SERENITY

My body was still buzzing from the contact of his mouth. My heart felt like it was cracking, and I had no idea why. What I did know?

I needed some sort of blood if I was going to get my energy up. Normally, I had my small apartment stocked for emergencies.

Well, this was an emergency.

A bird chirped outside my window.

I shuddered. Gross.

The idea of killing a tiny innocent bird made me want to puke. I was officially the worst vampire in existence. I couldn’t even kill right. In fact, I’d never killed before. Most of my kind at least enjoyed the hunt, but I hated it. I hated the fear I saw in creatures’ eyes.

Besides, it was not like we needed to hunt. It was more of a hobby for people now that modern technology made it easy for us to take blood however we needed it.

We survived off blood and food — both helped nourish. Where food kept our bodies running, blood kept us young and viciously strong. It was like taking a drug that promised perfect vision, hearing, and all of the above.

The vampires that had died out were the ones that had wanted a real life with humans. There wasn’t a timetable of death for our kind; we were immortal. But the problem with introducing humans as mates?

It caused vampires to want to die.

Why exist outside of the family you helped create?

My own parents were no longer alive, choosing to die together rather than live another hundred years.

They had left me enough money to live comfortably.

But part of me felt… angry.

And a huge part of me believed I hadn’t been enough for them to stay, that my love for my parents wasn’t even a flicker of the love they had held for each other.

I hated the whole immortal code.

The mating process meant you weren’t yourself anymore but part of something bigger. I didn’t understand how people could say that mating was so great and wonderful when it made you forget about your own child.

Or abandon them.

It had been my job to plan their funeral. They’d made a big deal about it. Mom had gotten dressed up. Dad had worn a tux.

And I’d had to sit there and watch them wither away. I had even offered my veins, but they’d politely declined. And then they were gone.

Dust.

I swallowed past the lump in my throat as a vision of them holding hands fell to the forefront of my mind. The smile on their lips… The way they’d died together looking at one another…

Rather than at me.

Their only daughter.

I shivered and shoved open the window.

It wasn’t good blood. But it would do.

I locked eyes with the bird and beckoned it. “Come.”

It flew to the windowsill and looked up at me. It was pretty with golden-flecked eyes and tiny little feet.

I choked back a sob.

What if it has a family? What if I am taking it from its parents? What kind of monster am I?

“Be free, little bird.” I shoved it away.

See? Worst vampire ever created.

“You let it go,” a gruff voice said behind me.

Clearly, I lacked blood if a wolf could sneak up on me. I was in a pitiful state; maybe I should die too.

Like my parents.

What else did I have to live for?

Nothing.

I was all alone in the world in a job I hated and apparently a target for no reason other than I was probably going crazy.

Stupid dreams.

I shrugged. “I wasn’t hungry.”

His look said he didn’t believe me, and when my gaze fell to the steak, I almost jerked the plate out of his hands and bit into it without using the fork.

“Told you.” He smirked knowingly. “Sit down, and I’ll cut it up.”

He was true to his word. The big bad scary wolf literally cut up the steak into tiny bite-sized pieces as if I didn’t have a mouth full of fangs ready to punish the meat into submission.

He finished then stabbed the fork into the meat and held it out to me. “Small bites. Don’t rush it. I don’t want you getting sick.”

So now he cared?

With a shaky hand, I took the fork and then shoved the meat into my mouth. I groaned and closed my eyes. When I opened them, he was watching me with such intensity I felt embarrassed. “Sorry, it’s been a while.”

“Since you’ve eaten?”

“Since I’ve had good meat,” I admitted. “Nobody knows how to cook it right. I went vegan years ago.”

“A shame.” He licked his lips as his body seemed to grow before my eyes. Maybe it was because he was sitting so close to me, but something about him looked different, altered, and very other-worldly. I hadn’t met many werewolves; all the races typically kept to themselves.

The immortal council made sure that fights were at a minimum.

And since I was literally in their main house under their protection, I could only assume that this wolf was the Wolf, the one who kept the packs in line.

Demons, wolves, vampires, angels — it was a gas, our fun little immortal world.

Word on the street had been that the demons were somehow finding their souls. That there was an elf goddess who’d set them free.

It seemed like a bunch of crap until I’d seen a blue-eyed demon at a bar last week who’d actually waved at me and then kissed a human right on the mouth without killing her.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t realize I’d finished the entire steak.

I patted my stomach. “Thank you. I was starving.”

“Your stomach was loud. Believe me, the entire house was aware of your pathetic state. Vampires need food just as much as they need blood. Meat helps repair red blood cells and keeps your body running at its best. Pair that with your daily doses of blood, and you should be good to leave by the end of the week.”

I gulped.

I want to leave, right?

Why did the idea of going away make my chest ache?

He took the plate from my hands and stood. “I’ll be back to check on you. Go sleep.”

And that was it. The door clicked shut behind me. The bird returned to my window, and I was left wondering if I would always be in this state.

Alone.

Wishing for more than I had.

And cursing myself for wondering if it would have been an awful thing had they just left me to die.