Page 10 of Marked By the Pack
I held the garlic powder container in my hand as I crept toward my bedroom door. I opened it as quietly as possible and peered out. The upstairs hallway was completely empty.
But then I heard a thumping noise from downstairs. Quickly followed by another. Why was Callum ransacking my house? I stepped out into the hall and all the lights went out.
What the actual fuck is happening right now?!I reached along the wall to find the light switch. But when I hit it nothing happened.
There was the loudest thump yet from downstairs and the sound of glass shattering on the floor.
I kept my hand on the wall and turned the corner to look down the stairs. There was nothing but darkness down there too. Vampires didn’t need light. Because they could just a smell human’s blood and easily find them.
God, I was too young to die! I didn’t want to be taken by surprise. I wanted to defend myself.
I tried to hit another light switch but nothing happened. The asshole had cut my power. But I wasn’t going down without a fight. If Callum was here…it meant he’d hurt Emma. And that he wanted to kill the only other person who knew his secret.Me.Or that he’d just completely lost control and would eat anything with blood.Also me.This was exactly why I’d been trying to figure out just how dangerous this guy was. I wished my clients had been a little more helpful.
I tiptoed down the stairs as quietly as possible. It was taking forever for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I blinked faster, hoping that would help.
My feet were only a few steps away from the landing when I heard my cell phone ringing upstairs.Shit.I froze.
But the intruder didn’t. I heard more glass shattering in the kitchen.
Stop breaking all my stuff, you asshole!
And then I heard footsteps approaching. He’d heard my phone ringing. He thought I was upstairs and was going to finish me off.
I could just make out a big, menacing figure lurking toward me.
Stay and fight…or…run? I didn’t have much of a choice. If I ran up the stairs right now, he’d hear me anyway. And it wasn’t like I was going to fling myself out the upstairs window to get away from him. There was only one choice here.
This is my house, you stupid vampire.As soon as Callum was close enough, I jumped off the bottom step and flung myself at him.
I was not an expert at karate or anything. But I knew a lot about the male anatomy. As my body collided with his, I kneed him right in the crotch. Hard.
He screamed at the top of his lungs like a little bitch as he started to fall backward.
“Die!” I yelled as I reached out for his face to try to cover his mouth. Or nose. Or poke his stupid eyes out. But I was momentarily distracted by how soft his skin was. I would have asked him what his skin care routine was if he wasn’t undead.
As I fell on top of him, he screamed again, even more high-pitched this time. But then he immediately punched me right in the boob.
Fuck.He was fighting as dirty as me. I rolled off of him, grabbing myself.
“Zoey!” he yelled in the same high-pitched voice. “Why are you naked?!”
“Why are you trying to kill me?!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” He slapped me, but his hand kind of stopped mid-slap on my face. “Ah!” he screamed. “Is that leather?”
Were vampires allergic to leather or something? I was glad I’d kept my mask on. “Get out of my house, Callum!”
“I’m not Callum! It’s me! Emma!”
I grabbed my container of garlic powder and chucked it at his lying face. One second too late. Because I’d finally just processed what was happening.Wait…“Emma?” I blinked, finally realizing who was right in front of me.
“Zoey, what the fuck?!” Emma screamed. “What did you just throw at me?” She started coughing.
Shit.Had Callum turned her? Is that why she was having a bad reaction to the garlic powder? I didn’t know whether to comfort her or run away. “Are you a vampire now?” I asked.
She started coughing harder.
Crap, even if she was a vampire, I didn’t want to kill her.
