A Shade of Doubt (A Shade of Vampire #12)(26)

I’d been expecting him to arrive at some point.

Unlike my mother, he immediately leapt into the water. It seemed that he was the only one who could match my speed. He caught up with me and, gripping my arm, pulled me round to face him. “Ben,” he repeated, staring at me with a mixture of concern and horror. His grip around my arm tightened. “You need to drink the blood your mother gave you.”

I growled and pulled away from his grasp, swimming further up the shore. My father caught up with me again, gripping me firmer this time and pulling me toward the shore. I thrashed against him, but he kept holding me and wrestled me into submission. By the time we reached the shore, I was still fighting against him.

He pinned me down against the sand, my arms locked in an arm bar behind me as he forced me to stand up.

“If you don’t fill yourself with animal blood, you won’t be able to keep yourself from attacking humans.”

I stopped struggling against my father as a moment of clarity fell upon me.

So this is what it’s like to be a vampire.

At that moment, I didn’t understand why I’d ever wanted to become one. Had I known this was what it would feel like, I doubted I ever would have wanted to turn. Of course, my parents had described what it was like. But no words could have prepared me for the pain burning through me now.

Still gripping my arm tightly, my father ran with me until we reached my mother and Abby, waiting for us on the shore. I allowed my father to lead me back to the penthouse. My chest heaved as I stared at the animal blood still waiting for me on the table.

My hands trembling, I picked up the glass.

“Just hold your nose and swallow it back,” he said.

I glared at him, but did as he said. With one swift motion, I swallowed back half the glass in one gulp. Closing my eyes, I tried to ignore the revolting taste. I was about to swallow down the rest of the glass when I doubled over, coughing. I retched all the blood I’d just swallowed onto the floor.

It was completely involuntary, as though my body was having an allergic reaction to it. I leaned against the back of the chair, my mother wiping my mouth with a towel. When I looked up at them, both were looking at me with concern.

“I can’t drink that stuff,” I breathed, before retching again. “I… I need proper blood. Human blood.”

I could barely believe the words spilling from my own mouth.

My parents exchanged worried glances.

“We can try injecting you with blood,” my father said. “At least that will help to ease some of the burning.”

“I’ll go to Corrine’s medical room in the Sanctuary and fetch some equipment,” my mother said and hurried off out of the door.

I groaned, sinking into a chair, gripping my head in my hands. In addition to my burning insides, I now felt a splitting headache coming on.

My father sat down next to me, watching me silently.

I looked up at him. “Is this normal?” I managed, clutching my abdomen.

My father frowned. “Detesting animal blood is normal. Throwing it up isn’t,” he said bluntly.

I squeezed the sides of the table, another wave of hunger roaring through my stomach.

“And being injected with animal blood,” I gasped, “it will make the burning stop?”

“The craving for human blood will remain, but the burning will calm down. It won’t be as unbearable…” He pointed to the jug of blood. “Why don’t you try once more to stomach it while we’re waiting for Mom to return?”

I shook my head. “No, I’ll just wait—”

Barely had I finished my sentence when there was a knock at the door. I breathed out in relief. My father sprang to his feet and opened it. I turned my head, expecting to see my mother back already.

Instead, my eyes fell on four girls. Girls I recognized, but suddenly could not put a name to as a darkness settled over my eyes.

Two voices spoke at once amid giggling.

“We heard Ben has woken up.”

“We wanted to say hi.”

“Get the hell out of here!” my father bellowed.

He was about to close the door on them, but with speed I didn’t understand, my foot lodged through the crack and before my father could even grab me to hold me back, I’d caught a girl—I didn’t even have the sense to know which. I felt her squirming beneath me as I brought her to the ground. A split second later, my fangs found her neck. Her screams in my ear only added to my frenzy as her warm blood began to gush into my mouth, dripping down my throat like smooth, sweet ecstasy. Finally, the satisfaction I’d been seeking ever since I’d first woken as this beast.

It was a struggle to even feel the guilt amid the waves of pleasure crashing over me. It was only once my father managed to pry me off the girl that I realized what I’d done.

I’d just claimed my first life.

The life of my ex-girlfriend, Yasmine Renner.

Chapter 17: Derek

I could hardly believe my eyes. I was hoping that somehow this was a dream. That I’d wake up and Ben would still be locked safely in his bedroom. And yet here I was, a young woman’s blood soaking my hands, staring at deep wounds in her neck caused by my own son.

At first I hoped there might be some hope of saving her. But I soon realized that she was cold in my arms.

“No,” I breathed. “No.”