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Chapter One
Gabbywokewithagasp and gulped in a lungful of stagnant air, the sound loud to her sensitive ears. She coughed, choking on warm, coppery liquid.
Blood.
Her instinct kicked in, and she swallowed.
Hunger roared to life like a caged beast denied food for too long.
The taste and smell of blood overwhelmed her senses. Her eyes snapped open, taking in a world covered by a red haze. A dark shadow loomed over her, but she didn’t care.
Only one thing mattered.
Blood. Hunger.
Her body screamed for the life-giving fluid, the primitive need of the vampire overriding everything else. With a bestial snarl, her fangs lengthened. She latched onto the food source hanging above her. Her greedy gulps were the only sound in the tomb-like silence. The liquid left a burning path inside her as her starving cells absorbed the nutrients. With a mindless ferocity, she gorged herself on it…
Until suddenly, someone snatched it away.
“Enough!” A part of her recognized the deep masculine voice giving the command, but she was still very much under the control of the savage animal that was her very nature.
“More!” Hissing, she bared her teeth at the one who dared to take away her food. Her voice was fiendish from disuse. She leaped up from her lying position and crouched on all fours, ready to lunge at the shadow obscured by the red haze.
When another prey was shoved before her, the hungry vampire within her latched onto the faint sound of heartbeat and the flow of blood. Fresh food. A demonic smile twisted across her lips as she sank her fangs deep into the prey’s neck and sucked with avarice, intent on satiating her gnawing hunger.
Again, the human was jerked out of her grasp, but another replaced it instantly.
Time lost meaning while she fed, until gradually, her vicious thirst abated and the red haze over her vision dissipated, and rationality returned.
Gabby slowed down, aware of the human dying in her arms, the weak heartbeat a stark contrast to her strong one. Before she could drain the human’s life, she pulled away, fighting the temptation.
She glanced up, her eyes locking on the beautiful male vampire facing her.
Thick brows over gray eyes the color of a summer storm. Dark, wavy brown hair framing a handsome face that looked to be in the late thirties.
She knew him.
“Nikolas…”
Her protector. Friend. Teacher.
The insatiable thirst had waned enough for her to think, to remember, though the scent of blood continued to call to her like a siren’s song. She was in a wide cave, its walls made of rough stone. The only light came from a strange looking device at the end of her bed. The sheets, once white and brand new, were tattered with age and caked in dirt.
Three humans, unconscious, lay at the edge of the bed. Their clothing was odd. One was a female, yet she wore what resembled tight trousers that showed her ankles.
The need to feed roared when she saw the dried blood on their throat. Gabby swallowed and jerked her gaze away, down to her hand, which was bony and fragile. Her veins stood out in sharp contrast to her colorless, wrinkled skin. While she had regained her rationality, her physical strength had yet to recover.
She was weak despite the amount of blood she’d consumed. Why? Her brows furrowed as her mind whirled. This cave was familiar, too.
Then she remembered.
She’d gone aground. For her kind, it was the sleep of the dead. Her body had shut down completely. No more food. No more blood flowing. No more strength. If humans had come upon her, they’d think her long gone. She hadn’t dreamed or thought or felt.
Her sleep had been one of darkness and emptiness and peace.
Until now.
“Why have you awakened me?” Was that her voice, croaky, papery, and thin like a child’s? Nothing like the demanding tone she’d meant for it to be.
