Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 126570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
The way it made my throat ache with a dryness that can’t be quenched with mere water. The pangs of hunger in my stomach that convinced me that I was starving and needed to eat or die.
When an image of a woman’s slender neck flashes in front of me, my eyes snap open, my fangs bared and ready to strike.
But there’s no woman offering her throat for my bite.
There’s only Asher, his face relaxed with the peace of sleep.
I stare at him for a long time, silently urging him to wake up.
To give me what I need.
Deep inside me there’s a craving for something warm and sweet. Something rich and thick that will make the hunger go away.
But he slumbers on. His own exhaustion after taking care of me for so long pulsing through the bond.
Not having the heart to disturb him, I try to wait it out. Sensing that the sun is still up.
I should be asleep, but the gnawing emptiness has taken priority. There will be no more rest until I banish the ache.
Carefully, I extract myself from Asher’s hold without waking him and rise to my feet.
The mattress is still on the floor, the pieces of the shattered headboard scattered near the door.
And somewhere in this house is a heart beating like a thundering drum. Calling me to drink.
I didn’t hear it at first, but now that I do it’s all I can hear.
I pick my way over the broken chunks of wood littering the floor, gracefully and easily avoiding the sharp slivers, and reach for the door handle.
Only to draw back in alarm.
On the other side of the door I can sense a presence. Some unknown new instinct of mine activating without me realizing it.
There’s a vampire on the other side of the door, standing guard. They’re at ease but waiting. As if they’re expecting me any second when they should be sleeping.
Exploring this new instinct of mine, I frown and reach out with it, trying to learn more about this vampire.
Why are they not sleeping with the others?
And there are others… I can feel them now. Their auras pulsing around me like humming vibrations. Filling this house with their strength and powers. Strong echoes of the one I left sleeping in bed.
All are deep in their slumber but the one standing guard.
He alone, besides me, is alert and aware.
Pushing my will through the door, I brush against his aura to learn more, then jerk back like I’ve been slapped in the face.
There’s a wrongness to him, to his presence, that causes everything inside me to clench up with fear and revulsion.
He’s missing a crucial, critical part of his spirit. Like someone ripped out the most important part of his soul.
How he’s even alive, let alone standing, is beyond understanding, and terrifies me on a visceral level.
One should not be forced to continue to exist after enduring that kind of pain… and the fact that it’s even possible… God help me.
Someone should have put him out of his misery long ago.
I’m half-tempted to do it myself. To yank open the door and rip off his head, but the mere thought of touching him holds me back.
Moving away from the door, I consider my options. I could crawl back into bed with Asher and wait for the sun to go down.
The way my hunger is growing, though, I’m pretty sure I’d end up eating myself long before night falls.
No, I need to find a way out of this room. To the heart I can hear beating somewhere below me.
Spinning around in a slow circle, I search for another exit, but only see covered windows that lead outside and a connected, unused bathroom.
None of it gets me to the heartbeat.
There has to be another way. There has to be, my hunger screams at me.
And I know there is, I can feel it swirling with unleashed intensity in the very marrow of my bones. I have the ability and the strength. There’s a way if I only focus enough and concentrate.
I can go anywhere I want to go…
Acting on pure instinct, I take a step forward and the world around me shimmers and blurs.
I move faster than my mind can comprehend.
One step.
All it takes is one little step and I find myself in an entirely different room.
The world rights itself at once and my stomach lurches as I seem to snap into place like a rubber band that was stretched too far.
I take another step to get my balance. Then I take a deep breath and look around.
The walls surrounding me now are made of rough, grainy concrete and there are no windows. It smells like earth, moisture, old blood, and something rotten.
I must be in the basement of the house.
The light in the room flickers and my eyes are instantly drawn upwards. Hanging on a thin chain that dangles from a wooden beam is a buzzing light bulb. Every few seconds it glows brightly then dims before returning to normal.