The Vampire Gift 4: Darkness Rising by E.M. Knight

Author:E.M. Knight [Knight, E.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Edwards Publishing
Published: 2016-10-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

APRIL

ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE HAVEN

“You have to tell me where we’re going!” I plead as I follow James through the darkened forest.

He’s been unusually stoic the whole time. Nothing at all like the boastful, pompous vampire I remember from when I shared his bed.

Nothing at all like Phillip, I think with a little regretful sigh of lust.

James just plods on and on, unresponsive.

I don’t know what I expected being a vampire would be like—well, actually, I do—and it’s nothing like this.

The first thing I felt after being transformed was this awful, overpowering deference to all those around me. I’d always prided myself on my… on my pride. If there was one thing people couldn’t take away, no matter how much they hurt me, it was that.

But as soon as I awoke, and all my newly-enhanced senses crashed into me, the natural instinct to submit and bow my head to the vampires around was so strong as to be crippling. I could hardly force a cohesive sentence with it bearing down on me.

Of course, there’s the hunger. James caught a fox for me, a stupid little thing, and broke its neck before throwing it at my feet. He did it all without a word.

I took it as an invitation to feed. I sank my fangs into the creature’s neck.

The blood was awful. I nearly gagged. It was repulsive and thin and reminded me of drinking battery acid.

Not that I’d ever tried.

And then, this fear crept into me: are all my feedings going to be like this? I mean, obviously there’s a distinction between animal and human blood—but if I found the former so horrible, how much better would the latter be?

And how long will it take before I find out?

So far, my brief experience as a creature of the night has been one great disillusionment after another.

“James?” I say. “Please tell me. I can’t stand—”

“Gods, were you always so whiny?” he barks.

I wilt back. I’m afraid of rousing his anger.

“Sorry,” I whisper.

“You’ll see when we arrive,” he says, and plods onward.

Sorry, I mock myself in my head. God, how I hate that deference! Wanda never told me about such a thing when she spoke of being turned…

But then again, Wanda never had any direct experience with vampires, did she? My whole former cult was nothing but a great big fraud.

The worst thing? Toward James, I feel not just an enormous submissiveness… but also an inexplicable pull. It’s like he has control of the strings pulling my mind. All it takes is the slightest tug to make me instantly obey.

It’s how he got me to come with him so fast.

Is that because he was responsible for my creation, or is it something else?

The only advantage of this whole situation that I can think of is that I am now in possession of limitless time. I need not fear death or disease or aging again.

That makes me smile. I bring a hand up to my face and touch my cheek. I’m never going to develop any frown lines, or crow’s feet, or wrinkles.

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