Page 5 of Blood Lust

God, I don’t want to die.

I should have just left the fucking cereal!

The windshield finally gives way from the pressure of the water, glass sprays me, and little cuts tear into my skin. Fortunately, I raise my arm in time to protect my eyes, but I can feel the sharp pin pricks on my face. It didn’t shatter completely, but the water is coming in much too fast now, already reaching my shoulders. I am sinking with the car, and the pressure is too great for me to get through.

In seconds I have almost no air left, I try to time it right and take a deep breath at the last moment. Opening my eyes in the murky water stings, but I have no choice. Now that the car is filled, and the pressure equal, the driver’s side window is accessible for my escape. I try to swim through the window with my injured arm tucked close to my side, it is so difficult. I only have three working limbs instead of four, my clothes are weighing me down, and I have no idea how far I have sunk.

Going through the windshield would’ve been easier, but I don’t want to waste time breaking apart more glass. The window will give me faster access to the surface, and time is of the essence now.

Inky blackness surrounds me between lightning strikes, the light being the only indication of which way is up.

My lungs burn for air.

I am able to get my torso through the driver’s side window. I press on the car door with my good arm and push myself out as hard as possible. Until my legs are completely out. I kick away from Spencer’s car as it sinks and try to propel myself upward.

My muscles ache from exertion with no oxygen and I feel like my chest is going to explode. I can’t tell if I am getting close to the surface of the water or not. Darkness closes in around me, and I stop kicking. I am so tired. My vision is blurry, and the pure black of nothing pulls me into it.

Until I can’t see the lightning anymore.

Until I can’t feel anymore.

Until I’m not anymore.

CHAPTER 2

THE WARRIOR

Seven hundred and thirty-two years on this planet is a long time. You’d think I would have seen enough to satisfy me for a lifetime, but I haven’t. I can’t get enough of this ever-changing world, and one of my favorite things is to insert myself around the humans that inhabit it. That’s why I find myself in the general store today, slinking through the aisles until I discover the source of the most wonderful scent I’ve ever known.

She is beautiful.

Thick and wavy auburn hair rolls down her shoulders, and her pale skin is spotted with freckles. I watch her study the wine with such care and precision. Her eyes flick to a human male standing by the beer, loading a cart with cases. She calls, asking his opinion, and he says nothing.

She flinches, her lips curve downward and her brows knot together. Her beautiful face that should be smiling is instead twisted with a deep sadness. Something coils inside of me like a cobra. My blood boils and bile rises in my throat. How can he be so fortunate to earn the attention of such a creature and then ignore her?

As she places multiple bottles of wine in her cart, I laugh to myself. Looks like she is in for a long weekend that she might prefer to forget.

Centuries of practice makes me excellent at being invisible, so I go unnoticed even as I stalk my quarry through the store. I study her as she fills her cart with food items, taking in her face as she makes each decision. Her lips part, revealing two large front teeth. The corners of my mouth ticked upward. She looks like a little chipmunk.

I am behind her for the briefest moment, close enough to reach my hands out and weave them through her coppery hair if I want. I’d love nothing more than to wrap my arms around her, twist my fingers into her tresses and kiss her soft pink lips. But I resist. She isn’t mine.

Yet.

I am drawn to this human who smells like honeysuckle and fresh paper.

The man she is with is hers. His scent is all over her: Hopps and cigarette smoke.

I sigh. If I were a weaker man, I would destroy him and indulge in this pull I have toward the human woman. They must be staying nearby. I could compel him away…

That isn’t honorable— if nothing else, I still maintain my honor.

I used to be a knight once upon a time.

That was before Leland, before my family, before I was truly born.

Before I was made a vampire.

The name given to my kind long ago, and ever since I was turned, I have thoroughly enjoyed my life as one. There is something to having immense strength, fantastic hearing, and sight. Every sense is at peak perfection. I am practically indestructible, able to bend the wills of mortals, and being immortal was quite a perk.

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