AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The vampire grabbed me and dove for my throat, no conversation, no explanation, just a need to feed. Jackson had said that the vampires were kept near starving so they’d make for better test subjects.
This one wanted blood, my blood. Buckets of it. And he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
EIGHT
Before I felt more than his cool breath on my throat, Declan grabbed the vampire and threw him against the wall. I heard several bones crack with the impact, but he leapt to his feet immediately as if he felt no pain.
He hissed at me. “I . . . need . . . blood.”
“Too bad.” I staggered back as he drew closer again. I’d let the thing bite me so my blood would kill him, but then I’d run the risk that he’d kill me, not to mention that a loss of blood weakened me. I needed my strength.
He didn’t get the chance to bite me. Declan grabbed the vampire’s head and twisted it sharply to the side. There was a sickening crack. He fell to the ground in a heap only inches from my feet, his black eyes staring upward. Cold sweat slipped down my back.
“Is—is he—?” I stammered.
“No. He’d be ash by now if he was dead. It’ll take him a few minutes to recover.”
“Recover from a broken neck?”
“Yeah. So let’s move.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me along the hallway with him.
The fluorescent overhead lighting flickered out completely, plunging us into complete darkness. A couple of seconds later there was a whirring sound as the emergency system came on. There still wasn’t much light, only enough to see the vague outline of where we were going.
We came to the elevator. Even though Jackson said not to use it, I jabbed at the up button anyway, hoping for a miracle. Not surprisingly, nothing happened. The stairway was another fifty feet down the hall. It was so quiet now. All I heard was our breathing, the sound of our feet against the floor, and my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
Fear was useless to me at the moment. It was an emotion that only worked to freeze one in their tracks, like a deer in the headlights. Easy prey to be picked off one at a time.
Paranoia was another thing. That was helpful—a survival instinct that kept me moving, kept me holding tightly on to Declan’s hand as we walked swiftly to our only escape route.
“So this is your life,” I said. “Danger and death around every corner.”
He eyed me. “Enjoying yourself, are you?”
“I can barely contain my glee.”
“And you thought I got all these scars from having a cushy desk job?”
“You might want to consider a change in careers.”
He snorted. “That’s doubtful.”
“No interest in settling down?”
“Only when they lay me down in my coffin. That is, if there’s anything left of me then.”
I grimaced. “That’s a charming thought.”
“This is a regular day’s work for me—maybe a bit more fucked up than normal—but fairly regular. You deserve a safe and happy life where your neck isn’t constantly on the line.”
I met his gaze. “So do you.”
His jaw tightened. “This is my life.”
“Says who?”
“Says me. I know where I belong.”
“Two hundred feet underground with a dozen hungry vampires running amuck.”
