He'd never seen her happier than on her wedding day when Richard promised to love, honor and cherish her for the rest of their lives. Although it had frightened him to entrust another man with her care he did it, because he truly believed Richard loved her. For the first five years of their marriage, Marta was always smiling. Then one day her smile dimmed and she didn't seem to have as much energy anymore until one day she could hardly get out of bed.
The next five years were a struggle for her and hell for him. No one knew what was wrong with her. Her doctor tried to convince her that it was all in her head and for a while she believed him. Richard certainly had. Her husband started to pull away from her, leaving her alone, in pain, and not caring that she wasn't eating or able to even get out of bed.
Christofer left a construction job in Canada when he’d stopped receiving letters, couldn't get her on the phone, or a straight answer from the man he'd entrusted with her care. The day that he came home and found her practically living on the bathroom floor caused something inside of him to snap.
For the first time since he'd woken up and found himself chained inside a cage, he hadn’t fought to keep the monster inside him buried. After settling his sister in her bed he went after the bastard that was supposed to care for her. It hadn’t taken him long to find Richard's scent and hunt him down. When he found Richard in that motel room two towns over God himself wouldn't have been able to save him.
While his sister had been struggling to survive on the bathroom floor, the bastard that he’d trusted to care for her was off fucking another woman. In two minutes he’d made his sister a widow and hadn't cared, because he would never allow another person to harm her.
After that, he’d made Marta his world once again. He’d brought her to specialists who’d discovered that the damage done to her from the experiments he'd been helpless to stop had done far more damage to her than anyone had realized. It took years of surgeries and almost constant care before Marta was able to function once again. The damage had left her weak and vulnerable. Christofer hadn't had the heart to ask her to move from the only home she’d ever known and loved when he knew that he shouldn't stay. There had been so many reasons for him not to stay, but none of them had been more important than Marta's happiness and wellbeing.
During the first year, Marta made him promise to stop feeding off people, afraid that he'd draw attention to himself and he'd be taken away. He’d reluctantly agreed even though he knew the pain from hunger would be unbearable thanks to his time spent in the lab, but for her, he happily did it.
For that first year, he managed to keep most of the hunger pains at bay by drinking animal blood he'd purchased from butchers in town. It was the vilest thing he'd ever put into his body, but he hadn’t had much of a choice. If he let himself go hungry for too long the monster inside him would take over and leave him with no choice but to attack someone and he was afraid that someone would end up being his sister.
He'd hoped his purchases would go unnoticed, but they hadn't. People in town began talking about them. Not long after that, their attention shifted to the fact that he wasn’t aging. It wasn’t long before men he used to work for started refusing to hire him and women and children would go out of their way to avoid him by crossing the street or running into the nearest building when they spotted him.
He quickly went from being a welcome member of the community to the town freak and there hadn’t been anything that he could do to stop it. He'd already cost his sister so much. He refused to take her away from her home. Since leaving her wasn't an option, he’d learned to ignore the glares, whispers, and looks of revulsion. He’d also managed to make a living doing what he loved, something he doubted would have happened if the people in town were still willing to hire him and he hadn’t been forced to turn back to drawing out of desperation to support his sister.
The only other good thing that came from his position as town freak was meeting Seth. Seth had heard the rumors of a man that didn’t age and lived off animal blood. Seth decided to come to the house late one night and introduce himself. At first, Christofer had denied the rumors and threatened to tear the man apart if he didn't get off his property, but Seth had been persistent. Just when Christofer was about to make good on his threats, Seth had thrown him a toothy grin.
It was the first time he'd ever seen anyone like himself. For the longest time he'd truly thought he was a freak of nature, especially when the doctors in the lab failed time and time again to replicate his abilities in soldiers who'd volunteered for the chance at becoming stronger and indestructible. No matter how much of his blood they took or how they gave it to the soldiers, none of the experiments had worked. Within minutes of receiving his blood, every single man had died, violently.
That hadn't stopped the doctors from trying. They’d refused to give up until they had an army of soldiers with all of his abilities, and they made damn sure they knew all of his abilities. For four years he was tortured in every single way imaginable and he'd had no choice but to allow it so that he could keep Marta safe. The only thing that gave him peace was the fact that they’d failed to duplicate him.
For the first sixty seconds after Seth had displayed his fangs, Christofer had been terrified that one of the experiments had worked, but that thought left almost as quickly as it came when he realized that Seth could not enter his house without an invitation. During that meeting he’d learned that vampires truly did exist and that some of the old wives' tales were true.
He led Seth to believe that he'd been recently turned so that he could garner information about their world. At first Seth had been reluctant to share any information with him, claiming that Christofer didn't give off the earthy scent of a vampire. It wasn’t until after Christofer had shown off his own fangs, careful not to allow his eyes to shift, that Seth had been more than happy to share information with him.
He’d learned that some of the Hollywood hype had been right and that vampires couldn’t tolerate sunlight or holy relics. He’d also learned that garlic didn't bother them. He’d been shocked to discover that most vampires were loyal to a leader called a Master, but that there were others like Seth, who didn't belong to anyone. They led a different life than most vampires. Instead of feeding from the source, humans, Seth and other vampires like him survived on bagged blood.
When Seth offered his blood delivering services to Christofer, for a price, he'd jumped at the chance, desperate for human blood and half afraid that he was close to finally losing control.
“John said you're cut off,” the waitress suddenly announced, pulling him away from his rather depressing thoughts.
Christofer shoved the hood off his head and looked past the waitress to find the bartender taking a nervous step back. They might not know exactly what he was, but they knew enough to be wary around him. Now Cloe did as well, he thought, the realization leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Why am I cut off?” he asked the waitress, returning his attention back to her.
“Because you drank twenty beers already,” she bit out in a bitchy tone, folding her arms over her small chest as she glared down at him.
Christofer did a quick mental tally of all the beers he'd drank since he stepped into the bar ten hours ago and shrugged. It wasn't like he could get drunk off the shit. The fact of the matter was that it wouldn't affect him one way or the other. His body wouldn't even be able to digest it.
“I'm not drunk,” he argued, not because he really wanted another beer, but because he really didn't feel like heading home and dealing with Cloe looking at him the way everyone else did. Whether Marta wanted her to leave or not no longer mattered. She was leaving. It was bad enough that he had to deal with living in this bullshit town, he'd be damned if he put up with the looks of disgust in his own home.
“Doesn't matter. John said you're cut off,” she said firmly. One look at John and Christofer knew this hadn't been the man's idea. He looked close to pissing himself.
With a heavy sig
h, Christofer took pity on the man and stood up. The waitress, for all her bravado, jumped back and quickly scurried off to hide behind the bar and John.
Yeah, living with this constant bullshit at home would just be so much fun, he thought dryly.
After throwing a few twenties on the table, he headed towards the men's room, chuckling when several waitresses and a few big beefy guys tried to look casual as they jumped out of his way. His reputation did have its benefits, he decided a minute later when several men, in mid-pee, jumped out of his way when they spotted him walking into the bathroom.
Ignoring their theatrics, he stepped up to the urinal, unzipped and pulled himself out. Without a second thought for the guys that were practically running over each other to leave, he relieved himself. Seconds later the scent of warm beer filled the tiny bathroom as it left his body, still in its original form. It was one of the reasons why he stayed away from drinking hard liquor since it stung like a bitch when it came out.
He finished up and turned around, surprised to discover that he wasn't alone after all. One of the men that had jumped out of the way when he’d walked into the bathroom squirmed from side to side as he held both hands over his junk.
“I really have to go,” the man stressed.
Christofer's lips twitched. “Don't let me stand in your way.”
“Thanks,” the man said, practically running to the urinal, but damn careful to stay away from Christofer, effectively killing the tiny ounce of humor he’d felt from watching a grown man doing the “pee pee” dance.
He washed his hands and stormed out of the bathroom, uncaring that he sent half the bar's occupants jumping to the side. He was in no mood for any more bullshit tonight. The sound of his phone ringing did nothing to help his mood. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered a little more abruptly than he normally would have since only one person had this number.
“What?” he demanded.
“Christofer?” Marta said, sounding unsure.
“Yes,” he snapped before he took a deep calming breath and reminded himself that Marta hadn't done anything to deserve his anger. “Yes?” he said more softly as he walked out of the bar, rolling his eyes in exasperation as several bikers he'd seen around town, jumped out of his way.
“Is Cloe with you?” she asked, sounding anxious.
“No. Why would she be with me?” he asked, heading towards their house and wishing that he didn't have to wait until he was out of sight before he could use his speed to run home. Not that he was in any rush to deal with Cloe. He wasn't. He just wasn't in the mood to stay in town for longer than was necessary tonight.
“Oh dear,” Marta mumbled.
“What's going on, Marta?” he asked as he watched a small group of women rush across the street to get away from him.
“She's not here,” she answered, hesitantly.
“What do you mean she's not there?” he barked, frightening another group of women into running across the street and almost getting hit by a car. At the moment he was simply too pissed to be aggravated by their stupidity. “Where did she go after she picked you up?” he demanded, quickening his stride.
There was a heavy pause before she answered. “She didn't pick me up, Christofer. I wasn't sure if she was running late or not.”
“Where are you?” he demanded, feeling his temper rise as his fangs throbbed in anticipation. He ran his tongue over his teeth to keep them at bay.
“Home, but I can't find her anywhere, Christofer. I'm very worried.” she rushed out, her accent becoming more pronounced with each passing second.
“How did you get home, Marta?” he asked with barely restrained fury.
“I-I took a taxi,” she whispered nervously and for good reason.
“She's fired,” Christofer bit out as he broke out into a run, no longer caring that he was still in view of the town.
“But, Christofer-”
“This is no longer up for discussion, Marta. She'll be leaving tonight,” he said firmly, not bothering to tell his sister that he'd be draining the bitch's body dry for failing to keep her safe.
“But, Christofer-”
“Tonight,” he bit out coldly, cutting his sister off before he hung up. He was in no mood to argue with his sister tonight. Allowing his sister to keep Cloe around had been a mistake, one that he wouldn't allow her to repeat. It had been foolish to bring someone else into their home when she had him.
He slowed his pace to a walk once he came in view of his house. His eyes shot over to Cloe's parked SUV as he allowed his fangs to finally slide down. Tonight he was going to drink the blood that had been tormenting him for over a week and he was going to fucking savor every last drop of it, he decided with a predatory grin when he heard the second, more frantic, heartbeat coming from the backyard.
He headed towards the backyard, more than eager to fire the bitch.
Chapter 9
He followed the sounds of her erratic heartbeat to the old shed and growled in anticipation as the scent of her fear hit him, hard. His cock hardened painfully just thinking about sinking his teeth into her beautiful skin, but he knew that he wouldn't do anything more than drain her. She wasn't worth more than that.
She'd fucked up big time and he was not the forgiving type. Against his better judgment, she'd been entrusted with the care of his sister and had failed miserably. Marta had been abandoned and left to fend for herself, something he hadn't allowed in over forty years and he wouldn't tolerate now.
Another wave of her fear hit him and his knees nearly buckled in ecstasy. He inhaled deeply, savoring the aroma. It had been so damn long since he'd fed from the source. He could hardly wait to rip open the shed door and tear into her throat, but he forced himself to savor the moment.
He considered thanking his sister for warning Cloe that she was in danger, but knew it would probably be a long time before Marta spoke to him again. At the moment he simply didn't care. Marta had known the danger she was courting when she’d invited the young woman to live with them. Nobody knew better than Marta what he was capable of.
If she really thought warning Cloe to make a run for it would save her then she'd been sadly mistaken. Marta would have been better off keeping the woman protectively by her side. He would never release the monster inside of him in front of his sister, not again, and she had to have known that. Warning Cloe so that she could run only fueled his need and with Marta out of the way there was nothing in this world that was going to stop this.
He reached out and turned the doorknob, chuckling darkly when he found it locked. Did she really think that she could keep him out with a flimsy lock? Marta must not have explained the situation very well. Otherwise, Cloe would have tried to escape him by using her car instead of trying to hide from him. Not that it would have made much of a difference in the end. After what she did tonight he would have gladly hunted her down.
With a small flick of his wrist he broke the lock and jerked the door open. Even in the pitch black shed it didn't take him long to find her. The darker an area, the brighter everything appeared to him. She sat against the opposite wall with her arms wrapped around her indrawn knees. She looked absolutely terrified, Christofer noted with morbid satisfaction.
“Cloe,” he said softly, wanting to watch her fear explode before he took her. She was going to suffer for every second of fear that she'd caused his sister. He would make sure-
“Christofer?” she mumbled around a small sob as she awkwardly got to her feet and rushed him. He didn't even bother preparing himself for her attack, knowing there was absolutely nothing she could do that he wouldn't heal from.
“Christofer!” she cried softly as she......
Threw herself into his arms?
What. The. Hell?
Her legs wrapped tightly around his waist as her arms circled around his neck, damn near cutting off his air supply, not that he needed it. She panted quietly against the crook of his neck as her body trembled almost violently in his arms.
/> Christofer stood there for a moment, stunned. After a slight hesitation, his arms came around her and held her tightly against him, unable to help himself. It had been so damn long since someone willingly went to him, never mind touched him like this. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, savoring the aroma of adrenaline and fear as it poured off her. The combination mixed with her already enticing blood was too much for him to take.
He licked his lips in anticipation as his eyes latched onto a patch of beautiful tan skin just below her neck as he moved in for a taste. As much as he wanted to savor the moment, he knew that he'd probably tear into her throat and lose control when the first drop of her blood hit his tongue. It had been far too long since he’d fed from the source and Cloe's blood was too damn-