Anger coiled within Melanie as, beside her,Lucy stiffened. They’d both been too dazed to put up muchresistance before, but now, resentment seethed inside her. A partof her almost believed her father had somehow turned Kyle into avampire to force her back here, but that was impossible.
Even if he had somehow managed to turn Kyleinto a vampire, there was no way he could have controlled him ormade him act as normal as he had these past weeks. Besides, herfather wasn’t in Boston when she first met Kyle, or at least shedidn’t think he was.
She realized everything she’d been so certainof before today was in question or gone. Right now, she wouldn’ttrust someone telling her the sky was blue. She’d have to see itfor herself, and she’d probably still have her doubts.
How was Kyle so normal? Why hadn’t he triedto kill her? Vampires were mindless creatures that only lived tokill and destroy. They didn’t have jobs, rent apartments, hang outwith people, or date.
She almost laughed out loud at the idea of adating vampire. It sounded like a bad romantic comedy. She couldsee the tag line…A love story with bloodor maybeA lovestory with a fangy twist.
Either way, it would suck and not just onveins.
And what about his siblings?
She’d been so numb throughout the ride thatshe hadn’t thought about Cassidy and Julian. The reminder of themcaused her breath to suck in. How was it possible for Kyle to havesiblings? How was any of this possible?
She yearned to talk to him and ask him thesethings, but she also didn’t want to see him. He’d lied to her, hewas a monster, and she’d fallen in love with him.
Was it all a lie?
An invisible hand squeezed her heart. She’dfallen for him, his last words to her were I love you, and she hadno idea who he was.
She refused to shed the tears burning hereyes as doors opened and closed. Now that they weren’t entombed inthe back of the van, noise flooded her ears again. Raised voicesissued commands people scrambled to obey.
“Let’s go,” her father said.
Melanie preferred to stay inside the vehicle,but she didn’t have a choice. She and Lucy pulled away from eachother and climbed out of the van. The gravel crunched beneath herfeet when she set them on the ground and rose.
She hadn’t realized how cramped she was untilher legs protested the movement. Stretching her legs out, sheshifted from foot to foot while staring at the twelve-foot-high,chain-link fence surrounding the facility.
Multiple rows of barbed wire coiled above thefence. If anything tried to climb over the top, the wire wouldslice them to shreds. There was no getting away from the facilityonce the gate was closed.
The click of the gate closing was as loud asa gunshot in the tranquil night. Her shoulders slumped beneath theweight of hopelessness encasing her.
The one-story, gray, concrete building of thefacility was completely unassuming on the outside. Tinted windowsmade it impossible to see inside, but she felt eyes staring out atthem.
From years of experience, she knew thebuilding concealed more than it revealed, like the four storieshidden beneath the earth. The bottom floor housed the othervampires her father and his followers had taken down over theyears.
It had cost a small fortune to build and runthis place—a fortune that came from her mother’s trust fund, herlife insurance policy, and the countless scams her father ran atany given time.
She wouldn’t be astonished to discover he wassomehow a Nigerian prince. He ran credit card scams, conned peopleout of their money, and fleeced anyone he brought into his fold. Hewas a cult leader without a religion but with all the loyalty ofthose fanatics.
The doors of the van behind her opened.Melanie felt like someone socked her in the gut when they carriedKyle like a pig to the roast toward the building.
Lucy stepped toward him before stopping. Withhis hands and ankles bound behind his back, Kyle’s head hung limplyas they headed toward the double doors of the facility. They slidopen with a whoosh, and the men disappeared inside before the doorsclosed again.
“Where are you taking him?” Lucy asked.
“He’ll be housed with the others,” her fatherreplied.
The doors of another van opened, and anothervamp was carried inside.
“And what about us?” she asked.
“We must make sureyou’renot underthe control of the vampire,” her father said.
Melanie recoiled from him. “That is not…. No.That’s not possible. What are youtalkingabout?”
She was a sputtering, confused, rattled mess,but her father remained stoic as he stared down his nose ather.
