Putting one foot in front of the other, I make my way home. I’m a little drunk, but nothing I’m not used to. Normally, when I’m drunk or high, I don’t dream, and I’m looking forward to a night full of rest. I hate to admit I use them more than not, but if I have to have shitty nights, I might as well enjoy the time I am awake.
“Excuse me,” a voice says from behind me. It sounds like thick chocolate swirled on a spoon. I turn around and see something I thought wasn’t real. My body freezes in fear as all the alcohol in my system zaps out. This can’t be true. It’s only supposed to be a dream.
“What... who... how can this be real?” I stutter. My shock leads to a moment of stupidity. I should run, not ask questions. Just as he’s about to respond, I turn and try to outrun the thing that’s plagued me for years.
* * *
Theron
Shit. She’s running. How the hell did she recognize Julius? She couldn’t have known him. If she did, we would have been cured of this curse long ago. Draven expects her move and grabs her before she can run farther.
Her gasp of surprise at seeing his face causes me to wrinkle my forehead and frown. There is something here we’re missing.
“How can you know who we are?” Draven asks, holding her struggling frame. She’s small, but she has some amazing strength in her. She’ll make an excellent mate.
“You’re not real. This is not real. Let me go!” she screams.
She’s causing a scene. It’s only a matter of time before people stare.
Walking up to them, I grab her face and watch as her eyes widen in fear. I push my magic out and watch her go limp. A witch gifted my magic to me not long after I was cursed. When it destroyed us, she took pity and gave me something that would help throughout the years.
“Let’s get her out of here before she wakes up,” I say, walking over to the car we have parked near the entrance of the club. No one is watching us as we place the passed out woman in the back of the car. I smirk to myself, thinking about the stupidity of humans.
Twenty minutes later, we pull up to the condo. The doorman, a hired vampire, ignores us, knowing we like to party after hours.
“Is she okay?” Julius asks, wiping a strand of her from her face. He’s tender with her, but I’m a raging ball of fire inside. The need to sink my teeth into her skin has my mouth watering.
Draven places her on the couch as soon as I unlock the door. She stirs for just a moment and then rests again. I look at the guys and wonder how we are going to go about this. The anticipation of what it means to finally get rid of the curse makes my fangs pop out. The hunger is so strong, stronger than all these years. I feel like a teenager about to lose his virginity.
“I say we change her while she sleeps. She won’t know any better, and the curse will be lifted.,” Draven says, not thinking of the choice we’re taking from her. We’ll be giving her immortality, but it will be at a price. She’ll hate us for it.
“I think we should let her decide. It’s only right. We didn’t get a choice, and look where that got us,” Julius says.
I nod in agreement, but can see the appeal of Draven’s suggestion. While his way might be easier, it’s also cowardly, but I can’t feel remorse, only the throbbing of my hunger.
A loud gasp grabs our attention. Springing up from the couch, eyes wide with terror, she screams. She scrambles until she hits the floor to ceiling windows. Glancing behind herself, she realizes there is nowhere to go. She’s trapped.
“Where am I? How did I get here?” she asks, looking like a deer who just scented a predator. I feel bad for her, but I’m a selfish bastard who just wants this all to end.
“You’re in our home, and we need to discuss something with you,” Draven says, taking a seat on the couch, trying to look non-threatening, which is a joke because he’s the biggest of the three of us. He looks like a linebacker and a bodybuilder had a baby.
“I’m not discussing anything with you. I’m not staying here with you. Let me go,” she howls. She’s genuinely horrified, and I can’t figure out why. “This can’t be happening. It’s just a dream. It’s a fucking dream. It’s not real. I’ll wake up,” she murmurs to herself.
“A dream? What do you mean, a dream?” I ask.
That seems to snap her out of her frenzy. She looks up at me and starts crying. Her face is crestfallen. She looks like she’s about to concede as she stands before us, defeated.
“The dream where you rip my throat out and I become a bloodthirsty vampire,” she says.
Well, shit.