AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We continue moving at superspeed, only stopping after reaching a small town nestled deep in the marsh. Alex slows down, and I follow his lead. His movement reminds me of a hound dog on a hunt.
My heart jumps into my chest the moment I feel him.“Thorne?”I call. “Alex, he’s here. I feel him.”
“Call him again.”
“Thorne, I’m here. Where are you?”
“Elsie,”his voice whispers through my mind. I rush toward the energy with Alex on my heels. The feeling leads us to the stilted remains of what looks like an old bait store.“I’m here.”
We run underneath the building to the edge of the water. Crumpled on the ground is the shell of the man who is usually larger than life. “Thorne!” I yell, falling to his side.
“He needs blood,” Alex states the obvious. “The combination of running and no food was more than his body can handle.” I look around, not feeling anythingnearby. “There’s a woman over there,” Alex points at a small building with a single light on.
“No,” Thorne whispers. “I won’t take a life.”
“You don’t have to drain her.” Alex heads across the street to the door of the building. He knocks on the door, and an older woman opens it.
“Hello, little one.” She looks behind him, no doubt searching for his adult. “Are you alone?”
“We need your help!” he exclaims. “My dad, he…he’s diabetic and needs something to eat.” Damn, he’s good.
“Oh, baby. Let me get some orange juice. That always helps me.” The woman disappears and comes back carrying a bottle of orange liquid. “Where is he?”
“Hide,” he whispers for my ears only. I follow directions, slipping behind a pillar of the building. “Over here,” he says, running in slow motion back to Thorne’s side.
“Oh, he’s bad.” The woman says, opening the bottle.
I step out of my hiding spot and in front of the woman. “We need your help.”
“Where’d you come from?” She tries to hand me the bottle of OJ.
Placing my hands on hers, I pull her closer to me. Her eyes dilate as she looks into mine. “We need your blood.”
“You need my blood,” she repeats.
“We will only take what we need and no more.”
“You’ll only take what you need and no more.”
The woman kneels, moving in front of Thorne. “Elsie, I can’t.”
“Yes, you can and will.” I gently take the woman’s arm, putting it in front of Thorne’s mouth. “I’ll make sure you don’t take too much.”
I lick her wrist, numbing it before biting into the vein. The smell of blood makes Thorne sit straighter. I place her wrist to his lips, and he latches on. Soft gulps turn more fierce in seconds as he drinks human blood for the first time.
“Elsie,” Alex warns. The woman’s heartbeat is slowing down, meaning he has to stop.
“That’s enough,” I say, pulling the woman’s arm away from the hungry vampire. “Alex, take her back to her home, please.” He follows directions, leading the woman away slowly.
Thorne wipes tears from his cheeks. “I didn’t want to do that.”
“You didn’t have a choice.”
“Is she…?”
“She’s fine,” I answer his unasked question.
“I couldn’t keep up with them.”
