Eternally His (Witches of Pleasant Grove #4)

prologue

EZRA

There was evil in this world, lurking around every corner. Creatures of the night that hunted in the dark, devouring their prey before they even knew they were there.

Creatures who were better not seen.

The ones who prowled in the dark, looking for unsuspecting humans, all for their blood.

I knew it—because I was one.

Vampire.

The word was hardly more than a whisper, one that humans hardly dared to utter in back alleyways and seedy taverns.

Of course, they had no idea that the same beings they were terrified of walked alongside them.

That we were able to walk in the light, to blend in among them.

It came at a cost, of course. Being under the rays of the sun used more energy, exhausting us—and requiring us to feed more often.

Blood that was hard enough to find, especially now. The city was booming, with more skyscrapers being built every day, and I wondered how long we could stay in the city undetected.

Even at thirteen years old, I knew what my role was in this place.

Do not be seen; do not be heard. Be invisible.

In a blood den, it wasn’t hard to understand why.

Humans thought it was a speakeasy. Drawn here by the promise of alcohol, they got drunk enough that they never saw it coming when a vampire drank from them.

In the morning, they wouldn’t remember what happened, thanks to our powers of persuasion.

That was—if they lived through it.

I hated it. All the scents—the cloying, lingering smell of blood in the air mixing with the aroma of alcohol and the stink of perfume—made me question if I’d just been born wrong.

Often, I wondered what my life would be like if I’d been born to normal, human parents.

I watched them through the windows of the brownstones in the city, happy families doting on their children.

But I would never be like them—human. I’d been given life not because of love—because there was no love between the vampire who bore me and the lord who’d sired me—but because of power.

Of course, she would seek to breed with the most powerful lord in her court.

I existed for one reason, and one reason alone.

I was supposed to be the most powerful, the greatest achievement of the vampires who brought me into the world.

Born, not made. I had a role to fill, and yet, I was just Little Ezra, the mouse.

Shutting my eyes, I tried to block out the smell of freshly spilled blood as I slipped out of the manor, leaving all of it behind me.

Here, on the streets, I could pretend I was normal—at least for a time. I’d ignore the thrum under my skin that demanded blood as I spent time under the sun. It was the only time I had where I could be me—whoever that was.

I moved through the streets, avoiding the men and women who walked arm in arm, unaware of my existence. And why would they notice me, a small boy, dressed in the finest clothes money could buy? I didn’t even need to use my powers to make myself invisible; I already was.

But not forever. One day, I’d find my place in the world.

I’d become stronger. Better.

And then I’d show them all exactly who Ezra Darkmire was going to be.

All I needed was time.

Thankfully, I had an unlimited supply of it.