Page 1 of Addicted in Blood
Prologue
The beast lumbersthrough the dark, deserted streets.He stops and lifts his nose.His blood stirs at the scent.He doesn’t run, but his pace quickens as he moves toward his prey.
They’re close.
More than one, and his hunger calls to him.Ravenous.Burning.Unquenchable.And the beast rages from within, demanding to be fully released to hunt and eat.
He turns down an alley.His prey stands in the shadows.Two of them.They carry long sticks, but he is not afraid.
He slows, slipping through the darkness like his prey, his movements silent.Yet, they turn toward him.Somehow, they know where he is.
He stops, sniffing one last time.The scent is sweet.The meal worthy.
He springs, and as if perfectly choreographed, a blinding white light fills the sky.The shadows are gone, and so is his prey.He falls back and snarls, raising an arm across his face, shielding his sensitive eyes from the light as fierce as the noonday sun.
Someone calls a name.A distant memory flickers.The voice—at first familiar and then not.
He backs up and then runs.The voices trail behind—urgent and incessant.
The corner.He must get to the corner.Safety.Without warning, a net falls from the sky.It barely misses him, the edge brushing against his back.
He runs and runs until his legs are leaden and the streets are far behind him.There is nothing but forest and the cool ocean air.When he reaches the familiar den in the base of a large cedar tree, he crawls in and pulls his knees to his chest.He chafes against the pain that permeates his joints.
The beast howls with hunger.
ChapterOne
I zippedup my duffel bag then dropped my overnight bag on top of it.Devon didn’t mention how long we’d be in New Orleans, but knowing him, if I didn’t pack the right clothes, he’d simply buy me new ones.It was annoying but saved on shopping and worrying about what to bring.
Last night, after my introduction to Lyra, Devon’s sister, who’d been living in secret on the third floor like a bad family secret, Devon and I had discussed our next plans.Number one on his list was finding the person who could explain my dreams.My mother had given him a name and a city, now we just had to find them.
He’d wanted to get an early start, so I was surprised when I woke to find the sun already up.He must have decided to let me sleep in, and while I didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, I could have slept on the plane.
I moved the two bags to outside my bedroom door, knowing Sergi or Lucas would have them put in the car.There wasn’t anyone in the dining room, so I backtracked to Devon’s office.The door was closed, but I knocked and waited a full minute, surprised when he didn’t respond.
I knocked again, then turned the handle and peered in.If he was in a conference with his personal guards, I wanted to give him enough time to shout an order to close the door.When that didn’t happen, but a cacophony of voices immediately ceased, I threw the door wide.
His entire cadre of personal guards—Simone, Sergi, Lucas, and Bella—stood around Devon’s desk.Jacques, who always seemed to tag along with Bella, his usual partner, was also present.
Devon’s chair was empty.
“Where’s Devon?”A pit opened in my stomach when they all stared at me, leaving me shaky with a rapidly growing anxiety.They didn’t have to say it.They were hoping I knew.
“That answers that question.”Sergi rifled through a folder on Devon’s desk.
“Come in, Cressa.”Simone’s face revealed nothing.
I walked in and leaned against the sofa that faced the cold fireplace, telling myself it was to keep distance between me and the vamps and nothing to do with my unsteady legs.
“He was supposed to have someone wake me for an early flight.”The words trickled out of my mouth as if his cadre didn’t know his schedule to the minute.Based on him not being here, I guessed not every minute.
“Someone must have seen him leave.”Simone sat in his chair and rummaged through his top drawer.“He usually keeps his calendar in here.”
“He left my room about twenty minutes after he introduced me to Lyra.”I inched along the sofa, worry overtaking any concern that I was alone with five well-trained, highly dangerous, agitated vamps.
Everyone but Sergi turned to me.
“Let’s save that for another time.”Sergi turned back to other files on the desk.
