She went through the door and was met with stairs that led to a lower level. She was plunged into darkness as she descended down. When she reached the bottom, another series of hallways lay ahead. She was drawn to the left and while she wanted to explore each room on this level, she knew time was running out and she felt an unexplained urgency to get to the room at the end of this hallway.
Kate was outside the closed door and a feeling of terror unlike any she’d felt before passed through her body. She forced herself through, not knowing what she was about to see, and was surprisingly met with an empty room. Empty, as in, no one was currently occupying it, but someone obviously lived here. It was a small sitting room of sorts, with a tidy, nondescript desk and a large Italian black leather chair, which looked luxurious and very much out of place in the sparse room. She took note of a caramel colored liquor in a clear decanter, which sat on a shelf alongside a lone crystal tumbler and a few books.
She didn’t get a chance to look any further, as she heard a muffled cry coming from behind a door to her right. Upon entering the secondary room, she was struck still. To her horror, in front of her on the blood-soaked bed, lay a naked young girl, probably not older than fifteen, covered in blood and bite marks on her neck, breasts, and inner thighs. Her skin was frighteningly pale and she was sobbing uncontrollably.
A low growl brought her attention to the butt naked man—no, correction—vampire at the foot of the massive bed. He was moving toward the young girl like a lion that had successfully taken down its prey. Kate gasped and his head whipped around in her direction, as he stood tall.
Oh shit. He can’t see me, can he? He’s not supposed to be able to see me.
Oh my God. Oh God. Kate was frozen with fear.
Standing before her was one of the handsomest and most hideous creatures she had ever laid eyes upon. When she was eleven and in sixth grade, a boy in her class had played with matches and accidentally burned down his parents’ house. He barely made it out alive, and was horribly burned on over sixty percent of his body. He survived and didn’t return to school until the seventh grade, but he was scarred for life. So she knew all too well what severe burn marks looked like.
The right half of this vampire’s face, including his entire nose and right side of his lips, was horrifically scarred and disfigured. Half of his head was entirely hair free, while the other half was clearly shaven clean to the skull. His right ear was almost missing entirely. His entire upper torso and most of both arms, except his upper left shoulder was also scarred. His whole right leg also bore the same painful marring’s. Even his private parts appeared scarred. Not that she tried to look. The part of his face that wasn’t scarred, however, was divinely handsome and mesmerizing and she instantly knew who stood before her.
Xavier.
“Well, well, dreamwalker,” he drawled. “I know you’re here. I can feel your presence.”
He could feel her presence, but couldn’t see her? Both pieces of information were good to know.
“Would you like a demonstration of what I’m going to do to you once I get my hands on you?”
No. Nope. No demonstration needed. Thanks for asking, though.
He snarled and grabbed the young, frightened girl by the foot, dragging her to the foot of the bed and rammed himself into her small, fragile body. She cried out as he bit her savagely on the neck, sucking her lifeblood so hard and fast that most of it spilled down his chin and throat. As quickly as he struck, he let her go, throwing her toward the headboard. She landed half way off the bed, unmoving.
He stood at full height again, as he let the blood drip unnervingly off his chin. He talked to the air, while turning in a circle. Comical, really, if the situation weren’t so dire and horrific.
“If you give yourself up to me willingly, Katherine Martin, then I promise to let you and your lords live. If you do not, then I will rain hell on your lords, their Regents, and the human race. And every single day I let you live in my company, you will pray for a death that I will never grant.”
Holy shit. He knew who she was. By name! This was sooooo not good. Okay, Kate. Time to wake up any time now.
“And you can tell your lords that I will enjoy fucking you, while I drink freely of your blood. Every. Single. Day.”
Kate turned to flee when she felt herself waking up. Thank you, God, for small favors.
As she was being pulled back into her body, she thought she heard Xavier say, “Until we meet again, sweet Kate.”
So. Not. Good.
Chapter 52
Mike
He was fucking pissed. He was now sitting in Devon Fallinsworth’s office, at his fucking house, a place he’d hoped he would never see, with an equally pissed off Giselle blocking his escape. Blood was dripping from the cut above his eye and, quite frankly, he was more than a little concerned the bloodsucker wouldn’t be able to control herself. He was in a house full of vamps and expected them to circle like vultures any minute.