Chapter 2 #2
The woman, watching him with awe and obsession I didn’t like, flashed red eyes, and I gasped.
No.
“You will become the substitute for your ungrateful brother,” she said with a clenched jaw, and her voice sounded like the venomous hiss of a snake.
“Why?” Torin asked, his voice strained.
He grunted as one of the vampire guards twisted his arm harder.
“Because he was my fated mate, and you remind me of him.”
Torin’s brother was this woman’s fated mate?
Torin’s amber eyes snapped to the woman.
“Where is he?” he asked.
“How would I know?” she said in a sharp voice.
My stomach knotted as my mind connected the dots. Mark had said that Torin had a brother but didn’t say anything about his fate. I wondered where he was right now. Why wouldn’t he help Torin?
But mostly, my mind rang with warning bells about this woman. The monster I despised the most for causing irreversible wounds to my mate’s soul and body.
The vampire Queen.
I had a first-row seat at Torin’s memory, the one he tried so desperately to forget but couldn’t—the moment she turned him into the monster he hated.
Before, I believed that the Fates blessed only deserving supernaturals with the gift of finding their soulmates, but it seemed I was wrong, seeing that Victoria was given a fated mate—none other than a werewolf.
The pairing baffled me, yet it had happened.
Was it the Fates’ reminder to us all that they alone held the ultimate control over our destinies?
No. I shook my head. I had a choice.
The woman stood and straightened, her posture graceful and powerful. Her eyes stayed red, her fangs extended, and clear fluid dripped on her bottom lip. It must have been the serum that turned one into a vampire.
Dad told me that the process was excruciatingly painful. However, there were still willing humans tempted by the idea of immortality.
But turning another supernatural into a vampire was forbidden, though. The supernaturals feared the werewolf might lose control and become an uncontrollable hybrid creature. My father taught me that turning a werewolf into a vampire upset the balance among the creatures.
The vampire Queen was about to commit the greatest crime in the supernatural world, especially since it was against the werewolf’s will.
And yet, as I looked around, there was no one to stop her—no werewolf warriors, the King, or even Torin’s family. My chest tightened as I realized how unfair Torin’s fate had turned out.
He was paying the price for his brother’s cowardice. Although I couldn’t blame Torin’s brother for running away from his monstrous fated mate.
The two vampire guards lifted Torin by his arms. His face pinched in a painful expression. Abruptly, Torin started fighting his captors and got his hands released. Even as a werewolf without the help of his vampire form, he looked solid and muscular, much larger than the vampires.
He punched one guard. His hand partially shifted into a claw covered by black fur, and he stabbed the other vampire. The body fell to the ground.
But the vampire Queen had come prepared for a fight. Her minions must have hidden behind trees and tall snow piles nearby. Three more vampire guards jumped on top of Torin from behind and held him tight. He had no chance to complete his full transformation into a wolf.
Even the way Torin fought before he became a vampire was different. He appeared slower and less vicious than when he tore apart the thugs in my London office.
His captors released their hold on him only to punch and kick at his stomach until Torin gave up fighting. The woman looked at her guards with narrowed eyes.
“You finally got him. You’re sure?” She let out an annoyed hiss.
The guards lowered their gazes. Even though they held him tight, Torin kept fidgeting. His amber eyes filled with horror.
“I don’t want your curse,” he shouted.
Unbothered by his words, the vampire Queen sauntered toward Torin, positioned herself in front of him, and leaned into the crook of his neck, her body almost touching his. Her red eyes locked onto the vulnerable curve where his neck met his shoulder.
My breath hitched in my throat, my fingers tingling with an urge to intervene. My hands itched to reach out and slap the crazy out of the woman.
The moment she sank her fangs into Torin’s neck, my entire body revolted, bile rising in my throat.
She bit him, and Torin screamed as loud and painfully as I remembered he had in his dream realm.
In agony, his body convulsed. The pain was too intense for him to bear as the serum traveled through his body.
He fell limp on the ground, and from time to time, his muscles twitched.
Torin lay there while my heart plummeted at the sight before me, shaking the very core of my being.
Besides all the other emotions that swirled behind my chest, helplessness surged through me the most. Powerlessness felt like a thousand sharp needles piercing my soul.
Torin and I were trapped in this nightmare with no way out, and it was more terrifying than any enemy attacks from the past.
The vampire Queen, bending, touched Torin’s chest.
“His heart is beating. I was successful,” she said.
I gaped at her. She’d just done that, knowing too well the risks of turning a person into a vampire. If the human body was not strong enough, there was a chance he wouldn’t have made it.
I understood Torin’s reluctance to bite me a little more. It reminded him of this very moment he didn’t want to relive.
He opened his eyes, which were his human amber eyes, but the white part was turning red. His eyelids had swollen and became purple. Torin folded his body, holding his abdomen.
After a moment, he scratched at his forearms with nails, growing sharp and long, and his movements turned so violent that he tore through his shirt like he couldn’t stand being in his own skin.
His transformation into a vampire was still incomplete, though. Stepping from the line of trees, two vampire guards dragged a young woman, shoving her to walk faster to the vampire Queen.
“Please don’t kill me,” the girl sobbed.
The vampire Queen pushed her toward Torin. Catching the girl, Torin steadied her, holding her by her waist.
“I’m not going to, but he will,” the vampire Queen said.
Newly turned vampires were incredibly thirsty and couldn’t control their hunger for blood. Their sire had to guide them through the process in the same way the werewolf King helped young pups with their first shift into wolves.
“I’m not killing humans. I’m not a monster like you,” Torin said, but his hands remained around the girl’s body.
The vampire Queen smirked and folded her arms around her chest. “We’ll see about that.”
Abruptly, he dropped his hands to his sides, but then he held his throat as if it hurt and visibly tried to swallow as if he grew parched. He panted and licked his lips as though they were as dry as his throat.
He took a step back from the girl but still watched her with the intensity of a predator. He fought with everything in him not to fall into the temptation to drink her blood. If he consumed human blood, his transformation into a vampire would be complete.
He turned away from the girl and dashed to the first line of trees, but the vampire guards stopped him and dragged him back. There was nowhere for him to hide or run.
In obvious distress, he muttered something to himself. I stepped closer, wanting to soothe his pain.
“I’m not a monster,” he murmured.
He fought his inevitable fate of becoming a vampire as much as I fought my fate to live in the supernatural world.
I touched his shoulder, but my hand traveled right through his body as if I were made of air. I was an uninvited ghost to Torin’s memory. My brain reminded me that this was a memory that had already happened.
And there was nothing I could do to help Torin.
The vampire Queen made an annoyed sound from her throat. “I have more plans for you. I need you to complete the transformation. Now drink her blood.”
“No,” Torin’ replied in a strained whisper.
The woman moved fast behind the young girl. The vampire Queen’s sharp talon cut the skin of the girl’s throat, and she screamed. Blood dripped down, staining her cotton dress.
I let out a heavy sigh, knowing of the inevitable outcome.
Torin’s nostrils flared. His fangs extended, and his hands flew to his mouth, touching them as if surprised.
The vampires’ fangs were more elongated than the werewolves’ canines.
He took a deep breath, and with it, the scent of the girl’s blood.
His slouching posture told me his energy and determination were leaving him. The moment he gave in to temptation was evident by the change in his eyes. The crimson color traveled back into his irises. He let out a loud growl and moved so quickly to face the girl that she didn’t see it coming.
His hand grasped her shoulder, and his eyes locked onto the girl’s neck. Torin’s gaze fixed on her flesh with such hunger that my hands trembled.
I clenched my fists.
Without hesitation, he sank his fangs into her shoulder, ripping through the shift fabric and letting out a half groan, half moan while sucking on her blood.
Her eyes went wide with terror while the air filled with the sounds of swallowing and gulping.
His throat worked fast, drinking big sips of her essence.
The crunch of Torin’s boot echoed around us as he shuffled and pressed closer to his victim.
As his mouth worked faster and faster, his nostrils flared, probably inhaling the sweet scent of her blood.
Although I couldn’t feel the cold or inhale the crisp winter air, I could see small, steamy clouds as Torin’s breath mixed with the icy air.
After a moment, Torin showed no signs of being satiated. The woman’s body turned limp, but Torin kept holding her by the waist. I mentally wished for him to release the girl. But he was too far gone, and he couldn’t stop himself, overtaken by the thirst frenzy.