The hunger was insatiable.
A few vampires tried to escape the mansion and flee my wrath. Their defiance enraged Charles. Refusing to admit any weakness, he ordered his people to remain.
Ordered them to kill me.
Hunting them became almost like killing fish in a barrel.
Whispers of a phantom circled the mansion, a beast claiming vengeance for the many wrongs they’d committed. I managed to slaughter over half the family, skilled warriors and sadists with a taste for pain, before they caught sight of me.
Charles was both furious and gleeful.
He tried to capture me, but I wasn’t foolish enough to fall for his tricks. I’d been studying him up close for weeks, taking notes of his foibles and weaknesses. The vampire virus helped me push past my human frailties until I felt more beast than human.
A predator always in search of her next prey in order to appease the insatiable hunger.
When the traps didn’t work, he tried to use his voice to command me. As the master of the Dafoe family, he should have been able to control anyone with his blood. Unfortunately, there was a fatal flaw in his plan—none of the assholes ever gave me their blood to help ease my transition.
I’m essentially without a sire, if that’s possible.
I don’t know vampire lore, and I don’t give a fuck about their laws.
Only one thing mattered to me—that they all die.
It’s been over a week since my last kill, since I last fed, and my hunger is gnawing at my bones, the need slowly driving me insane. When I thought I had killed the last of the fuckers, I retreated to the pit to die. I felt myself weakening, my senses growing dull as sleep tugged at me. While most people would fight to survive, I know better.
This isn’t living.
As light footsteps approach, my mouth waters, and my stomach cramps in a silent demand for food.
So I drag myself across the sea of dead corpses, taking pleasure when I notice there are almost as many vampires now as humans. Vampires don’t decay the same way as humans. Some of the younger vampires are gooey, like their flesh is slowly melting off them into puddles. The older ones seem to flake more than turn to sludge.
A beam of light sweeps across the opening of the pit, and I drop, burrowing within the pile of corpses, and lie in wait.
A male curses violently, and I startle when I hear a second voice join the first, completely having missed the additional intruder. They argue for a second, then a man drops through the hole without warning.
His light sweeps across the pile of corpses, and I slowly creep forward…only to freeze when the scent of moist earth, dark woods, and danger reaches me.
Not a vampire.
My brain stutters over the information, almost like it doesn’t know how to process the news. I slowly push to my feet, ignoring the way my hollow stomach protests the movement, the way my throat burns with hunger.
When he turns toward me, the beam of his light passes over me for a second. A heartbeat passes, then the light bobs wildly before it jerks back and settles fully on my face. I flinch at the bright light, squinting to stop the sharp stab of pain that threatens to crack open my skull. I take a step toward him, stumbling over my own feet, and the tears I’ve repressed since I woke up in this never-ending nightmare slowly streak down my face.
My hell is so close to being over that I feel dizzy.
“Please.” I reach toward him, then flinch at the sight of my blood caked fingers. I drop my arm and swallow hard, not sure I know how to interact with others now that I’m a monster. My hands curl into fists, and I don’t even feel the sharp, dagger-like black claws slicing into my palms. “Help me.”
When he says nothing, I take another step toward him, my voice nothing more than a rasp when I speak. “I beg of you, if you have any decency, you will do me the mercy of killing me.”
ChapterFour
TOBIAS
The sour stench of death clogs my senses, and my beast grumbles with displeasure. While I don’t give a shit about vampires, the wrongness in the house puts my wolf on edge.
What the fuck happened here?
When I nearly stumble into the pit of corpses, I curse, then jerk Milo back from the edge before he can tumble into the gaping hole in the floor. If the kid falls or even stubs his toe, Stanton will have my hide. “Stay here, I’ll investigate.”
