CHAPTER FIVE
He went rigid at the sound of my voice. His head turned slowly towards me. I stopped at the movement. His dark hair fell over his eyes. A twisting sensation wrenched my stomach as I began to regret my impulsive decision. I took a small step back. He was my father’s secondhand. I should be safe.
“Are you alright?”
He didn’t answer me. He only continued to stare at me through hooded eyes. I could barely make out his features through the dark, but I felt his gaze burn through me.
“Do you need me to call for someone?”
“No.” His answer was harsh and immediate. I stifled a flinch.
I wrung my hands together, holding them up at my chest.
“Do you need help?”
“No, Charlotte. I’m alright.” His tone was laced with pain. He did not sound, nor look, alright. But who am I to argue? I supposed I’d just leave him to it. I already found him odd. Maybe this is just what he did.
I started to turn but paused as scenes from the Society dinner flashed through my head.
Father had added a tincture to the wine.
It clearly affected that one member who turned out to be a vampire.
Sebastian had seemed fine throughout it all, but he didn’t seem fine now.
I didn’t know how he would not be able to react if he were a . ..
No. He couldn’t be. He practically didn’t even blink during the initiation ritual.
He should have spiraled into bloodlust upon scenting the other initiates’ blood.
Maybe there was a way around it that we weren’t aware of.
And if it was a coincidence that he just happened to get sick on the same night Father delivered that tincture, then why was he indisposed at one of the darkest corners of the garden? He didn’t appear to be inebriated.
I slowly turned back to him. His head turned towards me as I did so. The movement appeared menacing, as if he dared me to speak my thoughts. Maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe I should just keep this to myself, pretend I knew nothing. It wouldn’t be the first thing I kept hidden.
I searched through his eyes for anything that told me I was wrong.
“Is something wrong, Charlotte?” His voice made me flinch, each word wrapped with nefarious promise.
Our eyes spoke words we didn’t voice.
I was far out of my element, but I was too far in to back out now.
He already knew that I knew. I didn’t have my dagger.
I cursed myself. Of course, the one time I needed it, I didn’t have it.
Father often used me as bait for the vampires, ever since they had tracked me down during a carriage ride into town.
The members with me that day had said they appeared in some heightened state of bloodlust. My blood was particularly desirable, yet another part of me that was not normal.
After that, Father used me to draw them out for particularly complex missions.
Perhaps, I could have died many times. But I was always surrounded by members who protected me.
Now I wasn’t sure if who was before me was truly a member or the demon they hunted.
I took in a breath, though it did not calm my shaky voice. “You’re ... you’re a ...”
“Charlotte.” He said it as a warning. “Don’t run.” His voice was deathly low.
I itched to run, but his words made me pause.
I learned a lot from reading about the vampires.
Running ignites their prey drive, but to be within reach of a predator only causes the prey to run.
It’s innate. Fire falls to water. Hunger grows unless satiated.
How could I not run from what I had been taught to fear my entire life?
The urge crawled up my legs, and I was already stepping back.
“Don’t. Fucking. Run.”
Another step.
“I may be weak right now, but I will still catch you.” His gravelly voice raked down my spine.
“What am I supposed to do?” That was meant to be a thought, but it slipped through my lips in my panicked state.
He ground out a laugh. “You’re asking me?”
“You don’t want me to run. I want to run.”
Of course he didn’t want me to run. I didn’t give him the chance to respond before my feet were already pounding across the ground.
The damp grass bled entirely through my slippers.
A growl ripped through the air behind me, and I suppressed the scream that ached to get out.
Running through the garden late at night certainly did not look good.
I prayed to Brennus no one saw this suspicious scene.
I should have run inside. I should have run to someone.
Surely, they would understand. A vampire was chasing me.
But even as I ran for my life, I couldn’t risk the attention.
How would I explain how I got into this position?
It was not normal for anyone to go outside this late at night, not when newborns hid within the shadows.
I could only imagine what everyone would assume.
The demon inside me had enticed me to the side of treachery and sin.
I couldn’t risk yet another rumor thrown on top of the already collapsing pile.
I ran to the maze. I knew it like the back of my hand, and I doubted he did.
Though he’d likely be able to scent me, but I did not falter at the realization.
I just had to keep running. He must have been weakened because I would not have made it this far otherwise.
I tore through the maze, careening myself into each turn.
My lungs ached as I pushed myself. I didn’t dare look behind my shoulder.
I couldn’t risk a single misstep. I didn’t know how long I could run, but my body assured me it would not be long.
I nearly crashed into the hedge as I turned sharply. No. My face numbed from the blood that seeped out. I made a wrong turn somewhere in my frantic state.
Strong arms wrapped around me, and my back met the cold earth.
I didn’t even hear his footsteps. I flailed under him, kicking wildly, but he easily gathered up my arms, securing them with one of his hands around my wrists.
He pinned them above my head. A whimper escaped me as he pressed down; the finely crushed rocks embedded into my skin.
His other hand covered my mouth. I wouldn’t have screamed anyway, though I supposed he didn’t know that.
Now I knew my need to be normal deluded my head.
Even face-to-face with death, I’d rather go quietly.
I bucked beneath him, digging my heels into the ground, attempting to fling him off.
I gasped into his hand as he dug his knees into my inner thighs, driving them apart, pinning his chest against mine.
I could barely breathe under his weight.
My eyes widened as the cool night air bit into the bare skin of my legs.
He leaned in, his face close to mine. He smelled of smoke drifting through frigid air and warm amber.
My eyes traced his full lips, his high cheekbones, his harsh brow, his dark hair still veiling his eyes slightly, and his eyes .
.. a deranged wildness lurked within. Slight trembles shook through him.
They mingled with the ones that racked through my own body.
His pupils bled into his irises, swallowing them up into a black abyss, an endless void that threatened to take me too.
I’d never been this close to a vampire. Because if you were ever this close, you were about to die.
“Don’t scream.” His voice ran through me like velvet. It was confusing. It was calming.
I nodded my head.
He slowly removed his hand, keeping it hovered nearby in case I dared to defy him.
“You’re a vampire,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His brow furrowed. “What?”
I couldn’t unravel my scrambled thoughts. “What are you doing?”
“You need to be clearer,” he deadpanned.
I took in a deep breath to form a discernible thought. “Why did you join the Society? Are you here to kill my father?” I paused. “Are you going to kill me?” It came out so quietly, I didn’t know if he heard it.
He sighed, though it sounded more like a gruff noise of irritation. “This is not how I intended for things to go. I am not going to kill you, Charlotte. I don’t plan on killing anyone.”
Each word soothed my beating heart. My body melted into the ground.
“What would sway your plans?” I asked softly.
He closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them, he appeared slightly less unhinged. His grip on my wrists loosened, but I still couldn’t move. “I believe we could help each other.”
Though they may look human, don’t be deceived by the demon within. Vampires are demons that have evolved to walk among us. To befriend us, to entice us, to seduce us. They are their own lure, and their entire existence is a trap. My father’s words weaved through my mind.
“How?”
“The hauntings.”
I froze, grasping for the face of indifference. Deny. Deny. Deny.
“They’re getting worse. You’re beginning to think it’s all real, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t have to hide from me.”
Though I certainly should. I should not be anywhere near him.
I couldn’t find a single word.
“I know who it is, and I know how to stop him.”
“Him?”
“If I let you up, are you going to run?” He tilted his head slightly, which made him look a tad deranged and like someone I certainly wanted to run from.
“No.”
He released my wrists, sitting up, leaning back on his heels. His eyes landed on my legs, wandering across my bare skin. “You’re indecent.”
I sat up, scooting away from him, wrapping my cloak back around me. “I apologize for not dressing for the occasion. This was the last thing I imagined happening,” I retorted.
His dark eyes fell back on me. I squeezed my cloak around myself tighter as he smirked.
My eyes roamed every detail of his face. His beauty was devastating. It’s a trap.