Page 1 of Call of the Blood

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CHAPTER ONE

MARCH 18TH, 2022

Istood quietly at the riverside, smiling as a cool nighttime breeze washed over my face. Around me, people went about their night on River Street, in and out of bars, laughing and spending time with their loved ones. I smiled because I got to be with them. They didn’t know me, and I would never know them, but that didn’t matter.

A year and a half ago, I would have been anxious. Too many people in a place I would never find myself. Bar hopping on a Friday night as a lifelong socially anxious introvert was torture, not a good time.

In recent months, though, I found standing in the bustling energy was peaceful in its own way. Ignored by the crowds, and I ignored them.

A year and a half had changed so much about me.

I was told this could happen when someone went from human to vampire, but I hadn’t guessed how much it would change me or what that change would really give me. Becoming a vampire gave me the thing that made standing here so comfortable, something I had struggled to find for my entire life as a human.

Confidence.

Eighteen months ago, I was little human Everly Abbott who could barely make eye contact, and I hated crowds. I could be bumped into because I was in someone’s way. Now, when someone brushed me in the crowd, the anxiety didn’t come. I smiled politely, but didn’t move, no matter how big the passerby was compared to me. At only five feet four inches, most were taller than me by a long shot. But I wasn’t bothered anymore.

I wasn’t bothered by a lot of things anymore. A drunk girl stumbled out of a bar, her friends holding on to her. They were laughing as she slipped and skinned a knee. The smell of blood made my throat itch, but the urge was light. I fed at the beginning of the night, and my self-control was mastered.

I chuckled and leaned toward the dark, where I knew my shadow was hiding.

“Want to bet she doesn’t remember how that happened in the morning?” I asked.

To anyone paying attention, I had said that to an empty space. It took a moment for my shadow to creep into the light where he was more visible.

“I could make sure she doesn’t."

Alexius was stunning. He always was. His beautiful, dark eyes caught the yellow glow of the streetlight and deepened to an earthy, rich brown. Or better, molten dark chocolate. He’d let his hair grow back out to shoulder length, wavy and untamed, but gave off a rugged air to his otherwise classically styled look. His perfectly trained body was beneath an attractive business casual look—black button-down tucked into black pants, with black leather loafers. And the coat. The tailored thigh-length trench coat he’d left open in the front showed off the button-down shirt that had the top three buttons left undone.

I wanted to peel that coat off him and revel in the body that was underneath.

Not that I ever can… He’s my boss. I can’t keep forgetting that. He’s my boss. He’s my boss.

I repeated those words to myself several times as he walked so achingly slow to my side and stopped, looking at the drunk girls as well.

I quickly shook my head.

“No, no, that’s not necessary. Plus, with a group of girlfriends like that, they won’t let you near her. You’d have to hypnotize the whole group. It would get weird. You could be revealed as a weirdo.”

I wasn’t wrong. He and I had discussed this at length when to use some of the most powerful vampire techniques, especially in the mental blood magic that kept vampires secret when they had to feed on those not in on the big secret of the supernatural.

The reality was, I didn’t want to see him sinking his fangs into a woman, knowing all too well what those fangs could do. How he could make that feel.

“Yes… beyond that, River Street is not the place for anything of the sort. Do you remember why?”

“It’s too popular and too public. Plus, here in Savannah, there’s the coven,” I said softly. “Are we going to meet them later tonight? Is that why you followed me out here when I wanted to get out and stretch my legs?”

“Not tonight, but soon. I kept you hidden too long… Finally had to tell them about you after the incident in New York. Now that I’m letting you roam the city, they need to actually meet you.”

“I still can’t believe you just never brought them up until recently.” I started walking slowly, my thoughts wandering back. I knew that he was the only vampire in the city. I had known there were no werewolves from any packs. I was nearly certain there weren’t any werecats. And fae? I never caught the smell of them, even if they were around.

An extensive, powerful coven of witches, though. That was quite the thing to just never bring up.

“It wasn’t pertinent to your training or adapting to the life you lead now. I shouldn’t have taken you places like Alaska or to Isaiah’s place.” Alexius followed, only a step behind me. My shadow.

“You never mentioned it to Isaiah. You never even gave me a hint. No one ever brings it up.”