I made a bowl of popcorn and curled up on my brother’s couch. I’d skipped dinner again, but this time it wasn’t because I couldn’t eat. It was because I was too consumed by what we’d learned tonight.

It was strange to me that Danny had been contacting Lena. While I wasn’t sure the way her gift worked, or what kind of supernatural creature she was to harbor such a gift, I did know I was thankful she’d reached out to me. Without her sharing where to look for the journal, we would never have been able to find it so soon. It might have taken weeks or months before we became frustrated enough to start flipping through each book, searching for something hidden.

Lena had been a lifesaver.

Not only was I glad she’d told us where the book was, but I was also glad Mason had been there while I watched the video. That was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do and having Mason there gave me a small sense of comfort, especially when he’d reached out to hold my hand. I’d felt something then, but I hadn’t been in a position to dwell on what until now.

Mason was a good guy. There was more to him than his good looks. He had multiple layers to him I was just noticing. There was a darkness inside him, but that was something every supernatural had. Hell, even humans had it. We all had a daily choice whether to tap into it. Some were faced with that decision more than others, but the point was Mason never gave in. He was a fighter, and I liked that about him.

An image of him holding the book flashed through my mind.

That darkness had awoken within him. I’d watched it swirl through his eyes, dulling their color. Something about the book had called to him, and a large part of me wanted to know why. Was the book meant for vampires? Maybe it wasn’t a journal, but an old handwritten text that had something to do with vampires.

My gaze drifted across the apartment to where I’d left it on the kitchen counter. I flung my blanket off and stood to retrieve it.

It was cool to the touch. There was a softness to the cover I enjoyed. My feet started toward the couch again as I took in the design on the front. There were strange leaves and swirls embossed across the cover. I situated myself on the couch with my blanket again and flipped the book over to check out its spine and the back. Curiosity about its contents pulled at me.

Should I open it and read the first page? Surely that wouldn’t be enough to bring the hellhound back. Would it?

I thought back to the video. Hours had passed from the time Danny locked the bookstore up for the night and when the hellhound came for him. He’d probably been reading the book the entire time.

One page shouldn’t cause any trouble.

My hand shook as I flipped open to the first page. I held my breath, waiting and listening for any sign the hellhound might be coming. When nothing happened, I glanced at the page. Everything was handwritten in beautiful calligraphy. The paper was yellowed with age and the scent of old ink was intoxicating. I focused on the first sentence, struggling to make out what it said. Calligraphy had never been my forte.

Her beauty surpasses any flower or picturesque scenery a mind could ever imagine…

I read further, thinking it was a journal about some lovesick guy who pined after a woman. Until I noticed the word vampire scratched across the yellowed page halfway through. I continued to read. It didn’t take long to figure out the book wasn’t about a lovesick guy. It was about the vampire he loved, but this was no love story. Instead, it was a manual he’d written for her. The beginning had only been a poem for her that confessed his unyielding love.

I glanced at the page, skimming its contents again. It definitely was a manual written for vampires, but for what?

I guessed that explained Mason’s reaction to it. The way the darkness always festering inside him had seemed to overtake him for a split-second. He’d seemed hypnotized by the book, as though it was begging him to read its pages.

Maybe it had been.

I needed to know more.

I turned the page and read, soaking in the as much as I could quickly. Once I reached the end of both available to me, my fingers turned the page again on their own accord. Two new pages were revealed, waiting to be read. It was impossible to close the book without reading them, even though I knew I should. My eyes scanned the sentences as quickly as I could.

“Holy shit,” I muttered as another secret of the book revealed itself to me.

It hadn’t been written by a human or even a vampire; it had been written by a vampire hunter for his vampire love.

But what was it for? Even reading as much as I already had, I still didn’t know the answer.

I flipped the page, eager to learn all I could in the short span of time I was giving myself. My eyes remained glued to the pages as I read them quickly.

“Oh my God!” I shouted louder than I probably should.

The hunter had tracked down a spell that would give a vampire the ability to feed on the life energy of a living creature and not only their blood.

Doubling their power. Doubling their strength. They would be unstoppable.

The fine hairs on the back of my neck lifted as I reread the paragraph explaining it again. I flipped to the next page. The beginning of a story entailing an actual encounter this hunter had with a vampire who’d undergone the ritual and gained such powers from it was written.

How the hell had my dad’s friend gotten this book in his possession? No wonder Danny had said it would either make us a shit ton of money or get us killed.

It wasn’t the kind of book a person kept lying around. It was the type of book you hid well, exactly like Danny had done.

Coldness bit at my skin. It was sudden and sharp, jolting me awake from the haze the book had seemed to put me under. I knew it was Danny. He was warning me to close the book. I could feel it.

“I know. I shouldn’t have opened it. Lena told us not to,” I said as I snapped it shut. “I couldn’t help it. I needed to know what it was about.”

The coldness left me as quickly as it came. Danny was probably satisfied now that the book was closed. Every part of my mind screamed at me to continue reading, though. My fingers gripped the edge of the cover as I went to war with myself. Knowledge was power, right? I couldn’t truly prove Danny hadn’t killed himself, that he’d been attacked by a hellhound who guarded this book, unless I knew exactly what the book contained. Maybe there was something more than a ritual to give a vampire more power inside.

How would I know unless I read more?

A deadly growl rumbled through the apartment. My breath hitched in my throat and I froze, praying what I’d heard had been a trick of my mind. I glanced around, searching for any sign of the hellhound. I didn’t see anything, but I could hear it. The sound of its breathing floated through the apartment to my ears. It wasn’t close, but the fact it was here at all had alarm ringing through me.

My muscles tensed. What should I do? If I set the book aside and promised not to touch it again, would it go away?

Another sensation of coldness touched my shoulder. Danny knew the beast was here too. I wished he was here in physical form so he could tell me what to do. How was I supposed to fight something I couldn’t see?

The sound of toenails clicking against the hardwood floor ricocheted through the silent apartment. My heart lurched to my throat. I needed to shift. I’d be able to protect myself better in my panther form, but I was positive any swift movement would make the hellhound attack.

Mason, I could call out for him. He would hear me.

What good would it do, though? There wasn’t much distance between me and the hellhound. He’d eat me before Mason made it to me. Shit. I had no other option besides forcing a change as quickly as I could. I prayed the beast didn’t sink his teeth into me before I could complete it. If so, I was seriously out of luck. I’d be stuck in between forms while trying to fight him off. I’d be powerless against him. I held my breath and listened, struggling to gauge how close he was over the pounding of my heart.

He was closer than before, but he still wasn’t on me yet. I estimated he was about seven feet away from the front of the coffee table.

Without removing my clothes, I arched my body forward and forced the change. My bones twisted and bent as they obeyed my will. A cry of anguish rushed past my parted lips. Never had I forced a change to happen this quickly. It wasn’t wise, but I didn’t have a choice. This was do or die.

And I’d chosen to say screw dying.

Another scream ripped past my lips as my muscles lengthened to help form my new shape; it turned into a growl near the end. The instant I completed the change was the same instant the hellhound slammed into me. The front door to Danny’s apartment burst open, and Mason came crashing inside. Relief trickled through me. Two on one held better odds.

Any sense of relief disappeared as the hellhound’s sharp fangs sank into my shoulder a split-second later and blinding pain reverberated through my body.