Summer’s suitcase was already beside her dresser. She set her purse on the bed and pressed her hand into the comforter.
“Dinner is at six downstairs. We have a few basic rules,” Amber continued. “Dinner is mandatory during weekdays. After dark fall, no one leaves the house without an adult escort. Breakfast hours are from seven to nine and lunch from eleven to one. We keep chefs on staff, so you can order whatever you want. No smoking, no drugs, no candles, no pets, no food in the rooms. The television downstairs goes off every night at ten, but you can stay up as late as you want in your room. There’s also a shuttle that leaves hourly to the store, resort, and a few other small stops around town.”
Summer listened. She walked to the window beside her bed and pushed aside the curtains, gazing into the backyard hedged by two long rows of dorms. In the center were several fire pits, barbecues and picnic tables. As she watched, she saw the Turner twins appear. Beck went to the table with kids wearing jeans and shorts while Decker went to the table where everyone wore black. There were twice as many people at Decker’s table. Two barbecues were going, and the kids at both tables were eating and laughing.
Where the property ended, the forest was thick and the trees swaying. She saw it again, the movement of someone darting into the forest.
“You can go down, if you’d like.”
Summer jumped at the nearness of Amber’s voice.
“No, thank you,” she said.
“Go down and meet people,” Amber insisted. “The Turner twins will introduce you around.”
Summer’s gaze went to the forest again. Someone was following her, had been since the bus left her. She nodded.
Satisfied, Amber smiled, saying, “Change shoes and go. Don’t be shy!”
She left. Summer opened her suitcase and pulled out another pair of sandals, these sliding between her toes so as not to hurt her heels. She left the room and trotted down the stairs, exiting the front door.
She heard the laughter of the other teens, but was too entranced in this amazing new world. She found herself waiting to feel the magick she’d sensed earlier, and gazed toward the trees of the forest. She walked to the end of the dorms and then continued along the dirt road into the forest where she’d seen the dark figure disappear.
Summer was at once intrigued by the sense of magick in the swaying trees. Sunlight splashed through the pine canopy onto bright purple bluebells that layered the forest floor. Small bushes hunched against trees and one another, and Summer stopped to try a few tart berries.
Continuing into the forest, she watched startled birds flit away above her. The brilliant color of a blue jay made her forget whoever it was that followed her. She followed the bird through the forest and into a small meadow filled with wildflowers.
She’d never been anywhere as beautiful or magickal. Grinning, she ran across the meadow then twirled around in the middle of it, spinning amidst the wildflowers as she stared up at the blue sky. The breeze joined her, throwing her hair around her while filling her again with the warm, tickling sensation.
A dark figure crossed her vision. She stumbled and fell, seeking out the shape she’d seen. No one was there. She pushed herself up. A deep growl made her turn. Staring at her through golden eyes, a sand colored cougar crouched on the other side of the meadow. Its tail twitched.
Summer froze. The animal raised itself and took a step closer. Her heart hammered in her breast. She looked beyond it to the trees then recalled how foolish it would be to try to climb a tree to escape. A beast like this lived in trees.
The growl came again. The great cat lowered itself, hunching its body in a sign it was preparing to pounce.
Summer whirled and ran. The auburn-haired figure ahead of her disappeared into the forest. The growling and sound of pursuit stopped suddenly. She glanced over her shoulder and slowed. The cougar was gone. She pressed her shaking hands to her face.
It was early for hallucinations. She’d only just arrived.
“What’re you doing here?”
She looked up, dismayed to see Decker there. He lingered at the edge of the forest, as if sunlight would disable the shadows guarding him. His piercing gaze was on her.
“I was just exploring,” she managed at last.
“Do you know the way back?”
The way he said it made her want to tell him she did, so he’d leave her alone. Summer gazed around her. The forest looked the same in each direction of the meadow. She’d been too absorbed in the forest magick to consider where she went.
“I’m guessing no,” Decker said. “I’ve had to rescue you twice today.”
“I’m fine,” she replied. “It can’t be that hard.”
“Until a cougar corners you.”
She stared at him.
“They’re usually nocturnal. The wildfires are driving them out during daylight. You should probably come back with me.”
She shivered, sensing danger from him, the same danger she’d felt from the cougar. Only instead of pouncing on her, Decker wanted to lure her somewhere. The idea made no sense. Just because he dressed all in black didn’t mean he was any more of a threat than his more cheerful brother.
“C’mon.” He turned and walked into the forest.
With another look around, Summer trailed.
“You’re rooming with Trinity?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“When’s your birthday?”
“Next month.”
“So is mine.” He stopped to look at her curiously. “What date?”
“Twentieth.”
“I’m on the nineteenth. I’ll be eighteen. I assume you’ll be seventeen. Turning seventeen is a big deal here,” he told her and continued walking.
“Seventeen? I thought most people considered sixteen the big year.”
“Not here.”
They reached the edge of the forest and the school property. He headed for the picnic tables, but she stopped.
“There’s food,” he said over his shoulder.
“No thanks.”
“You’re on your own. Stay out of the forest.”
Irritated at his rebuke, she trudged to the road that wrapped around the dorms, not wanting to meet anyone just yet. Chances were, she’d be gone soon anyway. No use making friends. She went back to her room, and her spirits brightened. She’d never had her own room, even if this one was only hers alone for another month.
Summer flung herself across the bed, sinking into it with a deep sigh. She’d never had such comfortable bedding, such a peaceful place to sleep. She eyed the dresser. While she’d had dressers, she’d never unpacked.
She unzipped her suitcase and pulled out the old wooden jewelry box holding her treasures. Her eyes went to the pile of jewelry and makeup on Trinity’s dresser. Summer tentatively set her box on her own dresser and sat down, staring at it. It looked lonely and small.
Her sense of anxiety grew again, and she took it down. She didn’t know how long she’d stay; it was easier to keep everything packed up. Picking out her least worn clothing, she set it on the bed for dinner then set her alarm and lay down for a nap.
Available from: Amazon, Amazon UK
Witchling Series
“Dark Summer”
“Autumn Storm” (April 5)
“Winter Fire” (May 10)
“Spring Rain” (Fall 2013)
Excerpt from “Mortal Death” by Elle Chardou
Chapter One
I stood and walked over to the mini bar, and grabbed another Rémy Martin to fill my empty glass.
“I don’t understand this at all. Do I look like I have a death wish?”
“Every human who consorts with a vampire does. As you are already half-vampire, think of yourself as already being half-dead. Do you think you will live a long life with your severe anemia? You’re killing yourself and you don’t even know it. You could probably survive on blood transfusions for the rest of your natural life but why would you choose that option when I am offering you
the world entire? Everything you could ever want could be yours. Surely you want to live forever.”
“But that is the heart of the issue, as I wouldn’t be living. My body would continue to go on but I would have no heartbeat and I would have to subsist entirely on blood—”
Mikkel cut me off. “We’re working on that as we speak. In the meantime, I could keep you safe and you can do what it is you need to do. You can keep our numbers from decreasing and from the human population taking any control from us. Don’t you agree the world is a better place with vampires at the helm? We have saved humanity at a great cost to our own way of life. Do you think we wanted to announce ourselves to the world? It has always been better when we were behind the scenes pulling the strings. We have lost a great deal of our advantage and with that, our mystique. As long as humans thought we were a myth, it was easier for us to operate in the shadows of society.
“We are animals if nothing else. Highly evolved animals but still…we can no longer hunt for sport. Most vampires loathe the blood banks and the blood whorehouses. They still want to murder humans and watch their very life essence drain from them as they feed. Most of us are sadistic and have absolutely no morals what so ever. I have lived a long time and I can see the goodness which exists in mortal beings, but most of our kind does not feel the same way. The vast majority of the IVC would be happy to go on a killing spree and are just itching for humans to start a war.”
“Why would The Council want a war?”
“Because vampires love conflict and bloodshed above everything else, that’s why. They would be able to murder again with impunity and more importantly, we know we would win. Most vampires have no wish to live side-by-side with mortals. Our ultimate goal is to self-segregate; to use and abuse mortals as we see fit. We will rebuild society from the ground up once the war is over. Humans will be given swaths of land which will be their ghettos and ultimately, a place to breed and die. Vampires will control the choice real estate and we will allow only the most privileged of mortals to live amongst us. If a mortal does not understand that he or she is a slave, then they are of no use to a vampire.”
“But what kind of world would that be if everyone was a vampire? How would you hunt then? If there were no humans to subjugate then what would happen? Aren’t you just cutting off your food source?”
Mikkel smiled. “No. Think outside the box, Manon. We would have parks for sport with humans available for vampires to hunt without moral or legal consequences. We have already planned our new world and it is a beauty to behold. Mortals aren’t smart enough to outwit us but there are some out there who have special powers…like your brother for instance. It is only the half-breeds we must worry about in this particular scenario and they are the sole glitch in what would be a perfect plan. They have all of our strengths and none of our weaknesses. Plus, they can day walk. I haven’t seen the sun in over two hundred years. I almost killed myself just to witness it because I thought I might go mad if I never saw a glimpse of it again…it was the most beautiful and terrifying event of my life. I would give anything to see the sun. It is the price we pay to live forever, but sometimes I wonder if it is too steep.”
“I’m guessing you weren’t here in Vegas when you tried your little ‘sun’ stunt, were you?”
“Don’t be absurd. I was in the land of my birth. It was a weak winter sun but it was worth the temporary pain just to see the world in the daytime.”
“You’re not exactly selling me on this whole ‘vampire’ thing. You see, I like the sun and I wouldn’t want to lose that ability to actually see it. I’m not sure I’m the type who could live with having only the night.”
“I’m not exactly sure you would lose the ability to day walk, Manon.”
It was a strange sensation to hear my name roll off his tongue in that syrupy and seductive voice of his.
“What do you mean you’re not sure? Have there been cases of half-breeds like myself who continued to have the ability to day walk after they were turned?”
“Not that I know of, but then again, there have only been a handful of cases in the thirteen hundred years I have been vampire.”
“You’re not telling me the whole truth, are you?”
“No, but you will just have to trust me.”
I was still at a loss how I had easily come to accept this new person as a part of my life and how I had so readily welcomed him into my inner circle. I knew there must be something more than met the eye but I couldn’t allow that to get in the way of my feelings. I would eventually have to make a decision, but it didn’t have to be that night. As dawn approached, we kicked off our shoes and lay down on the comfortable bed. The UV coated windows allowed Mikkel to see the sun rise. When it was high in the morning sky, he closed the blackout shutters by remote control.
“I need to rest. Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?”
I reluctantly nodded my head.
“It could be worse,” he said, as he stroked my hair lovingly. My back was against him and the coolness of his body was heaven against the warmth of the room. “You don’t have to make any more excuses my love. You know as well as I do this is the only decision you can make. I can’t force you to do anything…it has to be your free will. We have spoken about so much tonight and I realize you need time to process all of this. A decision of this magnitude will change your life forever. I would appreciate an answer when I wake this evening. If you can’t make up your mind in the next twelve hours then you can’t make a decision at all.”
“And if I say no?”
“You continue your pointless life as it has always been, but realize that you will become public enemy number one of the vampire people. Is that what you want? I can’t protect you when it becomes open season on all mortals again. You will be one of the first tracked down as you are a half-breed. Your half-breed blood can bestow a new vampire with powers they wouldn’t acquire for hundreds of years merely by them draining your body.”
“And what will happen to you when you turn me? Will you become more powerful?”
“I will be granted the powers of a vampire who is at least 2,000 years old but that is not the reason why I want to do this. I want to keep you safe. You are connected to me in some strange way, and together, we have forever to explore and figure out that connection. I have no wish to take a mortal lover and watch her age before me like some kind of interesting pet project. And I no longer have to search, for I have found you and all you have to know is that you’re the one.”
There was a deep and comfortable silence between us for a long time before I inquired, “The one what exactly?”
Purchase Mortal Death: Book 1 from The Vamp Saga on Amazon.
Table of Contents
Chapter Two
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Table of Contents
Chapter Two
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
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Lizzy Ford Page 33
