Authors: Damian Eternal) Xander's Chance (#1
Lizzy Ford (44 page)
Summer flung herself across the bed, sinking into it with a deep sigh. She’d never had such comfortable bedding, such a peaceful place to sleep. She eyed the dresser. While she’d had dressers, she’d never unpacked.
She unzipped her suitcase and pulled out the old wooden jewelry box holding her treasures. Her eyes went to the pile of jewelry and makeup on Trinity’s dresser. Summer tentatively set her box on her own dresser and sat down, staring at it. It looked lonely and small.
Her sense of anxiety grew again, and she took it down. She didn’t know how long she’d stay; it was easier to keep everything packed up. Picking out her least worn clothing, she set it on the bed for dinner then set her alarm and lay down for a nap.
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Witchling Series
“Dark Summer”
“Autumn Storm” (April 5)
“Winter Fire” (May 10)
“Spring Rain” (Fall 2013)
Excerpt from “Mortal Death” by Elle Chardou
Chapter One
I stood and walked over to the mini bar, and grabbed another Rémy Martin to fill my empty glass.
“I don’t understand this at all. Do I look like I have a death wish?”
“Every human who consorts with a vampire does. As you are already half-vampire, think of yourself as already being half-dead. Do you think you will live a long life with your severe anemia? You’re killing yourself and you don’t even know it. You could probably survive on blood transfusions for the rest of your natural life but why would you choose that option when I am offering you the world entire? Everything you could ever want could be yours. Surely you want to live forever.”
“But that is the heart of the issue, as I
wouldn’t
be living. My body would continue to go on but I would have no heartbeat and I would have to subsist entirely on blood—”
Mikkel cut me off. “We’re working on that as we speak. In the meantime, I could keep you safe and you can do what it is you need to do. You can keep our numbers from decreasing and from the human population taking any control from us. Don’t you agree the world is a better place with vampires at the helm? We have saved humanity at a great cost to our own way of life. Do you think we wanted to announce ourselves to the world? It has always been better when we were behind the scenes pulling the strings. We have lost a great deal of our advantage and with that, our mystique. As long as humans thought we were a myth, it was easier for us to operate in the shadows of society.
“We are animals if nothing else. Highly evolved animals but still...we can no longer hunt for sport. Most vampires loathe the blood banks and the blood whorehouses. They still want to murder humans and watch their very life essence drain from them as they feed. Most of us are sadistic and have absolutely no morals what so ever. I have lived a long time and I can see the goodness which exists in mortal beings, but most of our kind does not feel the same way. The vast majority of the IVC would be happy to go on a killing spree and are just itching for humans to start a war.”
“Why would The Council want a war?”
“Because vampires love conflict and bloodshed above everything else, that’s why. They would be able to murder again with impunity and more importantly, we
know
we would win. Most vampires have no wish to live side-by-side with mortals. Our ultimate goal is to self-segregate; to use and abuse mortals as we see fit. We will rebuild society from the ground up once the war is over. Humans will be given swaths of land which will be their ghettos and ultimately, a place to breed and die. Vampires will control the choice real estate and we will allow only the most privileged of mortals to live amongst us. If a mortal does not understand that he or she is a slave, then they are of no use to a vampire.”
“But what kind of world would that be if everyone was a vampire? How would you hunt then? If there were no humans to subjugate then what would happen? Aren’t you just cutting off your food source?”
Mikkel smiled. “No. Think outside the box, Manon. We would have parks for sport with humans available for vampires to hunt without moral or legal consequences. We have already planned our new world and it is a beauty to behold. Mortals aren’t smart enough to outwit us but there are some out there who have special powers...like your brother for instance. It is only the half-breeds we must worry about in this particular scenario and they are the sole glitch in what would be a perfect plan. They have all of our strengths and none of our weaknesses. Plus, they can day walk. I haven’t seen the sun in over two hundred years. I almost killed myself just to witness it because I thought I might go mad if I never saw a glimpse of it again...it was the most beautiful and terrifying event of my life. I would give anything to see the sun. It is the price we pay to live forever, but sometimes I wonder if it is too steep.”
“I’m guessing you weren’t here in Vegas when you tried your little ‘sun’ stunt, were you?”
“Don’t be absurd. I was in the land of my birth. It was a weak winter sun but it was worth the temporary pain just to see the world in the daytime.”
“You’re not exactly selling me on this whole ‘vampire’ thing. You see, I like the sun and I wouldn’t want to lose that ability to actually
see
it. I’m not sure I’m the type who could live with having only the night.”
“I’m not exactly sure you would lose the ability to day walk, Manon.”
It was a strange sensation to hear my name roll off his tongue in that syrupy and seductive voice of his.
“What do you mean you’re not sure? Have there been cases of half-breeds like myself who continued to have the ability to day walk after they were turned?”
“Not that I know of, but then again, there have only been a handful of cases in the thirteen hundred years I have been vampire.”
“You’re not telling me the whole truth, are you?”
“No, but you will just have to trust me.”
I was still at a loss how I had easily come to accept this new person as a part of my life and how I had so readily welcomed him into my inner circle. I knew there must be something more than met the eye but I couldn’t allow that to get in the way of my feelings. I would eventually have to make a decision, but it didn’t have to be that night. As dawn approached, we kicked off our shoes and lay down on the comfortable bed. The UV coated windows allowed Mikkel to see the sun rise. When it was high in the morning sky, he closed the blackout shutters by remote control.
“I need to rest. Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?”
I reluctantly nodded my head.
“It could be worse,” he said, as he stroked my hair lovingly. My back was against him and the coolness of his body was heaven against the warmth of the room. “You don’t have to make any more excuses my love. You know as well as I do this is the only decision you
can
make. I can’t force you to do anything...it has to be your free will. We have spoken about so much tonight and I realize you need time to process all of this. A decision of this magnitude will change your life forever. I would appreciate an answer when I wake this evening. If you can’t make up your mind in the next twelve hours then you can’t make a decision at all.”
“And if I say no?”
“You continue your pointless life as it has always been, but realize that you will become public enemy number one of the vampire people. Is that what you want? I can’t protect you when it becomes open season on all mortals again. You will be one of the first tracked down as you are a half-breed. Your half-breed blood can bestow a new vampire with powers they wouldn’t acquire for hundreds of years merely by them draining your body.”
“And what will happen to you when you turn me? Will you become more powerful?”
“I will be granted the powers of a vampire who is at least 2,000 years old but that is not the reason why I want to do this. I want to keep you safe. You are connected to me in some strange way, and together, we have forever to explore and figure out that connection. I have no wish to take a mortal lover and watch her age before me like some kind of interesting pet project. And I no longer have to search, for I have found you and all you have to know is that you’re the one.”
There was a deep and comfortable silence between us for a long time before I inquired, “The one what exactly?”
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Mortal Death: Book 1
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