Void(6)

I hated him so much.

I hated his smooth, deep voice, and the way he read my personal words like they were amusing to him. “Render. Put it down, or I’ll scream and wake up the entire wing.”

He just laughed at me. “Go ahead. Scream, Void,” he said with a twisted curl of his lip. “It wouldn’t be the first time I had a woman screaming in the bedroom.”

“You’re disgusting.”

He cast a critical look up and down my body. “Believe me, Void, you’re the last person I’d ever take to bed,” he said, making embarrassing heat stain my cheeks. “And the longer you stand there, the more entries I’m going to read. So I suggest you hurry.”

Turning on my heel, I marched into my closet and threw open the door, grabbing my duffel.

“December twenty-sixth,” Render’s voice rang out, making red haze fall over my eyesight and my mouth fill with bitterness. “My mother sent me a pair of socks for Christmas and a note that she’s extended my stay here for another year. Looks like I’m not getting out of this prison when I’m sixteen like my father offered. She called him and ripped him a new one for even suggesting it. Merry fucking Christmas to me.”

I packed as fast as I could. Every entry he read was worse than the last. My father missed one of the school’s family dinners. My mother wrote to tell me she was disappointed in my grades. Again. Reed was bullied. I snuck out for a date with a human guy, but he’d stood me up. The girls at the school picked on me. I complained about how I was unwanted. Unloved. Hated. Feared. One after the other, the blows kept coming until my eyes were burning, and I was so humiliated that my hands shook.

Render followed me to the bathroom, still reading, and I simply pulled out my drawer and dumped everything inside the duffel. “There. Done,” I said, my hand outstretched. “Now hand it over.”

“What a sad, lonely little life you’ve lived, Void. It seems no one likes you at all.”

I knew he was purposely being a dick because of what I was. He didn’t really know me. At least, that was what I kept telling myself.

I said nothing, my eyes refusing to blink in case a tear fell down. After a long moment of him watching me, he finally closed the journal and slapped it down onto my open palm. I shoved it into my duffel and zipped it shut.

“Let’s go.”

Reed turned on his heel and walked out, and I was forced to follow behind him. I looked back at my bedroom, feeling slightly forlorn. He was right. I did have a sad, lonely little life. But at least within the walls of my bedroom, I was somewhat shielded. At least living here with humans had allowed me to hide away from the hateful looks and wishes for my death. It was exactly why I didn’t put up a fight when Mother stayed away. There was nothing out there in the super world for me except for a controlling council who liked to use me when they needed and then shove me away in a drawer when they were done with me.

“Let me just say goodbye to my friend,” I asked, though I didn’t know why I even bothered.

Render sneered at me. “That’s funny, I seem to be feeling a bit thirsty. Maybe saying goodbye to your friend isn’t such a bad idea,” he said, the threat obvious.

“Never mind,” I mumbled. I hoped I’d be back before Reed even knew I was gone.

“Smart choice,” Render replied, flashing his fangs. “Now, we’re taking a portal to the vamp community in LA. I hope your little amulet is prepared to work overtime,” he called over his shoulder with a smirk.

My heart drummed. Portals were powerful magic that made it hard to hold back the Void. I didn’t just crave supes, anything with power had me salivating.

“I got it under control,” I gritted.

“For your sake, I hope you do.”





Chapter 2





I’d never been to a vampire community.

They didn’t always play well with elementals, and my mother had been an elemental before… Nope. I refused to think about that.

I’d only heard stories about the tall, black skyscrapers in the hidden city with blood banks on every corner. The whole place was spelled to repel humans, and even other supernaturals had to have permission to visit it. I was probably one of the few non-vampires to see it. Vamps were notoriously reclusive, and they rarely interacted with the other communities. But that was true for most of the supernatural races. They didn’t play well with each other.

“Close your mouth. You look like an idiot,” Render snapped while brushing stray magic off his suit.

I didn’t pay him any mind, openly gawking at the city before us. I’d managed to travel through the portal without passing out, but I’d nearly gnawed a hole through my lip from the nothingness pushing to be let out.

“Where are we going?” I asked while struggling to keep up with his long strides on the stone streets.

I was busy taking everything in. I’d been in the human world for so long that it was jarring to be in the presence of other supernaturals again. All this power...it was intoxicating. My amulet was working overtime so that I wouldn’t drain everyone dry.

I looked up at the grayish, dusty hue of the sky. The city was spelled to block the sun, so only the bright lights of the billboards and skyscrapers lit up the streets. It was a modern-looking city, designed with sleek, contemporary elements. Everything looked pristine and polished, from the black steel and mirrored glass of the buildings to the expensive cars and unblemished sidewalks.