Page 24 of Prey

No. I said you sit and feed again.

The anger intensified and I rounded back, slamming my shoulder into a young vampire, sending him falling backward. Slaves and vampires of all status parted in my path and I zeroed in on the members who watched. They didn’t change expressions or appear fazed by the wrath I so clearly wanted to cause. But they wouldn’t. They were smart, keeping their thoughts so enclosed within, no one but maybe Julius would ever hear them.

I pulled out the chair at the end, taking my seat. All nine members were present and seated accordingly, waiting for me—the tenth.

Julius rested in a wing-backed, red, velvet chair at the head of the table. Next to him, on both sides, were Bufar and Anastasia, next to them and working down, Natalia and Valencia, Beatrice and Demetrius, John and Zachariah…and at the very end, facing Julius…me, the newest member of le Cercle.

“Feed.” Julius may have been referring to everyone, but his eyes stayed on me. Just like they were meant to. It was the reason the newest member always sat his opposite. My every move was to be watched and it left my skin crawling.

I looked down at the two women who lay nude on the table, the soles of their feet connecting as their heads rested in front at me and Julius. We all had our feeding locations. Mine being the best. A reward for making in into the elite group. It would last until one of us got killed or were replaced. Then we’d move up one spot until only the last was left with new members. The cycle would be never ending, just like it had been for thousands of years.

My hand buried in the brunette’s long hair and I tried with everything I had not to imagine Tessa. I failed.

Visions exploded before my eyes and I was suddenly in the hotel room where she and Hunter were staying. I was there…yet, I wasn’t. Everything was in black and white, like an old photograph. Tessa sobbed heavily, her arms tightly around Hunter’s neck while he cradled and rocked her. His stare stayed transfixed straight ahead. It said he was ready to kill me for what I was doing to her. And suddenly, I knew his mere threats weren’t going to be enough to sate the rage he harbored inside. He was really going to try to kill me, just like I had every intention of killing him.

The black and white room warped, twisting and morphing before leaving me off-balanced in the blur of commotion. A street appeared and I was standing in the middle, somewhere downtown, while chaos and fighting produced blood splatter at every angle. Puddles formed as skin was shredded. Vampires versus humans. And it was real. I could feel it deep within my bones and it sent off a slow, deep panic. This was bound to happen at some point, but I could feel the shift and it wasn’t in our favor.

Movement showed through the thick cluster of people. It was a man. He was tall and wore a black hoodie. His face was painted evilly, like someone long dead. The rotting flesh appeared as black painted holes and he had lines over and below his lips. The demented skeleton snarled with the predatory moves he made. Dark circles under his eyes made the shadows play around his face even more and all I could do was stare, warily. The threat was buried deep within his eyes as he stalked toward me. No amount of face paint could disguise the depraved person who came to meet me head on. Hunter. He wasn’t the person he was now. The gone man in love was now replaced with a gone man set for death or revenge. Whatever came first. From the expression he was giving me, he wasn’t planning on the death part.

Colors swirled around me again and I felt like my insides were dropped hard from some faraway place. The jolt left me feeling a second of hollowness within. It jarred me to the core, leaving me empty for the first time in my life. Sweat poured from my skin as I inhaled deeply and shot to my feet. Heads spun my way, but only one knew what I saw or what happened. He knew, because he was responsible for it. Only he’d have that sort of power.

I swallowed hard, still trying to catch my breath, even though I didn’t necessarily have to breathe. My feet stumbled back and I pushed my damp hair from my face. I couldn’t stay here. Not right now.

I have to go. The mantra repeated, but I meant it for only one—the man whose pale blue eyes still held mine. Seconds went by before his hand gestured a dismissal. I turned, rushing for the stairs. I wasn’t sure where I was going or what I was even doing. All I knew was I had to get out.

Whispering hummed around me as I headed past the shops. They knew something was wrong. That I was Julius’s focus at the moment. I couldn’t stand it. I’d done so well to stay out of the attention of the gossiping droves of our population. Now, I’d be the fucking focal point. And it wouldn’t even be good gossip. Tessa. This was her fault.

My feet pounded up the stairs, taking three at a time. The moment my hand connected with the door, it slammed open at my force. I didn’t say a word as I broke through the front door and scaled the large, iron gate. The need to run sent me taking off at a speed I hadn’t had to use in as long as I could remember. Where I was going, I didn’t have a clue, but my feet seemed to know which direction to take me in. I ran, and ran, letting my mind return to the one person who might have ruined everything. Fuck, she’d ruined me. Even now, I could feel myself aching for her smell. I felt homesick for a place I barely even knew. Her. Why was this happening?

“Marko?”

I slowed, feeling my heart race. I hadn’t been reading her thoughts, only thinking of her, and now she was calling out to me. My legs slowed and I breathed in deeply, looking down the road at her house. Homesick…God, was I really here? I hadn’t planned it, yet I knew where I was going to.

“Tessa,” I answered…waiting.

“I was just seeing if you were still there.”

The lights were already out on most of the houses, and I frowned as I bounded up her front steps. My eyes closed and I grabbed the knob, willing it to unlock. The door swung open at my push and I shut it behind me. Even inches inside, I could smell her. A calmness slid over me and I headed for her room.

“I’m here.” God, I was here. And she wasn’t. “You’re in so much trouble. You know that, right?”

Silence, even in her mind.

A deep exhale left me as I lowered to her bed. Out of all the places to go to, I’d come here. Damn, I needed help. Advice, but from who? I had no friends. No one I could trust. Even in the vampire world, everyone looked out for themselves. No one cared about the problems of other’s. They had their own, and if you showed weakness, they’d set out to destroy you even faster. I’d lived the life for so long, it was all I knew.

“Marko?”

“Yes, Tessa?”

The softness was in my words. I was mentally exhausted after that vision. I wanted to kill her almost as much as I teased the idea of loving her. Love, such a ridiculous word. But here, sitting on her bed, trying not to think about what I’d seen and how I wanted to keep her, I could almost make myself believe I’d been somehow swept away by the foolish emotion. If I weren’t a realist and knew I’d just turned into an obsessive stalker fixated on good blood, I’d do something stupid like bring her home with me to stay.

“Why show me that girl? Do you think I don’t know what I face?”

“Being reminded isn’t a bad thing.”

“It was wrong and you know it.”

I kept silent, trying to find the words to deny it. “It wasn’t wrong at all. It was reality. I felt how upset you were and it didn’t bother me in the least, mon chaton. Sure, you feared for the girl, but let’s get down to the ugly truth. Even if I was your Master and you were my blood slave, that doesn’t mean I’d solely feed from you. Even if you had me, you’d never truly have me. Besides, I don’t want you that way. You’d be much better suited for a night to remember than anything long-term.”

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