Page 10 of Entranced By the Immortal

“Please, let me go,” I choked out, or at least attempted to. It didn’t sound like actual words, more like a hissing, sputtering cough.

The edges of my vision began to darken from the lack of oxygen. Corvin’s cool, cocky expression was the only thing I could see as I began to lose grip of consciousness. When he finally let me go, I fell to the floor, my knees hitting the hardwood and pain lancing up my legs.

“Please,” I gasped, clutching at my aching throat. “Let me go. I can’t stay here.”

“Of course you can,” he assured me, squatting so we were eye to eye. Delicious darkness danced behind his eyes, and I could tell he was enjoying himself. “You’ll learn to love it.”

“But my job, mymother…” My heart clenched at the thought of her and how disappointed she’d be if I died here, especially when I’d promised to stay away from the woods.

Why had I not fucking listened? Why had I let curiosity get the best of me?

“Trivial things,” he said, hooking a finger beneath my chin and lifting it gently. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, you learn that none of it really matters. It’s all fleeting, unimportant.”

“You’re fucking insane,” I said, clenching my fist again. Judging by how easily he lifted me off the ground, he had some kind of freakish superhuman strength—he was probably a power lifter in his free time.

However, I wasn’t just going to submit. If he wasn’t going to let me walk out of here, I was going to fight my way out.

What other option did I have?

I swung, aiming for the smooth porcelain of his jaw, but my stomach dropped when I didn’t make contact. Faster than should have been possible, he grabbed my arm and slammed me onto the ground, the back of my head cracking against the hardwood. Stars exploded in front of my eyes, and before I could get my bearings, Corvin was on top of me, his weight keeping me pinned in place.

“You have quite a temper.” He tsked his tongue and leaned so close his breath rolled over my skin. To my surprise, it was cool, and for the first time I noted how chilled his hands were.

I hadn’t thought about it earlier—cold hands weren’t inherently alarming—but now my eyes widened in horror.

“Whatareyou?” I asked, afraid I already knew the answer. My heart was hammering in my throat, blood pounding in my ears.

Fear shot through my system, chilling my bones and making my heart skip a painful beat. He flashed a devilish grin. Icy fingers grabbed my jaw, slowly wrenching my head to the side to expose my neck. I could have sworn I heard a growl rumble in his chest as my heart rate spiked.

“I think we both know the answer to that,” he purred, dipping his head low enough to graze his lips over my neck. “I am what all humans desire to be—eternally young and free from sickness—but I am also what they fear. Cursed to exist in darkness, my soul damned to the pits of Hell.”

“You’re a monster,” I gritted out, every muscle in my body going rigid as his teeth touched my skin.

“No, not a monster.” His voice dropped low. “Avampire.”

CHAPTER 6

CORVIN

Ever stilled beneath me, and his throat bobbed with a hard swallow. The beat his heart skipped at the truth tore at every part of me, followed by a crash of relief when it started thumping again.

If he was going to die, it would be by my fangs, not sheer terror.

I grinned, pulling back enough to meet his gaze, my blond hair falling around us like a curtain. He might not have screamed like I expected him to, but his eyes were full of terror, the sweet stink of fear pouring off him like old cologne. He was silent for a moment.

“Vampire,” he repeated, voice cracking, before he swallowed hard again. I could tell the information rocked him to the core, but I didn’t understand why he wasn’t putting up more of a fight.

Did he know it was pointless? That he had no chance of escaping? Or was he plotting? Biding his time? Waiting for the ultimate distraction?

“Are your servants vampires too?” he asked, his voice strained.

The wheels turned behind his eyes, and I could almost hear the unasked questions filling his mind. If he’d managed to kill my servants, could he shoot and kill me, too? If he was to be a servant, would I turn him into a vampire?

“No.”

Fangs aching, my gaze fell to the side of his neck. A single vein throbbed steadily beneath the skin, pulsing with the rapid beat of his heart, and I wanted to sink my teeth into it. I wanted to bite him,tastehim, and the urge grew stronger as the seconds ticked by. “But they are more like me than you. Offering themselves to me has certain…advantages.”

It was true; My servants weren’t vampires. I hadn’t tried to make another immortal since my failure, sincehetook his own life and I tried to save him. My venom wasn’t enough to bring him back, wasn’t enough to keep him the way I so desperately wanted, and I’d been sick for weeks from ingesting expired blood.

---