To Kill a Vampire - A.K. Koonce Page 0,2

looks down at me in astonishment. He clears his throat as he whispers, “You didn’t hurt them.”

A shaking breath fans across my face as he closes his eyes, his hand sweeping out and pulling me against his hard body. I stand there in his arms, unmoving as the thrashing of his heart floods my senses. I can feel it pumping beneath my cheek, coursing life through this beautiful mystic with every steady beat.

I push him away so hard he stumbles back; his eyes widen as he stares down at me. The astonishment that flashes across his features is enough to make me want to cry in confusion and anger.

Without a word, I force myself to walk past the blood source; away from the thing my starving hunger demands of me.

My eyes water, emotion swelling up and ready to burst within me. Too many emotions pull at me, and all I want is to feed the hunger. If I could just eat, I know I’d feel better. I’d feel more like myself.

“Fallon, wait.” He rushes to my side, the one person I care about most in this ever changing world – the one person I can’t stand to be near right now. Not in this state. “The witch told me how to make the change.”

He shouldn’t be here. I don’t want him to be here. Not when I’m like this …

My eyes lock on his, and I try to grasp the way it felt when Atticus’ power slipped over my mortal mind. The way he captivated me with just a simple entrancing look. His silver eyes study me, seeing me as he always has, but I’m afraid of what he might see now. I’m not strong enough to keep things from him. It would be so much easier if I could just push him away without him knowing. My jaw locks tightly, and I focus on trying to keep his attention, trying to communicate with just my thoughts.

Please leave.

The simple words storms through my mind as I hold his gaze, my breathing accelerating as I concentrate.

His beautiful eyes shift, confusion etching his brow as he stares at me.

Is it working?

“Fallon, are you listening?”

A defeated sigh falls from my lips and I keep walking, trying to put space between us. All I can muster is a small glance toward the hybrid as he matches my pace step for step. He pushes his hand roughly down his face as we continue striding through the forest. Everything is alive. The world has been a shuddering and swaying mass all these years, and I never noticed …

“You have to kill Atticus.”

I hum a response. Murder isn’t exactly on my priority list right now.

“And you can’t feed. I know that’s why you’re out here. I know it’s what you want more than anything right now. But you can’t feed. Not until you’ve killed Atticus.”

My attention pulls from the prey I see all around me. I focus completely on the hybrid now.

“Why?” It’s a simple question.

He pauses, his eyes roaming over my body to realize what I noticed the moment I woke up in the Red Hills. The deep jagged scar that graced my ribs for more than a year is healed. Smooth and even flesh was all that met my fingertips. The thin line that adorned my palm, from the first time I really met the hybrid — the time I offered him my blood — it, too, is gone. Nothing more than a fading memory.

“Because you’ll be cursed in this form forever if you feed, Fallon. You’ll complete the transformation the moment blood touches your lips.”

The logical part of me is terrified of a future stuck in this unnatural state. But the need for blood is more demanding.

“Hmm …” There was a time I put my life in his strong hands. It’s my life, though. Not his. He stares at me, hanging on my indifference, as I begin to walk away. I consider lying. I consider telling him everything will be okay. Instead I say, “Then I guess it’ll be a long life.”

Three

Capitalize on Love

Asher

Defeat is a heavy mountain to carry. It pulls at my shoulders, and my once assured actions are now stumbling and confused.

She avoids me like a bad omen. Ruby red eyes sparkle my way from time to time, the two of us passing like gentle waves among a building hurricane. Just waiting for the destruction …

“What the hell is she eating?” I ask Gabriel with an irritable sigh.

“No idea.”

I sit in