Page 3 of Fated In Blood

EVANGELINE

Three months later, I limped down the broken sidewalk toward home, hands jammed deep in the pockets of my worn leather jacket, shoulders hunched against the chill. The empty street reeked with the stench of piss and vomit, oily rainbows shining in the puddles.

Barely a block from Valentine’s, the heavy tread of two pairs of boots fell in behind me and adrenaline kicked up my heart rate. My wet laces slapped like gunshots against the tops of my soaked tennis shoes, since I wasn’t allowed to wear boots in the ring anymore.

An unfair advantage, Vincent claimed.

Unfair advantage, my ass. Blood seeped from the open cut on my cheek, the bruise on my thigh throbbed like a motherfucker, and I was still five blocks from my apartment.

The footsteps behind me sped up.

Tonight was perfect for an ambush, cold enough to keep the college crowds in the bars until closing, and fog clogged the air, thick enough to magnify the tread of those heavy, stalking steps nipping at my heels, like wolves tracking a fawn.

Could I have picked a worse night to be out?

Probably not, as a cold, sleeting rain began to fall.

I broke into a limping run then made a hard right at the bookstore, a desperate, sloppy move, rubber soles slapping loudly through puddles until I reached the alley’s dead end, a solid brick wall too high for me to climb.Fuck. With nowhere to go, I faced my pursuers, heart jolting in my aching chest.

Two vampires, one dark, one light, like both sides of an evil coin.

Their perfect skin glowed luminous in the dim light, hooded eyes reflecting the slivered moon, hair falling in long, elegant waves around their shoulders, as if every curl was sculpted by an artist’s hand. The darker one was taller, heavier, the other pale, slender, and lean.

Beautiful, deadly predators, and their ravening grins told me one thing.

They meant to play with their food before they ate me.

My instincts stretched out through the fog and freezing downpour, down the dark alley out into the vacant main street. There was no one out in this weather. No one to save me.

No one to hear me scream.

I let go of my fear, terror spilling through my blood like acid, heart pounding as fast as the rain lashing my face, every panicked breath perfuming the air with frantic desperation. They prowled closer, herding me deep into the shadows.

Until I lost sight of the streetlights.

Until the greed in their faces consumed me.

“What have we here? A wee little lamb, all alone.” I licked the fresh droplet of blood from my busted lip, copper blooming in my mouth while I sized them up. They gave off that shivery aura of immortal power, moving with an unnaturally smooth gait, feet barely touching the ground.

“A lost lamb who smells like heaven.” The darker, more refined one, with the tailored suit and handmade Italian shoes,followed that red drop beading up on my lip with the intensity of a wolf, his gaze sharpening.

I tried not to roll my eyes at their outdated prattle.

That right there was the problem with vampires. They lived forever, but they never matured. So basically, I was dealing with two bloodsucking twelve-year-olds.

Capable of tearing me apart and drinking me as dry as a juice box.

The blond one’s nostrils flared wide the second he caught my scent, fangs bursting from his pale gums like wicked knives, turning his elegant face grotesque. “Ambrose,pleaselet me go first tonight. She smells absolutely delicious. I must have a taste.”

“Waiting is half the pleasure, though she certainly does smell delectable, Spencer,” the dark-haired one murmured, stripping off his gloves. His hands were white as freshly fallen snow, fingers terminating in long, pointed nails meant for carving through skin and flesh.

Spencer. Every cell of my being went taut, the name—thatname—carving a path through my soul.

I was worn down from my earlier fight, and these two were capable of ripping out my beating heart with their bare hands as easily as scooping a pit from a peach.

But adrenaline flooded through me like liquid strength.

Spencer drew another long, shuddering breath, his thin chest puffing out dramatically beneath his brocade vest. “My God…whatisthat delectable aroma, Ambrose?” Lifeless blue eyes caught the light as he stepped forward, hands working convulsively at his sides.

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