tear falls down my cheek. I want him to know that I’m serious, that I want him out of my room.

  He steps toward me but I hold up my hand, warding him off. “Stop!” I yell, my hands shaking. “I said get out.”

  “Racquel, I don’t know what happened but—”

  “I said get out!!” My emotions are out of control, I’m in anger mode.

  I turn my back on him, knowing if I continue to look at him, I’ll break. The pain that was so clear on his face was also the kind of pain I was experiencing deep inside, unseen.

  I hear his footsteps retreating to the door, hear the turn of the knob, the door creaking opening. Coy mutters that he’s sorry before shutting the door behind him.

  As soon as the door shuts, I collapse on the bed. Clutching my knees to my chest, I cry until my body gives in to exhaustion.

  ~

  Blinking through the darkness, I’m surprised to find I’m back in the park. There’s no moon and all the streetlamps are out, so it’s extremely dark. I try remembering how I got here. Closing my eyes, I try thinking back. But I come up blank.

  My eyes finally adjust to the blinding dark. Not too far from me is the picnic table I recognize as the one we were at earlier. I look around for the others but there’s no one around, it’s completely quiet.

  I take a step forward, heading back for the inn, but I’
m grabbed from behind. Strong arms circle around my waist, pulling me back. I start fighting back but go still when the cloaked man steps out in front of me. Fear courses through my veins, my heart racing uncontrollably. Did he bring me back to kill me? Or am I next on the kidnapping list?

  My captor tightens his grip on me with his left arm. He raises his right arm and a sharp pain explodes in my neck. I strike my head back as hard as I can, hoping to knock out or kill my assailant. I connect with the creature that has me in his grasp but he isn’t fazed. I only manage to knock the syringe out of his hand that he had jabbed into my neck. I notice as it hits the ground that it’s empty.

  Whatever was in the syringe starts working fast. My body starts getting heavy. My mind goes numb. I can feel myself slipping from consciousness. Right before total darkness takes me under, the cloaked man steps really close to me.

  “I told you to leave it alone, Racquel.” His voice sounds raspy and far off. But I hear his words ring through my head over and over as the darkness takes me under.

  My head lolls to the side with a hard jerk, waking me. I’m not surprised to find I’m not in the park anymore, but back in the dungeon I was in before. The one from my nightmare. Chained to the wall are Danika, Coy, and Ethan. They’re all unconscious but thankfully they start moving, groaning with pain but still alive. I furiously start pulling on my chains, trying to break free.

  I hear the familiar footsteps approaching the door and I know my time is running out. I really start yanking and yelling at the others to do the same, but they’re too groggy to understand what I’m saying. My panic surges when I hear the key rattling in the lock and watch as the door opens.

  Déjà vu hits me hard as the cloaked man walks in, with his minions tailing behind. The creatures don’t hesitate in making their way over to Danika, Ethan, and Coy, while the cloak man comes closer to me. He pulls out his sword, driving it down on me as he says his normal speech.

  But instead of waking up, I feel the pain as he pushes the blade up under my rib cage and through my heart. Blood starts gurgling up my throat as pain shoots through my chest. An indescribable pain that makes you wish for death.

  The mystery man leans in close. “This alone will not kill you. But I imagine the pain is great enough that soon you will be begging me to truly end your life.” His voice sounds sad as it fades from my ears. The pain in my body overtakes all my senses. The only phrase that gets through the agony is, “…hoping it wouldn’t come to this.”

  The mystery man pulls out another sword, this one has a wide thin blade like a machete. He touches my neck with the blade, and slices through the skin. My eyes shut in agony. I know my death is near.

  I can hear and feel myself screaming and thrashing around as I’m held down. I hear someone yelling my name as I sling my body from side to side. I have to break this grasp on me. If I don’t, I’m dead.

  “Racquel! Racquel, calm down! It’s alright.” Danika’s voice breaks through my panic, and I open my eyes to find her standing over me with tears in her eyes. I can feel my own tears slipping down my face.

  I realize that it was a dream. The needle, the chains, the sword through my heart, the pain, all of it was nothing but a dream. But it felt so real. I could feel the pain as the blade of the sword went through my chest. How could that be just a dream?

  I scream as I bolt up in my bed, feeling around my chest and at the bottom of my rib cage for a wet spot or a tear in my shirt, but there’s nothing. Danika continues to try and calm me, but her words pass over me. I’m still in shock from the dream and the idea that that’s all it was, a dream.

  “Racquel look at me,” Danika says in a sharp tone, grabbing me by the shoulders.

  “Racquel, what happened?” Her voice is gentle now, more calming, a voice someone would use while trying to soothe a hysterical child.

  “I don’t know. It just felt so real.” My voice sounds far away, drowned out by the sound of my rapid heartbeat.

  “Well I can tell you this, it was something huge. Never have I ever felt so much hatred and fear at the same time. I could feel your fear all the way down the hall. Then you started screaming and I knew something was wrong.”

  “How did you get in here? The locks are automatic. They lock as soon as you shut the door.”

  Danika smiles. “I deactivated the lock. They’ll never know. The manager will think it’s an electronics error and have it replaced.”

  I glance at the door, checking for any noticeable damage but see none. I turn back to Danika, her cheeks tear stained but her expression somber. I wonder why she was crying.

  “Now tell me what happened.”

  A lie is ready on my lips but I don’t tell it. If anyone can help me solve this dream mystery, it’s her. She might even know a solution to keep it from happening again.

  “It was a dream, but it felt real.”

  “A dream?” I can hear the disbelief in her voice as she scrunches up her face.

  “Why is that so hard to believe?” I do know how hard it is to believe, but from what we have seen and learned, how could it be that impossible? We were channeling energy and light through candles earlier. Talk about weird and impossible.

  “It takes a lot of energy to travel through a person’s mind, especially when they’re asleep. It’s hard to believe because it’s very rare. Not to mention anyone with that much power usually won’t go through the trouble.” Danika crosses her arms, biting her lip. “What was this dream about? I felt anger, a lot of fear, and strangely, a little love. The feelings were all jumbled up together, so I couldn’t tell what you were feeling, but I’m guessing a lot of it was fear.”

  I nod, then explain everything that’s happened in my dreams. I tell her about the change in this dream from my last one. How I could feel the sword going through my heart, the unbearable pain that followed.

  “Do you think if I didn’t wake up, I would have—?” my voice cracks as I think about what could have happened.

  “I’m not sure. Did you see anyone in the background? Someone standing off in the corner, not doing anything?” Danika suggests.

  As much as it disturbs me to think about it, I do as she suggests and close my eyes. I push past my unease and think back to the scene.

  I see myself chained to the wall. The cloaked man stands in front of me with his sword held high. The creatures are tearing into Danika, Ethan, and Coy’s unconscious bodies. I have a moment of nausea, fear, panic, and sorrow, but I push past that and continue looking around me.

  The cloaked man is rambling on about my impending death, as usual. I look past him and focus on the scenery behind him. Checking every inch of the dungeon, every corner, every shadow, but I don’t see anything.

  I’m about to pull out of the vision, ready to leave the nightmare behind, when something catches my eye. I look closer, ignoring the cloaked man ready to bring the sword down on me, and see the outline of a person standing in front of the dungeon’s door.

  I can’t tell much besides the fact that it’s a woman. Her outline is transparent but I can see her curves and long hair. I take one more glimpse at her before pulling out of the vision. My fear is getting the better of me as the sword draws closer to my chest.

  I open my eyes, my breathing swift as my body shivers, breaking out in goose-bumps.

  “Well?” Danika asks, anxiously.

  “There was definitely someone else in the room with us. I just can’t tell what she looks like.”

  “Tell me exactly what you saw.”

  “There was this transparent figure standing in front of the dungeon door. I could tell it was a woman because of her shape and hair. But I couldn’t see any features. If she hadn’t moved just a bit I would have never seen her.”

  Danika sits there a minute taking it all in, then abruptly stands up, heading toward the door.

  “Hey, wait a minute. Where are you going?” I stand up to follow her but she waves me off.

  “I’ll be right back. I just need to go get my
phone. We need to consult with the Elders. Whatever we are dealing with, it’s powerful. I want to see what they have to say.”

  Danika exits the room quickly, leaving me in suspense. I was hoping she would tell me this is a common dream spell to cause fear, then give me a simple spell to stop the dreams.

  Instead, she just freaks me out even more and wants to go running to the Elders. I plop back down on my bed, overwhelmed. I’m starting to wonder if we will really be able to find those taken, or if we’ll even be able to survive the search for them.

  I start chastising myself for even thinking that. I’m not about to back down because of some dream. Besides, if I give up, my own dreams would haunt me so much I would go mad praying for death.

  Danika bursts into my room and sits next to me on the bed. She has her phone in hand, but instead of calling she just sits there, staring at the phone. Her hands are shaking.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask her.

  A single tear lands on her hand as she slowly shakes her head. “I’m scared, Racquel.” Her voice wavers, her tears steady now. “Ethan’s still unconscious. I don’t know how severe his injuries are. Now we have this new threat on top of everything else.” She looks back down at her phone, shaking her head. “I just don’t know how we are supposed to continue.”

  I place my hand on her shoulder. “To be honest, I don’t either. I do know that if we give up now, they win. We lose those we love, and possibly others we know. They have to be stopped Danika. Because whatever they’re planning, it’s worse than this.”

  My voice becomes strong, and I feel the truth behind my words. “Stopping these monsters is more important than anything. Our continued search is necessary no matter what the price.”

  Danika nods her head in agreement, dries her face, and straightens her shoulders. “Let’s find out what we’re dealing with.” She keys in a number and in no time she’s talking with the Elders.