Page 102 of Cruel Destinies

I watched in horror as Goldie pounced at Piper. I never considered that the vampire cats might have inherited enhanced strength, but that was confirmed as the impact of the cat sent Piper crashing against the baby grand. One of Piper’s elbows slammed into several keys as she fell.

Goldie had latched her paws into the thick sweatshirt Piper wore, and she went tumbling along with the shrieking young woman.

Piper sprawled on her back as she landed on the floor, then screamed in pain as Goldie lunged for her neck.

“It’s biting me!” she cried, trying to tear Goldie away. “Get it off!”

I sped to Piper’s side and slung an arm under the attacking cat, feeling Goldie’s tightly coiled muscles. I pulled gently at first, but the cat had sunk its claws deeper into Piper—past her clothing. And the cat didn’t budge. I threw Rainbow a lookjust to make sure he didn’t jump into the fray, and found him sitting on his hind end, watching us with amused interest.

I pulled harder, but Goldie still didn’t yield, and the attempt only increased Piper’s screaming. It also increased the cat’s wildness.

Piper squirmed and cried, begging the cat to stop. Blood soaked through her sweatshirt. The smell was fresh and warm, and it called to me—tempted me. I gritted my teeth, ignoring it just as I’d forced myself to do so many times in the past. And yet, it didn’t seem so difficult this time. In the end, all blood paled in comparison to Shea’s.

At last, I resigned myself. Goldie wasn’t about to stop.

“Don’t watch this, if you can help it,” I yelled above the screams, not knowing if Piper had the capacity to even try to hear me at this point.

Reaching a hand up, I grabbed Goldie by the neck. I closed my own eyes and set my jaw, then twisted and pulled with all my vampire strength. Ignoring the sickening sounds that followed, I felt Goldie’s body go limp, her claws retracting in the process.

Piper jumped to her feet, holding a hand to her neck. She teetered for a few moments, and I dropped the two parts of Goldie to help stabilize my Initiate. I noticed that her glasses had fallen off, and there were several cuts along her face and chin.

Through painful sobs, she said, “Itoldyou those cats aren’t normal. That monster was drinking my blood!”

The mere mention of blood caused me to lick my lips subconsciously, but I caught myself. I hated this curse—was disgusted by my need for blood.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” I said, helping her to the bathroom. Rainbow ran by us and began whining as he approached the lifeless body of Goldie.

“They’re vampire cats,” she wailed in a crazed tone. “Nobody has ever told me about vampire animals. None of my classes at Heritage Prep—”

“I...think they’re a new thing,” I interrupted quickly, not wanting to explain further.

Thankfully, a knock sounded at the door.

“I’d better go get that,” I said. “I’ll just close the bathroom door and let you take care of yourself. I’m afraid I don’t have any bandages, but there are towels under the sink.” I knew it would have been the courteous thing to lick her wound closed, but I was honestly a little sore about having to kill my cat for her.

I heard Piper curse under her breath as I shut the door, just in time to hear my doorbell ring.

An anxiety I hadn’t had time to think about crawled up my spine. Who had come knocking?Nobodyever came to my door, especially not on Christmas Eve. In fact, this was the first Christmas season in a long time I’d hadanycompany. What if the hunter who’d attacked us four days prior had managed to track us back to my apartment?

I bent over to look through the peephole in the door, and relief washed over me. It was the concierge...holding a present?

Hesitantly, I opened the door and poked my head out.

“Hello there,” I said, eyeing the man. “Can I help you?”

The concierge bowed, then handed me the holiday bag that was decked out in silver and gold with white snowflakes all around.

“Merry Christmas, sir. A young woman stopped in this morning and asked that I bring you this gift.”

Shea. There was only one young woman who’d have the audacity to give me a gift—like a certain sweater with a kitten on it that had somehow managed to make its way into my closet.

I accepted the bag and tipped my head forward. “Thank you, and Merry Christmas.”

The concierge smiled and nodded, then turned away. I quickly shut the door.

Sure enough, there was a tag attached to the handle, and on it was written a single letter—anSwith curly ends where each curl ended.

“Who was at the door?” Piper asked from the bathroom.

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