Page 4 of Bitten By Chaos

“You didn’t even tell me—” Zoe finally squeaked out as she started to shake with sobs.

Guilt poured out of me as I reached for her, but she shied away.

“Yes, I’m a vampire,” I admitted. It sounded almost ludicrous. It had happened so fast. I’d been in the bedroom of her girlfriend’s cottage just the night before as myself.

Zoe’s bloodshot eyes pinned me in place. “Why?” she demanded.

“I did it,” Julian said, hands on my shoulders possessively. “I didn’t ask permission. I simply did it.”

Zoe’s look of disgust zeroed in on him. “I trusted you!” she screamed.

“I made a deal with the Seelie queen,” I blurted, getting everyone’s attention. “I did it to save him. Julian was about to die, and horribly. This was his way of trying to prevent her from taking me like I said she could. She wanted me for my psychic gifts. And…and truth be told, I’m glad he did it. I asked him to a long time ago.”

Everyone around us stayed silent, the information soaking in slowly with the backdrop of Hazel’s home being devoured by blue demon fire.

“The demons wanted me for my psychic abilities too. Everyone has, from MorningStar to Silas to Mordock,” I said, motioning at the house.

Without another word, Zoe pulled me into a hug that would have crushed my lungs if I weren’t a vampire. One by one, the others joined the huddle, and their love and support brought tears to my eyes.

It was when I wiped at them that I realized they were tinged pink with blood.

Something in my stomach clenched.

“The sun is rising,” Hazel said, narrowing her eyes at the rapidly lightening sky.

“Meet us at the Devaux house.” Julian grabbed me.

He zoomed us back through the forest and through the yellow crime scene tape waving in the breeze. Then released me inside the small house I hadn’t set foot in for months. He sat me on the floor near the sofa and began quickly covering windows with sheets and blankets. Only then did I realize what was happening.

When he finished, he sat on the floor before me with a sad smile.

“How long until it won’t hurt me?” I asked. How many years would it be before I could walk in the sun?

“Only a week or so, and then you can use charms and sunscreen to great effect,” Julian answered. “Things are easier now than in my day. And I am here to help you through the transition, my love.”

That wasn’t bad, I supposed. Then I thought of my mother’s sunlight charm she’d tried to use on Julian. It would outright kill me in minutes. Somewhere, Mama’s soul was watching, and her daughter had just become a vampire.

Chapter 2

Rings and Revelations

The others arrived and notified Tabitha, the psychic I’d started to trust, and Daphne, the nymph I’d rescued from the queen, to join us when they were able. Julian prepared food for everyone as Zoe sat huddled in a blanket with me, head on my shoulder.

I tried to ignore the sound of her blood rushing through her veins and the way the thump of her heartbeat stoked the hunger boiling below the surface. The idea of wanting to bite my sister made me ill. But I’d signed on for this, I reminded myself.

Twenty-four hours went by too fast. The same twenty-four hours I’d been given to say goodbye before starting my servitude to the queen via our bargain.

So much happened, I had stopped counting the minutes. Truthfully, I’d quit paying attention the moment I realized Julian turned me. But just like clockwork, I felt a tug somewhere in my stomach and barely had time to say, “Oh,” before I was pulled through time and space to the queen’s throne room.

I materialized kneeling before her on her quartz throne, and her tantrum started before I’d even processed what had just happened. The floors and walls of the moss-covered cavern shook with a vehemence that would have knocked me off my feet in my human state. But now I simply rose to my feet as she railed, bringing down rocks as large as small boulders around us. One came toward my head, and I knocked it away like it was a rubber ball.

Waiting for her to calm, I planted my feet and watched as she ripped off pieces of throne and sent them flying around the space. Eventually, she calmed enough to huff a few last curses, chest still heaving.

“What did you do?” she demanded.

“I am here to fulfill my side of the bargain,” I said, each word eating out my insides.

“I don’t want a vampire,” she hissed. “I want a psychic.”

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