Page 24 of To Kill a Vampire
“They want us to bring them fresh stock.”
* * *
Anxiety threatens to pound into my chest with every dangerous step I take. As I follow Declan into a cave I know hides the world’s most lethal creatures, I remember a time when I was lectured relentlessly about the monsters of our society: the crawling veil and the werewolves. Even Asher was once a monster in my eyes.
As I walk with my hand resting tightly against the glimmering sword, I know I was wrong. Red glittering eyes narrow on me from deep within the thick darkness. Jagged nails that are dirty with flesh and meat scrape along the wet wall of the cave sending a crawling shiver down my spine. Skin as creased as leather is revealed in the minimal light, the glow of the Crimson Sword casting his features into eerie blood-like colors.
I know, without a doubt, I was wrong.
A cryptic smile cracks across his shadowed face as my heart threatens to shake to life in my chest. I realize I have never met a real monster in all my life until this moment. This is what danger and death looks like.
He’s free now.
“You’ve kept me waiting, girl.”
As his white tongue sneaks out and licks frantically at the stain of blood from the side of his palm, I almost wish the light would diminish all together. I swallow hard as vomit claws up my throat, demanding me to empty the heavy bones I’ve tossed into it over the last few weeks.
Ruby eyes lock on mine, and something in me clicks involuntarily. My spine straightens, my posture becoming as perfect as possible. The humid air fills my lungs, a look of composure clings to my features.
“Do I look like a girl to you?” I ask, not a bit of fear lacing my even tone. I tilt my head at the creature lurking within the dense shadows.
Declan glances at me out of the corner of his eye, his features smoothing into a mock state of carelessness. It’s a look he holds almost daily.
“You look like a queen.” His detached but hungry words crawl down my spine as they echo around the enormous cave. “You look like someone who’s waited their whole life for something bigger than herself. I can give that to you.” His words cease into a breathy whisper that I can almost feel across my damp skin.
Atticus steps closer, his long limbs eating up the rocky floor. Even in the darkness I can easily make out the clothes the vampire wears. They’re the proper and formal clothes of my camp. They hang loosely against his thin frame. His slender wrists and fingers are revealed from beneath the long sleeve shirt. The clothes are most definitely not his own.
“What about your friends?” I ask, walking closer to him as well, searching the shadows for the other two vampires. A prickling feeling scurries across my skin as I wait for what else might be hidden deep within this cave.
“They … didn’t make it, unfortunately.” His head tilts slightly, the blazing light of the Crimson Sword at my hip illuminates his skeletal-like features. Sharp cheek bones cut into his thin and creased skin, his sunken eyes trail across my flesh, and the points of his sharp and deadly teeth are stained red as he smiles warmly at me.
He and I assess each other, leaving Declan behind as we dissolve into the night together. The rest of the world is forgotten.
With fluid confidence he steps over two discarded, bloody remains of what I can only assume are the ones thatdidn’t make it. They lie in a heap of tattered flesh, their stench clinging to the damp cave walls. His thin cracked lips part, and his breath becomes ragged as he appears to control himself. With gentle restraint, his dry knuckles graze my cheek, trailing down to skim my jawline and neck. My eyes clench closed as I lean into his touch. Power radiates off of him. Beneath the frail exterior lies something ancient, wise and … dangerous.
“Why didn’t you take me with you?” I ask in a breath.
Another heavy exhale is his only reply for a few long moments. His breath cuts through the shadows; a sharp and rattling noise.
“If I’d had the strength, I would have never let you go, darling.” He leans into me, and I bring my palms up, caressing the smooth sides of his head while staring into his sparkling eyes. “When you changed into your true form and your thoughts became closed to me, it drove me mad.” His eyes slip closed as my thumbs begin to trail across his slick cheekbones. “The hybrid will be rewarded for bringing you home. We’ll rise together, you and I. We will conquer the lower races, and soon everything will be ours once more.”
No one has ever promised me the world before. It isn’t nearly as romantic as he makes it sound.
With all the strength I possess, I begin pressing my palms together. His fleshy skull makes a small cracking sound as his eyes flash open, wrath blazing in his pupils. Sharp and dirty nails sink into my shoulders like knives digging into an entrée. He slams me into the nearest wall, the severe rocks grinding over my flesh as he drags me across the room to Declan.
“What did you do to her!” he roars, flinging me at Declan’s feet. Rough pebbles embed into my forearm as my body lands against the cold, wet rock, my palms splitting open and then healing in an instant.
Too much anger rumbles through my body, begging to come to life. I remain against the cold hard ground. My limbs protest beneath me, strung tight with adrenaline. Still, I remain an image of weakness at his feet.
“She was perfect when I left her. What did you do?” Atticus roars into Declan’s impassive face. The hybrid lowers his eyes, the seamless appearance of obedience.
From just a few yards away, a shrill whine creeps toward us. I roll toward the noise, lying on my side as a lean and beautiful wolf steps into the entrance of the cave. Its heart shaped nose sniffs curiously into the darkness. A hesitant shift in its weight takes it a step away from us, uncertainty clinging to its every move as yet another low whine escapes its snout.
“Have you been followed?” Atticus asks, taking a single step closer to Declan, snaking a frail hand around the hybrids dirty white shirt, fisting it until Declan is standing on the toes of his boots.
“No. It probably smells the bodies.”
I swallow hard at the mention of the bodies that are beginning to smell better and better the longer I remain here with my fellow vampire. We’re a pair, he and I. A mismatched pair.
