by Chloe Grey
“You bit me...”
That meant I was a vampire too.
“I told you. You were dying. I had no choice.”
I rolled my tongue along my teeth, fearing the worst, expecting a sharp prick. Nothing. No fangs. Had my eye color changed? I needed to check. I fished my phone from my pocket but was confused when it wasn’t there. I must have left my phone in bed.
I looked at Dave. I couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be.
“You are a vampire?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand. Why?”
There was another pause. Several emotions played on his face. Finally, he exhaled and looked back at me, his voice low and hurt. “I didn't... I didn’t have a choice. It was my biggest regret.” He sighed and turned his back on me, leaving me at that.
“You could have told us.”
He laughed, but it was short and snappy. “And say what? ‘Hey guys, I want to join you. Oh, and by the way, I’m a vampire.’”
I stood up and returned his scowl. “You should have told us, used your powers for good. You killed dozens of vampires with us, and you never used your powers. Not once. You could have made it a hell a lot easier for us, and—” I glared at him, and he returned it with his own—icy and unreadable. “—you could have saved Laura.”
Dave stood up too and strode towards me. I stood my ground until he pinned me against the cave wall. Not hard enough to hurt me, but still, l started. This wasn’t the Dave I knew. Had he been playing an act this whole time? Was I seeing the real him?
“Don’t,” he said, his tone low and controlled, but there was no mistaking the fury in his voice. “Don’t start with that on me.”
“You could have saved her. You could have saved our friend.” I tried to shake free of his grip, but he didn’t budge. “Was she even anything to you? Was it all a lie? It must have been. You vampires are all the same—heartless cold monsters.”
He growled at that and leaned closer, so close that I could feel his hot breath. I didn’t blink. I wasn’t intimidated, not anymore.
“Don’t you dare compare me to them. She meant a lot to me, you too. You have no idea, no god damn idea, how much I sacrificed for you.” He released his grip and backed away.
His back found the solid wall of the cave, and he slumped down, burying his face into his hands and looking more broken than he had since the day Laura was taken from us. “Instead I was selfish. I saved you but damned everybody.”
I could only look on, confused and frustrated.
“It’s too late now. They won. I let those damn bastard win.” He looked at up at me and his next words mimicked the emotions displayed on his fallen features.
“Humanity is finished.”
Chapter 7
-David-
Life ain’t fair, kid.
After sixteen years, I still remembered the guy who had spoken those exact words to me. Maybe it was the strange heavy accent, or the fact that the bastard snatched my fifty dollars off the ground—the hard-earned cash that meant ownership of the remote controlled car I had always ogled through the store’s window.
Mom couldn’t do anything, of course. He was a big random drunk that just happened to be there when my life savings slipped from my grip. She pulled me away, and I had to make all the money back, delivering bread that she baked every day at the crack of dawn.
Life ain’t fair, kid. He was right. Life wasn’t. I thought I had done everything right, made all the right decisions. But they must have been all the wrong ones, because here I was, alone, broken, and the only people I cared about now knew that I was a traitor, a fake. I had been branded as a traitor then, and now the only person I cared about thought I was one too.
Cass was still throwing questions at me. What are you talking about? Where are we? What’s going to happen now? Dave, fucking answer me!
I didn’t answer her. Mostly because if I did, that meant accepting reality.
Everything had been good, kind of. But then Laura had been bitten. I could have protected her, escorted her outside like I always did. I’d grown careless over the past few months. The city didn’t have any vampires then—one just decided to wander in that night. Just plain bad luck.
Just hours ago, I’d thought my whole world had shattered. Hearing her screams, when I should have been there. Watching her bloodied body, thinking that I had lost everything. Two women from my life had been taken away from me, snatched just like that, and one of them just recently. I couldn’t lose another one.
I couldn’t.
Cass had retreated to the other end of the cave by the time I looked back up. She was hugging her knees to her chest, watching the sheets of rain and the gleaming moonlight. The wind whipped towards us, bringing with it the fresh scent of petrichor.
The pull. It was so strong. I had to resist every temptation not to take her there and then.
Claim her. She is ours now.
I looked away to the cave walls, studying the crack and crevices, the stalagmites, nothingness—anything but her.
You know how I feel when you ignore me, David.
I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to drift back to the times before it had all gone to shit. This was how I coped, how I kept sane. Living in the past. What was it like then? Two years ago seemed like an eternity, I was a completely different person, I was—
Weak, a human.
Scowling, I stood up and wiped dry tears away from my face. Cass looked at me as I paced back and forth through the cave, the sounds of my footsteps bouncing off the rocky walls. Whispers from her mind flew at me again. I tried to ignore them.
Traitor.
Dave, how could you?
I trusted you.
Scum.
I turned away from her, not daring to show how much she could hurt me. I needed to break the bond. It was the least I could do. And if there was someone who could do it, it was the old fart himself.
Of course, he had planned it all along—some king. Send a vampire—a vampiress in this case—strong enough that my team would stand no chance. He must have found me. Found my weak spot. Cass.
Put her life in mortal danger and he knew I would come running back to her, risking everything just so she wouldn’t die. The perfect plan to force me to initiate a blood blond. A simple plan, and it’d worked out.
I’d known it would happen too. That was why I wanted her to leave. So many people taken from me—just pried from my hands. What was the use of power then? I’d let down Laura, but I wasn’t going to fail Cass. I was going to bring her somewhere safe, where even he couldn’t touch her. Then I would leave.
God, how many times have I said that? If only Cass had listened to me. She always had. So why not now? Despite her hatred for the monsters, I’d thought she would see sense.
It was a fruitless task—hunting vampires. We weeded out D ranks. I made them hunt only D ranks, and despite numerous complaints from them, especially Cass, I held my ground.
We were capable of taking on the stronger ones. But I knew, sooner or later, our luck would run dry, like the hundreds of other hunter groups, no matter how experienced they were, all slaughtered like lambs.
Let the more experienced hunters and soldiers take out the C’s and above, I had said. Trust me on this, Cass. Eventually, you will see that we are making a difference. We don’t need glory or fame. Let the others have that. But we are doing an important job too. You’ll see.
Lies. All lies. But it was for their own safety.
I should have left for good, never to return. I would have spared her.
Why hadn’t I left earlier? Then again, I should never have joined the group in the first place. Why had I? For a girl I knew I could never have? It was a foolish decision. I knew that. I fucking knew—yet I stayed, telling myself that I was going to leave the next day, then the next, then the next. Eventually a year passed, and I was still with them, with her. Then Logan swooped in and claimed her. But I still stayed. Why?
So dumb, s
o stupid. Maybe I deserved everything that was coming at me. Just because I couldn’t keep my hormones and foolish desires in check.
I glanced at Cass. She was back to staring at the rain, concentrating on something in the far distance. The rain was dying to a drizzle, and my senses were filled with the smell of wet grass... along with hers.
It was faint, very faint. Any type of scent-enhancing product was forbidden to us: perfumes, body washes, shampoos, deodorants, cologne—all death sentences to hunters. Use them, and you would be broadcasting your position to every vampire in a mile radius, even more if the vampire was of a higher rank.
But skin scent was always there. Nobody could get rid of it—and hers had a light aroma. Fresh. Sweet. Flowery.
She looked even more striking in the moonlight. It illuminated a beauty I didn’t even think she possessed. Vibrant pink hair flowed down her shoulders in soft, lush waves, matching the soft pink of her lips and cheeks and framing a soft, kind face set with forest green eyes. Combined with a svelte figure that showed smooth, sexy curves which had been toned by years in the gym, and now maintained by regular training to keep our stamina up, senses sharp, and reflexes quick.
You love her.
I snorted, surprising myself and her. I turned away before she could complete her scowl.
What do you know about love, fiend? I replied mentally and regretted it instantly. It had been months since I had interacted with him. I thought that maybe, just maybe, if I ignored the voice for long enough, he would just... disappear.
He chuckled, in the exact same way I did.
I know as much as you do. So, not much.
Go away, demon.
Demon. Another chuckle. Funny.
Then he was gone, retreating back into the deep, dark, twisted corners of my mind, perching himself there like an eagle. Always watching. Always waiting.
Chapter 8
-Cassandra-
Nothing was making sense.
Dave, a vampire all along? I am a vampire? I couldn’t believe it. There was no evidence: I had no fangs, and looking my reflection in the muddy puddle in front of me. I saw that my eyes were still the green it always had been.
Except...
I could see it now, in fact, hear it. The drumming of the rain was crystal clear. Everything was enhanced.
I picked up sounds that I couldn’t previously hear—the ribbit of a frog far away, something scurrying about beneath the grass, the rustle of leaves as a breeze shot by, the breeze itself too, and if I really concentrated... there, far off in the distance, I could see a run-down shed. There was a lightbulb, the only working light bulb.
I could hear the buzz as the bulb blinked rapidly in the distance. I could make out moths fluttering near it, and if I really focused... I could hear... the fluttering of their wings.
Oh my god.
I stood up, running my hands through my hair, my head spinning. I am a vampire. Fuck, I am a vampire.
I am a vampire.
I was thrown back into the nightmare. Flashes of Laura, ignoring our screams, her eyes violet, trying to kill Fletcher. After we hunted the vampire who had bit her, we knew why.
She had been ordered to kill Fletcher. And she had obeyed, even as Logan shot her, even as she lay dying in our arms, she had still tried to complete her orders.
Once somebody got bitten, we considered them dead. The person we knew wasn’t in there anymore.
Was that going to happen to me?
I looked at Dave, but quickly turned away from his searing intensity. Will I be like Laura? Will I succumbed to Dave’s will and be a mindless slave?
I can’t. I won’t.
But even as I tried to believe that, I could still feel the pull towards him. My breath became ragged again, my core heating up. I wanted to submit to the pull. Submit to my body’s desire. I wanted to throw myself at him, kiss him, let him do whatever he wanted with me.
But I can’t. I won’t.
“Thirsty?” The voice of my captor rang through the walls of the cave, startling me.
When I didn’t answer, he sighed and pulled out a bottle from behind him then rolled it towards me.
It hit my feet and rolled back a couple paces. I eyed it suspiciously.
“It isn’t blood,” he said, probably reading my thoughts again. “I don’t drink blood.”
I opened my mouth before I could stop myself.
“What?”
A ghost of a smile was etched on his lips as I looked up to meet his gaze. My heart raced and he frowned.
“Sorry, uh... yeah. Blood is not needed for survival.”
What?
“But, then what—”
“Almost every vampire drinks because it’s addictive.” His eyes glazed over, staring past me, then refocused. “Very addictive. Think of it like alcohol, and every vampire an addict. I just... avoided it, so I never got addicted.”
I recalled the prick at my arm and narrowed my gaze. “But you bit me.”
“Yeah. And now I understand why so many vampires can’t stop themselves until they drain their victim’s dry.”
Before the prick on my arm, before he bit me. There was something else. The sweet, divine liquor.
“What was—”
“You drank my blood.”
“What?”
“That’s how it works. You think vampires just bite someone and boom, they turn?”
He continued before I could reply.
“No. We needed to drink each other’s blood. You drank mine, and I drank yours. I had no choice. You were dying.”
I didn’t know what to say. I drank his blood? It was sweet, almost unbearably so.
“It was so sweet,” I blurted out.
Dave winced at that, lapsing into silence. There was a lull in the air, only broken by the drizzle and the sound of nature.
Dave finally let out a drawn-out sigh. “I’m sorry, Cass. For everything. It’s all my fault. I will fix this. Soon, you will be back with Logan and the others, and you will never see me again.”
Never see me again. My chest throbbed at his words, and I bit my tongue before I could say anything. He was a vampire, a monster. I wanted him to leave, but my emotions betrayed me, and tears began welling up in my eyes, streaming down my cheeks before I could hold them back.
“Christ, Cass,” Dave stood there, running both hands through his hair, watching me make a pitiful mess out of myself.
Several emotions ran across his face. He took a step forward, then stopped, then another step forward, this one more reluctant. Finally he sighed, muttered a curse, and strode towards me, enveloping me in a comforting embrace.
“It’s okay,” he said, stroking the back of my head while I sobbed into his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay.”
I knew I was naive, but I believed him, nodding to his deep, smooth voice that flowed over me like a rush of hot water.
I didn’t know how long he held me like that, feeling his body pressing up against mine, fitting perfectly, filling up all the places where I was hollow. I breathed in that intoxicating scent that was his alone.
Outside, the drizzle turned to a storm again, and I felt Dave’s heat leaving me. He pulled away a little, all the while searching my eyes with his intense blues.
He lifted a hand from my back to gently trace my face, brushing away a few locks of hair, swiping at my tears, caressing my cheeks, sweeping a thumb along my lower lip.
The pull... it was stronger now, intensifying to a throbbing burn, a searing flame in my chest that echoed throughout my entire body, chasing away all internal doubts and goading me forward, to him. I gave in. I leaned forward, closer, curving against his body, feeling the quickening rhythm of his rising chest, my breaths becoming heavier at every excruciatingly long second.
He was as aroused as I was; I could feel his cock thick and hard against me, begging for entry.
I held his intense gaze for a while, then looked down to his mouth, so wet and inviting.
“Dave...�
�� I whispered, my voice soft and far away. Every single inch of my skin, every nerve ending had come alive, tingling with the excitement of what's about to come, my temperature soaring like never before.
Kiss me.
He didn’t answer, but his breaths mimicked mine. Quick, heavy, a couple of his hitching, both of us inhaling the rising lust. The air between us was somehow thicker, harder to breathe in, but then all I wanted to inhale was his smothering scent.
I could feel the erotic slide of his hand as he moved under the hem of my shirt, seeking bare skin, to the small of my back, steadying me.
Kiss me, damn it.
He leaned forward and tilted his head down. I slowly stood on tiptoes and parted my lips. I could practically feel the heat of his lips. I closed my eyes. His lips brushed against mine, and...
Dave jerked back. I opened my eyes, and felt my heart getting crushed. The pull was still there, the flame still burning, coursing through my skin, mocking me.
“We need to get you back to Logan,” he said, turning his back to me, still breathing heavily. I could tell he was wiping his lips with the back of his hand. “Before the bond—”
I didn’t let him finish. I ran out of the cave, into the storm, away from him.
I heard him call after me. I didn’t stop. I didn’t know where I was going; I just needed to get as far away from him as I could. Rain pelted down on me like falling bullets, but I didn’t care. I just ran.
I heard Dave curse, then come after me. I tried to go faster, but he was on me in an instant, tugging on my arm.
“Christ, Cass,” Dave shouted over the storm. “Stop.”
“Let go!” I screamed back, turning towards him and trying to pry his grip off my arm. “Go to hell!”
“Cass, please.” He already had a firm grip on both my arms. I tried to pull away and screamed in frustration when he didn’t budge.
“Please, stop.”
Tears were free falling off my face again, stinging my eyes and blinding me. I tried to shove him away, my voice cracking as I screamed in his face.
“Go to hell, Dave. Go to fucking hell!”
He let go of my wrist, and before I could hit him or run away, he hugged me again. Tighter this time, warmer, despite the storm. Dave pulled back and touched my nose with his, his forehead on mine.
