Page 1 of Royal Bite
Downtown Wichita, Kansas, was no place to be once the sun went down. Stormey Jaymes scurried along the sidewalk with terror in her heart. Sounds coming from an alleyway left her fearing for her life.
It was the sound of vampires feeding.
And it didn’t appear to be consensual.
Stormy knew better than to leave this late. Her manager at the Jade Inn had called her, asking if she could pick up a shift.
Another employee had gone missing, and they were short on housekeepers.
Even though today had been her only day off for the week, Stormey had accepted the offer. The pay at the inn wasn’t the best, but it was something. Every penny she earned would be put to good use.
The inhuman screams that echoed behind her sent her heart racing. She was practically running at this point.
Two more blocks and she would be at work. It would be safe there. She vowed that the next time they called her in, she would come right away so she wouldn’t get caught out late.
On her one day off each week, she spent the entire day volunteering at the orphanage. She had a soft spot in her heart when it came to children who were the forgotten casualties of the war. So many were left without anyone to love them.
Stormey knew what it felt like to lose the two people who had meant the world to her. At the young age of three, she had lost her father in the war and then her mother to cancer. She could barely remember their faces, and to be quiet honest, she wasn’t certain the images she held dear were their real faces.
What if the images were something her brain had concocted all of these years? Stormey didn’t want to even consider it was a possibility. She blocked that notion from her brain.
She had been so young, and there was no family to take her in, so she’d become a ward of the state. Many of her years as a youth were spent growing up in an orphanage. She may not have had family who were blood related, but she had an extended family who helped her navigate life. She had a claim of about twenty brothers and sisters who had been her rock throughout her younger years.
She just wished she would have been able to keep in communication with most of them, but thanks to the war, she had lost touch with some.
Footsteps thudded behind her. Stormey dared not turn around. She had watched plenty of the older films from before the war that showed what happened when someone did that in those horror movies. It was a favorite pastime she loved to indulge in whenever she could get the chance.
The person behind her quickened their pace. There was a growing number of rogue vampires in their town who didn’t follow the vampire laws. They did what they wanted and didn’t heed the rules.
Stormey knew all about the vampire laws. She had been infatuated with learning all about this new race of beings from the moment she’d been old enough to understand what a vampire was. When she wasn’t volunteering at the orphanage she was reading as much as she could to learn about the vampires.
According to folklore, vampires were the undead who were stronger, faster, and needed to consume blood to live. They were allergic to sunlight and lived long lives.
But Stormey knew she couldn’t believe everything she had heard. Vampires weren’t the undead.
They were pretty much beings who were alive, just like humans, only with a different thirst.
Only, humans were their food and apparently could be their mates.
And one of them was probably behind her. More footsteps could be heard.
“Oh, look at what we have here,” a deep, raspy voice called out from behind, confirming her suspicion.
She tried to move faster but she felt their presence behind her. Stormey’s vision blurred. This was not the way she had hoped to die. She had figured she would live a long, full life, find a life partner, and maybe have a kid or two.
Maybe fate had something else planned for her.
She was yanked back and thrown into a brick building by an unseen assailant. Their strength was definitely not human. Stormey was a pleasantly plump woman weighing around two hundred and fifty pounds. She wasn’t blessed in the height factor, but the Lord had seen fit to give her ample curves and a plush body. She glanced to her left and saw she was practically steps from the inn.
Damn, she was going to die on her way to work.
“Such a pretty thing like you shouldn’t be out at night by yourself,” the voice rumbled.
Stormey winced, the foul, warm breath of the vampire greeting her. They trapped her, three of them standing before her. Laughter and growls filled area. More vampires raced by as if in a pack. Her eyes widened at the number of vampires running around on the loose.
What the hell was going on?
Screams pierced the air. These vampires were on the attack and causing a ruckus. These attacks always came in waves. Usually, Stormey would be safe and secure inside when they occurred.
