Page 66 of Taste of Forever
I lowered my hand, squinting as I tried to get a better look at him. “Are you okay? Do you need help?”
He was muttering something under his breath as he shuffled closer, and I felt the first pinpricks of danger at the back of my skull.
“Wait, stop.” I stretched out my hand. “The sun’s out. Don’t come any closer! You’ll get hurt, right?”
The man emerged from the alley into the square, straight into direct sunlight.
He didn’t burst into flame, but he did look badly sunburned with red skin and blisters covering his face. His eyes were yellow and bloodshot with thick tear tracks running down his face. So maybe he wasn’t a vampire? But his mouth hung partially open and I could see the tips of fangs.
He looked dazed, unfocused. Possibly on drugs. What kind of drugs did vampires even have?
“Hey. You shouldn’t be out in the sun, right?” I injected every ounce of friendly and pleasant I could muster into my voice. Who knew what would set him off?
“The sun.” He looked toward the sky, a jubilant smile breaking out across his cracked lips. “The sun is out! It’s beautiful.”
“Yes, but you look a little burned. Maybe you should keep to the shade for a while? I can find you some help.” I felt like I was trying to convince a tiger to go back into its cage.
“My kind, we never get to see the sun. Never get to see the world like this.” Thick tears ran down his face as he turned,taking in his surroundings. “The light! The shadows! We never get to see this. Fuck, it’s so beautiful.”
He had apparently forgotten about me, which was a relief. I started edging toward another alley across the square, as far away from him as possible. He continued to spin around in circles, marveling at the sunlight. I waited until his back was turned before speedwalking into the alley. But my relief was short-lived when my foot caught a loose cobble stone and kicked it across the ground.
The vampire whipped around, his fangs bared and saliva dripping from his mouth. There was no time to reason with him, no space between breaths that allowed me to think. My instincts recognized a predator at the first sight of those fangs and I ran.
It felt like I barely got anywhere, barely crossed any distance when he caught up to me.
He tackled me from behind and I landed hard with a pained cry on my hands and knees. Then a sharp, ripping pain at my neck had me screaming. It hurt so bad that it stole my breath. Warm blood ran over my chest and coated my hands.
Fangs withdrew from my flesh and I scrambled to get away, but my own blood made the ground slick and I couldn’t gain any leverage. The vampire pulled me back by my arm, and this time he bit roughly into my tricep.
“Stop!” I cried. “Stop! Somebody help!”
Blood continued to pour down my neck and he removed his fangs to lick a trail from my collarbone to my ear with a savoring moan. It would have turned my stomach if I wasn’t so concerned with escaping.
“Please stop,” I whimpered. “Please, you’re hurting me.”
He said nothing, just licked and bit me like I was some kind of living buffet. Every time I tried to pull away, he drew me back. My strength was quickly depleting as more blood left my body, while his strength seemed to be growing. He was rough, jerkingand pulling me in various ways to bite different parts of me with no reactions to my cries of pain or pleas to stop.
My vision began to darken and my brain grew sluggish.I’m losing a lot of blood. Oh god, I’m going to die out here.
The vampire dragged his tongue down my forearm to my wrist, chasing a trail of blood from my upper arm. His fangs scraped my wrist, the same place Laith had fed from me so many times.
My last conscious thought was of Laith holding my wrist to his lips, kissing my knuckles, and how much care he always took to not hurt me.
Chapter 18
Laith
Iwoke up with a start, shooting straight up in bed with ragged breaths and my heart racing. “What the hell?” I scrubbed my face, trying to remember if I’d had a dream that was slipping away or heard some noise that startled me.
But there was nothing. I had been dead asleep and my bedroom was silent.
Falling back on the pillow, I reached for my phone. And just as quickly, my heart started racing again. There was a missed call and voicemail from Heather.
I frowned at the time of the message. Nearly 6 a.m. this morning. Why would she call so early? SheknewI couldn’t be out in the daytime, right?
In any case, it was just past dusk now. Well over twelve hours since she called.
I listened to her message, confusion knitting my brow. She wanted to meet? Did she have a change of heart so soon after walking out all pissed off? And what did she mean bysome stuff happened?
