Death—he wasn’t as attractive as James. There were no simple, beautiful movements, no flirtatious ways, or cool confidence—just the claws and fangs of a crazed beast with the red eyes of the end.
One minute, I was relaxed and aroused, running my fingers over the most beautiful death I had ever seen and feeling the cool hardness of his cheek as I awaited my first kiss. And the next minute, I was facing an actual cold-hearted killer.
When I turned and saw the strange vampire staring back at me from the bedroom door, I silently wished it was James who was about to kill me. Something told me that he’d be quicker about it—as if he still had some human sympathy from his past. There wouldn’t have been pain if James had been my attacker.
It was strange to think good things about a monster. I had only been around him a few days, and already I was seeing the differences in him from the other vampires I’d had the misfortune to meet in my life.
He was the most human vampire I had ever met.
That was my final thought before the other hungry leech lunged toward me. He was so fast I didn’t see him until he was on top of me. His hard, icy body dug into mine as his weight pressed into me.
I landed hard on my back against a white shag rug. His jagged nails dug into my forearms before he shredded through my skin as if it was paper. I saw bits of my own bone as he ripped into me. The pain was like nothing I had ever felt. My arms burned as if he’d caught them on fire.
I couldn’t scream.
The noise was impossible.
He hissed down into my face like a snake before striking. Spit and foaming venom dripped from his mouth and onto my cheeks. Turning my face away, I focused my gaze on my blood. The sticky red fluid was the reason my life had been hell from the start, and at that moment, I hated it.
The contrast between my bright red blood splatter against the white rug was beautiful, though. It was abstract art that interpreted the life I had led. If I looked closely enough, I could see images of the family who had gone before me and broken promises of a future I would never know.
Still, I cursed its existence—as I cursed my own existence.
The burn on my arms lessened as numbness set in. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew the numbness was worse than the pain.
It meant the end.
It meant there would never be a pain again.
That could be a good thing or a bad thing. It really depended on how you looked at it.
I felt the puncture of fire on the side of my neck, and then there was nothing. Time stopped, and silence filled the space around me. I looked past the shoulder of the vampire who was feeding on me and saw James’s eyes.
They were the same glowing red of my attacker. His hunger obvious, and his mouth set in an evil snarl. The man who had been so gentlemanly and polite just moments before was gone, and only the animal remained.
I should have known better.
No matter how human he seemed, James was still a vampire—he was still a wild beast.
I was losing consciousness as my breath and blood were viciously sucked from my body. The last thing I saw before the blackness took me away was James. He was close as his face floated above mine.
Were they taking turns?
Was he going to finish me off?
His eyes looked sad, but still, what I could only assume was my blood dripped from his mouth. I should have known he’d be the death of me. It was nothing less than what I deserved for wanting to kiss the enemy.
I deserved this and more for thinking of allowing him to taste me—for wishing I could give him a part of me that was meant for only me—for wanting him to feel my life force on his tongue and my body on his.
The pictures in the magazine from his treasure room had sent my body on a whirlwind of feelings and desires, and even though I knew it was wrong, I couldn’t help feeling like I wanted those things with him.
A strange pain climbed under my ribcage. It was unnatural and unlike anything I had ever felt before. I couldn’t decide if it was death or the heartbreak of knowing James was helping the wild vampire end my life.
Betrayal tasted bitter on my tongue on my way out. And even though my end was seconds away, I knew at that moment; it was indeed heartbreak I was feeling.
I had seen bits of my history in his treasure room. I had been almost kissed, and I had felt the sting of heartbreak before meeting my end. Thanks to the vampire who was killing me, I’d had a chance to live a little. Thanks to a vampire who was killing me, I had almost known what it felt like to care about another person who wasn’t my family.
Too bad he didn’t care enough about me, too.