Page 39 of Incandescence

My pulse pounded in my ears, my mouth drying with the wrath I forcefully swallowed. “I wanted a normal life. I never once asked to live in a never-ending nightmare.”

Except hadn’t those forty-six years been worth it just to meet Charley in my future?

Without a doubt.

It was odd, the settling of emotion as I realized the truth. And suddenly I was unmoved by the creature who fed on fear as much as he did blood, because in the end, love was all that mattered. I smiled. “But I guess you’re right—I should thank you for that longevity—without it, I would never have met Charley.”

The vampire’s eyes flashed, my goodwill clearly not what he wanted or expected. “Her name is Maya.”

“No. Her name is Charley.” I stepped over one of the brothers and moved closer to the vampire. “And you’re not my master anymore. You’re a bloodsucking freak who can’t ever experience what it is to be human.”

“You’re right about one thing,” the vampire interjected smoothly. “I am a bloodsucker.”

He didn’t deny that he wished to be human. I didn’t doubt for a second he’d sell his soul just to feel any other emotion aside from the burn of antipathy I’d witnessed just moments earlier. I guessed no donors had ever escaped the nest before.

The vampire uncurled his hands, no longer bothering to hide the evil behind his eyes as he added, “But I’m also your bloodsucking master.”

I sensed him reaching into my mind. “Don’t listen to him!” But Charley’s shout barely penetrated my subconscious. It was as if a fog clouded my brain, sinking deep into my defenses.

“Offer me your throat.”

I couldn’t fight the vampire’s honeyed voice of persuasion. Though my mind screamednoI was compelled to obey. I was a mindless marionette.

My head turned and the vampire’s twin fangs slid into my throat even as Charley’s scream slid into my head.

I groaned and everything blurred while ecstasy and despair, yearning and horror, became a new symphony in my head.

I vaguely heard the brothers and their mates stagger to their feet before they stumbled toward the door. Then the vampire’s icy cold hands that burned my skin held my attention while he kept me in place, siphoning my lifeblood...perfect vampire nutrition.

I swayed, quickly lightheaded by the feeding. In some distant part of my brain I knew he was taking too much, yet I couldn’t fight, couldn’t even form the word ‘stop’.

Was this what the vampire had planned? Drain me lifeless and make Charley his next eternal blood-slave?

I stiffened. No!I wouldn’t let him touch her.

The vampire never expected my surrender to morph into rebellion. Before he grasped my intent, I jerked away from him, his fangs sliding like icy blades from my throat.

I heard Jasper’s vicious growl, registered that the dog had latched on to the vampire’s leg. The vampire didn’t have time to acknowledge more than fleeting shock at my strength of mind, before he turned his attention to the irritation chewing on his limb.

He kicked the dog free and Jasper yelped as he hit the floor hard. The vampire turned back to me at about the same time as a distinctwhoompfilled my senses. I fought to stand even as I distantly realized that the vampire was clutching at an arrow that’d pierced his brow, the arrowhead sticking through the back of his head.

Anotherwhoompsounded and an arrow cleaved through the vampire’s chest.

I blinked, staring in confusion at the powerful vampire frothing at the mouth. The creature had lived for centuries and Charley had managed to give him pause. Oh, he wouldn’t die, but I had no doubt it’d take some time to recover.

Charley’s hands were suddenly around me, supporting me. “Alexander, can you hear me?” Her voice came from a great distance, but I managed a nod even as she said, “You’ve got to drink his blood and regain your stamina.”

I swayed, blood loss depleting me of every bit of my strength. But not my strength of will. I looked up at the vampire. His eyes were crimson, rage radiating from him at being bested by a mere mortal. He wrenched the arrow from his head and blood gushed from his wound as he bellowed with pain and all-consuming wrath.

“We don’t have much time.” Charley’s voice quavered with raw fear and her own desperate hunger.

It was her fear that pushed adrenaline through my veins and gave me temporary power. If I didn’t drink, I couldn’t protect Charley. And I wouldn’t let the bloodsucker hurt even a hair on her head. Not while there was still breath in my lungs.

The vampire was paler than parchment, but had already worked half the long, wooden arrow from his chest.

It was now or never.

I stumbled forward, using all my remaining strength to clamp hold of the vampire’s shoulders and sink my teeth into his throat. Warm, metallic blood filled my mouth. It no longer tasted like ambrosia. I choked and forcibly swallowed the thick syrupy blood, managing a couple of mouthfuls before the vampire yanked the arrow from his chest. As it clattered to the floor, he turned to deal with me.

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