It was three weeks since I’d moved to Port Isabel. I surveyed the unpacked boxes lining one wall of my sparkly new apartment. They were already gathering dust from sitting there untouched.

So few possessions. How had I reached this age with so little to show for it?

The gleaming kitchen taunted me with its appliances, my gaunt face reflecting back at me from various angles, and the cooker spotless due to my inability to eat. No matter what I tried, it was all cardboard in my mouth.

I spent the weeks trudging from one task to the next, without any memory of what happened in between. Swathes of time lost to an empty, aching spiral.

He was nowhere. Not in the bars, not waiting for me outside my door, not watching from afar. Not trying to call me. No messages pleading for the chance to explain. He was simply gone.

And yet he was everywhere, invading my mind and heart as if he owned them for himself. Occupying my dreams and nightmares. Permeating every thought I had throughout the day.

I’d become so accustomed to him following me, always being there. Even when I couldn’t see him, I could feel him, and it was strangely comforting. But he wasn’t there now, and I was empty.

I forged on, ignoring it all. I would rise above it. Stick to the plan.

* * *

The bars on Port Isabel were boring. I thought I’d been sick of the spring break frenzy, but it slowly dawned on me over these weeks that I missed it. The air charged with sex, dreams, youthful hedonism. Skin slick with desire and smeared with lust. I missed the sea of sweaty, writhing bodies.

Mostly I missed the way his gaze would track me through those crowds. No matter how many people stood between us, his presence was always like a beacon, calling out to me. He could find me no matter where I was with those swirling, honeyed eyes.

The island would buzz and thrum around us, and he would freeze it. The buzzing in my ears and the frantic racing of my heart would bring me to the point of explosion, then he’d kiss me… and it would become still, silent. There was nothing but him. No need greater than that of him.

I splashed my face with cold water and stared at myself in the restroom mirror. After searching for a while and not really coming up with any answers, just the usual circling of useless thoughts — Who are you? What are you doing here? You should be on the island… you should never go back to the island… you need him… you are stronger, you stand alone — I sighed and made my way back out.

Rounding the corner and lost in my own tormenting inner dialogue, I bumped into someone.

“Excuse me,” I mumbled, expecting them to move aside. When they didn’t I looked up to find Alex in my way.

“Howdy, darlin’,” he drawled, arms folded across his broad chest, leaning lazily against the door frame, filling the space.

“What do you want? Come to gloat again about stealing my bike? Or maybe to boast about the people you get away with killing? Are you going to wipe my mind, too?” I hissed.

“A little cranky, are we?” he grinned. “Trouble in paradise?”

“What paradise? Turns out vampires are overrated pricks. Who knew, huh? How could the films get it so wrong?”

A soft chuckle, “Oh, darlin’, you have no idea. You just met the wrong brother first.”

“Get out of my way,” I levelled my gaze on his, my heart racing so fast that I thought maybe the whole world could hear it.

“You can have your bike back anytime you want, you know. You just have to come get it.”

As if Zac would ever entertain that idea. What an ass.

“Does he own you? Make your decisions?” he asked, his face a mask of amused serenity.

“If he did, I wouldn’t be here fraternising with the enemy.”

He narrowed his eyes at that. “This encounter is on me. You don’t get to claim the victory point in your own bank against him.”

I clicked my tongue and moved forward, trying to get past. As my hand pressed into his chest it hit me – his power surrounded my body, cocooning me in raw energy, dark and intoxicating. I could taste it. His grin widened as I stepped back, clutching my hand to my throat.

“Why don’t we go for a drink, since we’re fraternising?” he smiled, bright and carefree. “Don’t worry, I can protect you from danger better than those pathetic creatures out there.”

“What? Who?” I stumbled.

“Your guards. Leon and another one, whose name I forget.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh,” he said, tugging on his bottom lip. “You didn’t realise? They’ve been watching your every movement for weeks. Slipping into their feeble minds to distract them today was as easy as breathing. But the question is, are they here to protect you, in which case they’ve failed… or are they here to stop you escaping?”

Bastard. Zac flicked me off with that bitch vampire in front of everyone and then he didn’t even have the decency to come and find me, to at least try and explain… instead he had his minions follow me around?

“I already escaped.” I forced a smile. “We’re not together. I moved off the island.”

“Moving five miles away and spending every minute thinking about us is hardly escaping, darlin’.” He cast greedy glances up and down my body until his gaze settled on my lips. At least it wasn’t my neck.

“You think that’s all we want?” He shrugged away from the doorframe and narrowed the gap between us. I moved back and tried to draw my own gaze away from his lips but found his mesmerizing eyes instead, which made things worse. The most shocking electric blue, sinister, but with a sparkle of something else that I couldn’t place. They held me glued to the spot. I found myself wanting to reach out to him, but my scalp prickled with danger.

“Are you afraid of me?” he asked, slowly, quietly, his gaze deliberately wandering down my body again as he inched ever closer. His hand absently rubbed at his groin, his cock clearly straining hard into his jeans.

“Sorry to disappoint, but my fear radar doesn’t work like it does on normal people. I like being afraid.”

“Indeed you do,” he drawled. “Do you love how alive it makes you feel? Or do you just crave the feeling of submission?”

I didn’t move back this time, I stood frozen to the spot and he let out a satisfied grin. My hand went to my pocket and I fiddled with my mother’s silver necklace. I’d pulled it from my underwear draw weeks ago and taken to carrying it around with me. I couldn’t bring myself to wear it. Seeing it in the mirror, feeling it against my skin, brought back too many memories of her, but I carried it around nonetheless.

I scoffed at myself, at the notion that a tiny scrap of silver like the one clutched in my fingers could protect me from a vampire beast.

“I have no intention of killing you, Jess. It’s the last thing on my mind. Well, not the last thing, but it’s not at the front, and that should mean a lot to you.”

My heart rattled like crazy, banging against my chest with deafening beats. Where were all the goddamn pissheads when you actually needed them? If I’d been on the island, someone would have needed to relieve themselves by now and broken this meeting on their way through.

“I’m not as bad as he makes me out to be, you know. He thinks he’s so pure, but he’s still drinking blood. We’re the same really,” he shrugged, still rubbing at himself, still so close that I could feel his power sliding across my skin, making the hairs stand up.

I gave him an, ‘Oh please, you must be kidding’ frown, and he shrugged again.

“So I’m a little unruly. Lucky for me you like the bad boys. He can be so dull at times, don’t you think? So… controlled.” He said the word like it left a bad taste in his mouth. “I’d have thought an adrenalin junkie like you would crave a little more excitement?”

“He’s a vampire. Zac could be sitting in dirty jockies, picking his nose, and just being in the same room would still excite me.”

He let out a laugh so deep and loud that I nearly pissed my pants in shock.

“I’ll bear that in mind for when we’re together. No need to make an effort, the lady ain’t fussy,” his drawling tone seeped through the flimsy barrier that I was trying to hold in place.

He was only centimetres away. His hands went to the wall either side of my head, pinning me in place. He took a long sniff near my neck and hissed in my ear like a damn snake. I tingled from my head to my toes.

“I know he can’t fuck you,” he said matter-of-factly, a hand suddenly on the inside of my thigh, trailing its way upwards. “Your scent, your aura, not to mention that sassy mouth and cravings for danger… those are my reasons for wanting you. His run far deeper, and deadlier.”

“Is that right?” I asked, my voice an octave higher than I’d have liked.

“Ask him about sanguine mating. Fortunately I don’t have that problem. I can take you all the way and then some. I’ll bang your pussy until you’re begging me to stop, pounding you into submission…” His hand had skirted around my thigh, brushing lightly in between my legs, before settling firmly on my hip.

Shooting sparks of desire careened off around my body. There was no reply to what he had said. I stood like a complete moron, just gawking open-mouthed at him, my lips flapping up and down like a fish, and wondering how bad it was that I felt my underwear sticking to me as I squirmed.

“Or…” he continued. “There’s always the other option. It must have occurred to you that you could be like us?

His words ran up and down my spine. No, it hadn’t occurred to me. Well, maybe briefly but I’d soon shoved it aside. Bile rose in my throat, not because I was disgusted by the idea, but because it suddenly seemed like a great one and I was a horrible person for thinking it. Why hadn’t I thought more about it before? If I was like them, then Zac could be with me without needing to be so guarded.

“I know why you’re doing this.” I stared him down, breathing into his face as his hand crept towards my tits. I noticed that I wasn’t pushing him away, and I still didn’t…

“You do, huh? Go ahead, enlighten me. Sometimes I have no clue.”

“You’re jealous.”

His hand stilled. “Very astute. I’m afraid it runs a little deeper and more complicated than that though. There’s more to Zachariah than meets the eye. He has secrets and they put you in more danger than I do.”

He retreated back to lean in the doorway again. “Anyway, there’s some food for thought. Meanwhile, your little guards are starting to fight back against me in their heads. I guess it’s time for you to go after all.”

I waited for him to move, but he didn’t.

“Well, excuse me, then,” I urged.

He shrugged slightly away from the door, just enough that I would have to squeeze past him, too closely, touching him. He shuddered and gasped sharply as I brushed through. I was sure he’d done it deliberately, it was too theatrical. Asshole.

He grabbed hold of my arm and it paralysed me like a kitten caught by the scruff of its neck.

“If you ever need me for anything, if you need my help, you call for me,” he said urgently.

“Get over yourself,” I said, giving him my best derisive look. I have no idea where the guts came from to say it because his face had gone serious during his last words and scared isn’t even the word for what I was.

He usually looked all happy and playful, but right then he appeared more like a fucking hell hound.

He was every kind of wrong. A cocktail of fucked-up-ness. Defcon 1 on the dangerous, badass guy scale. The more carefree he seemed, the more sinister it made him. Psychopath.

Another thrill ran through me, because fear doesn’t slap me around the way it does most people. I stomp all over its ass and generally go looking for more.

His dazzling smile returned, muttering something under his breath that I didn’t catch, but I wasn’t about to ask him to repeat himself. He released his grip and I got the hell out of there.

* * *

I fled from the bar and scanned everything. Every street I passed, every doorway, every window, every car. I couldn’t see any signs of Leon, or anyone else that looked like a vampire. Perhaps that had been bullshit, too – about them guarding me.

Why was I there, running from him? Zac had treated me like shit and I was going to let him get away with it, without explanation? Alex’s little visit made it clear that I was going to have to do better than moving to Port Isabel if I wanted to be free of them.

It was all wrong and twisted. Zac was supposed to be the good guy, but he was always so serious and brooding. Moody, even. And yet by contrast, Alex – the bad guy – was always cheerful and carefree. Way to mess with a girl’s mind.

At my apartment I grabbed my leathers and helmet and jumped onto my bike. I hit the main highway, the one that goes away from the island, away from this shitty mind-fuck place.

I raced past the cars, pushing ever faster. The wind howled over me, blinding me, my eyes stinging and leaking. I didn’t close the visor on my helmet. I wanted the pain, the blurred vision, the adrenalin-filled rush as it swept through my veins.

I couldn’t feel the throttle in my hand as I pulled it further back. The world flashed past me, so fast that my head spun. I had to wipe Alex out of my brain. I was tainted by his power. Lured and tempted like a weak, pathetic creature.

Neither of them deserved a place in my head. Not Zac, and certainly not Alex.

A car swerved and honked its horn as I screamed past. The asphalt gobbled up my emotions – grey and blurred. There was only me and my bike, forged together with the wind.

The front wheel hit a pothole. A fucking pothole on a highway!

And then I was flying through the sky, flipping. Seeing sky, road, sky, road.

Bouncing and sliding. Biting pain eating through my bones.

Skidding, crunching.

A flash of bright, white light.

And nothing.

* * *

The smell hit me first. Sterile. Medical. Hospital.

I hated hospitals.

The rhythmic beep came next, and the whir of machines.

The hideous lighting that made my eyes water when I tried to open them.

His hand tightened around mine. Tingling, and throbbing.

I snatched it away.

His head sunk into his hands, leaning forward over his knees.

I tried to move, get out of bed. My leg was heavy and awkward, trapped in a plaster cast. I sunk back into the pillow with a groan.

“You broke your leg,” Zac murmured.

“No shit,” I replied.

“And collapsed a lung.”

I loosed a breath, refusing to look at him.

“It’s a good job you were wearing your leather pants or you’d have no skin left,” he added. “Funny that… you never wear them. It’s as if you knew…”

I could feel the demanding, urgent glare on my face. I turned my chin further away.

“I didn’t mean for this… I only meant to race. Clear my head. What are you even doing here?”

“What do you mean ‘What are you doing here?’” his voiced deepened, louder. “Where the fuck else would I be?”

“I don’t know,” I said through gritted teeth. “Wherever you’ve been hiding all these weeks like a coward.”

“A coward? Jess… you have no idea.”

“No. I don’t. Because you haven’t deemed me worthy of receiving an explanation.”

He took hold of my hand again. I pulled back, but he pulled harder, keeping himself locked onto me. Waiting, until I looked at him.

I shouldn’t have looked. His face crushed me. The anger, hurt, anxiety. The pleading.

His energy pulsed through me from the joining of our skin, his immortal presence making my body sing. I closed my eyes and the accident flashed behind my eyelids. The pain. The bouncing and crunching. The white light. Alex swam into my memories, merging with those of the crash. His face, his words.

I couldn’t feel any pain. Why wasn’t there pain?

Fuck!

I shot upright. “You made me a vampire?”