Page 1 of Bitten By Chaos

Chapter 1

The First 24

Iexpected the hunger for blood when Julian turned me into a vampire, but I didn’t expect the all-consuming need or the other sensations that came with it. My surroundings had sharpened to the point where every sound, no matter how small or insignificant, felt like a clap of thunder to my sensitive ears. Every object turned from a single color into a unique conglomeration of vacillating and nuanced shades. And I could smell everything, but Julian’s intoxicating scent of bergamot and cloves overpowered it all, wrapping me in a safe and warm embrace that allowed me to start becoming used to the onslaught of my own senses.

He held me in his lap, soothing me, gently stroking back my hair, and grounding me. Without him, I would have been an absolute mess. My heart broke when I remembered his transition had been at the hands of a psychopath. I shuddered.

“You will be alright,” he murmured, tightening his hold on me as he misconstrued my reaction.

Hugging him back, I nestled into the crook of his neck and shoulder. Which was when my stomach grumbled—a reaction to the smell of the sweet nectar running through his veins that he’d shared with me to bring me back. He’d cut me off, but oh, how I craved what was only centimeters away.

“You need to feed more at first, Charlotte,” he said, tugging me away so he could see my face. “I will help you and make sure you don’t do anything you will regret. And with proper guidance, it will not take as long as you fear to make sure you’re able to manage with your new body.”

The soft rumble of his voice ignited other needs,and I bit down on my lip, accidentally drawing blood with my fangs, which I couldn’t yet control. I swallowed hard and edged closer to him on the bed.

“We should go elsewhere. I doubt Hazel would appreciate her cottage becoming the casualty of a newborn vampire.” Julian’s dazzling smile made me want to jump him. So I did, tackling him to the mattress and straddling him.

His chuckle turned into a moan of pleasure when I aligned our bodies, ground against him, and swept my tongue inside his mouth.

“We really should go where we won’t break anything by accident,” Julian said between hungry kisses.

“I don’t want to wait.” I ran my nails down his arms, creating scratches that closed behind me as I went.

He growled and shot up from the bed, lifting me so that I wrapped my legs around his waist and teased his neck with my fangs. I hadn’t even meant to call them out, but once again, they were there, right along with the slow rush of my own blood still running in his veins and in my ears again. So tempting…

Forcing my face forward to look him in the eye, Julian reached over with one hand and threw the window open.

“You need to feed,” he told me, mesmerizing me with those crystalline eyes filled with shards of glittering purple and blue.

In answer, I leaned in, snagged his bottom lip between my teeth, and pulled as I mashed my core against his body.

He grinned in response and took off through the window and the forest beyond at breathtaking speed. But instead of burying my head against him to hide from the wind as I normally did, I threw my head back and laughed with delight as the stars and trees passed us in perfect, dizzying clarity, my hair dancing in the wind so that the moonlight shone off the multitude of reds I’d never noticed before.

We flew through the door of his old house and into the bedroom where a thick layer of dust coated the furniture—a reminder that we’d been on the run for far too long and kept from the place we called home and the people we loved. It was all because of my psychic powers and those after me. But vampires didn’t retain psychic abilities once turned, and Julian had made my wish come true. I just hoped it was enough to stop those after us.

My heart clenched as he released me, though he remained focused solely on me.

“Stay here,” he said, then zoomed away again.

But I didn’t want to stay there without him. I was hungry, and there was so much to explore in this brand new world. Yet when I tried to climb out the window, something stopped me—I realized he was my sire, and I had to obey. It was true of all vampires, and the thing that had caused us so much pain with Julian’s maker, Silas.

Having Julian as a sire was something I hadn’t considered before, and I bit down on my cheek to stop from screaming and crying in frustration and anger. It was like my emotions had boosted along with my senses. But when I saw him return with a young witch I recognized from my mother’s book club, I relaxed immediately. Julian would never do anything to hurt me or make me feel like I’d lost agency. He’d done it so I wouldn’t go on a feeding frenzy I couldn’t take back.

Speaking of, the scent of the witch was so intoxicating, I found myself drawing closer without having realized I was moving. My fangs dug into my own bottom lip, venom dripping uncontrollably from the tips as the sound of her pulse rushed like a river through my head. The beat of her heart acted like drums, drawing me into a trance of need.

Julian brushed her hair to the side, exposing her neck, and I whimpered softly.

“I have glamoured her,” he said, putting a hand on my arm to stop me. “She is someone who has offered on many occasions and was willing. I want you to try your best to control the flow and send her the thought that this doesn’t hurt. Do you understand?”

In truth, I barely heard him. I was too focused on sating the need that gnawed at me from the inside. My vision covered in a haze of red, I fought against the pressure of Julian’s hand. But he held me still until I repeated his instructions back to him.

Then he removed the barrier, and I was there, licking the tender spot beneath which I knew I’d have the best access to the nectar in her veins. I grabbed hold of her upper arms and sank my fangs inside, releasing the flow of blood. She screamed and struggled against me, and Julian ripped me away as I thrashed and clawed at the air.

“You will not experience pain,” he told her, and she relaxed. Then he released me again, and I went right back to where I had been, gulping at the warm flow as it coated my tongue and teeth and chin. After a couple of minutes, I relaxed into a less frenzied rhythm, taking the time to savor my meal and the rush of warmth and energy I felt flowing down my throat and into my extremities.

“Stop,” Julian said, and I did. “Bite your tongue and then lick the wound. That will close it.”

I followed his instructions and stepped back, suddenly fully aware of my actions, both horrified and in awe.

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