Bite of Cinder

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

CynthiaI fought through the drowsiness as my mind screamed for me to run. The entire night was one very freaky nightmare that I needed to escape.

Shaking the last of the cobwebs of sleep from my mind, I looked into Roan's sleeping face. Freaking Roan. The rock star whose voice had been my constant companion for the last four years while I was going through college.

Alright, maybe this nightmare had handsome perks. Maybe I could stay here a little longer and enjoy the moment. Roan was hot, and he had his hands around me while he slept. In a mausoleum.

Nope, I needed to get out of here.

Careful not to wake him up, I lifted his arm from my waist and slipped out of the sizable coffin.

Oh, god, he was sleeping in a coffin. A big one, sure, but still a coffin. Why?

A hand clamped over my mouth as someone grabbed me from behind. I tried to scream, but only a muffled sound came out.

“Easy, kitten. Do as I tell you, and I’ll consider not killing you tonight.” That sounded disturbingly a lot like Nick Hart.

I tried to pull away, but his arms tightened around me, immobilizing me against his hard, cold chest. I was so dead.

If I knew I was going to die this young, I never would have gone to college. What a waste of time.

The darkness wrapped around me and lifted me up. Somehow, when my feet touched the ground again, I was in an unfamiliar room. Hart was still holding me from behind. His hand was still clamped over my mouth.

Slowly, he walked me toward the heavy drape that covered a giant window. He grabbed my wrist and pushed my hand past the thick fabric into the morning sunlight. His own fingers remained in the shadow.

His fingers were so cold against my skin, I could almost believe he was a vampire, but if he was, then so were Roan and Golden, and those two were warm.

He just had bad circulation. That must be it. Psychos with poor circulation were real–vampires were not.

After a good minute of holding my hand in the sun, Hart pulled me back, then released me. His eyes stayed on my hand, though, like he couldn’t believe I even had one.

“You’re warm,” he mumbled. “And the sun doesn’t burn you.”

“Yeah. See? None of that vampire crap,” I answered, but I was telling it to myself more than to him. “I’m human. An exhausted one who wants to go home. And not become a sacrifice. Or get drugged. Or whatever else you do out here.”

He looked me up and down and licked his lips. “You’re wearing different clothes.”

I looked down at myself, just now realizing I got kidn*pped by Roan–freaking Roan–in my pajamas. The one with unicorns. Why couldn’t I wear something cute and classy this one time I got kidn*pped by a rock star? This night needed a do-over.

"Um...yeah," I answered oh so eloquently.

"Your dress must've been enchanted to make you look skinny."

Did he just...I needed silver bullets covered in holy water. No. Screw bullets. That would be too fast of a death for him. I needed garlic bread I could throw at his evil face. A handsome face that I wanted to slobber all over like some over-eager puppy.

Hart started circling me like a lion. Any moment now, he would go for the kill.

"I ate garlic knots for dinner," I shouted at him.

His smirk brought out a dimple. Someone this evil should not have adorable dimples. That was just rude.

Hart came closer. "You smell like flowers."

"But I taste like garlic. I swear I do. I brushed my teeth, so I might not smell like it, but inside, I'm ninety percent garlic."

He took another step toward me. I tried to back away, but my back hit the wall. Slowly, as if afraid he might spook me–too late for that–Hart brushed my cheek with two fingers.

"Where did Golden bite you?"

"My lip," I answered, then remembered myself. "That was before I ate garlic. That's the only thing that saved him."

Hart glided his finger over my lips. "He couldn't have gotten more than a drop of your blood."

"Please, don't eat me."

"That would be a very stupid thing to do," came a new voice from my right.

I jumped at the sound. Had Blister been standing there this whole time? I could've sworn Hart and I had been alone.

"Probably," Hart agreed.

Wait, was he agreeing with not eating me or that we had been alone here? But to agree with the latter, he'd have to be able to read my mind. That would be extra rude.

"We should just kill her and be done with it," Blister said. Because he was an asshole.

But Hart was nice, right? He just had a prickly exterior. Please, dear God, let Hart have a soft and gooey center.

"Probably."

Like a strong, independent woman, I let out a pitiful sound and started to cry.

"Stop that," Hart said as he wiped the tear that rolled down my cheek.

Like a strong, independent woman, I didn't stop crying. Because I do what I want, and no man can tell me not to.

Blister rolled his eyes and stepped closer, his hand out as sharp claws came out of his fingers.

Hart shoved him back without breaking eye contact with me. "Stop crying. You're a sun fae who survived being bitten by a vampire. Do you know what that makes you?"

"Miserable," I wailed. "I wasted the best years of my life in college."

He frowned at that. Probably because he never had to die a month before graduation.

Something big zoomed through the air and smashed into us. Hart let go of me. That something big was shirtless and covered in glitter.

I scrambled to my feet and darted behind Golden. Hart rose slowly, like this was a minor inconvenience.

Not waiting to get jumped, Golden grabbed my hand and wrapped us in shadows, then transported us to a different room. Unlike everything else I’ve seen in the mansion, this room was furnished with modern furniture, all black metal and glass.

“Sorry about Hart and Blister,” Golden said like those two did something as minor as shoulder check me and not something as not minor at all as plotting my murder.

“That’s okay,” I answered because I could totally imagine that it was just shoulder checking. It was easier that way.

“I thought Roan would keep you safe from them. Golden ran a hand through his hair as he looked around the room, then gestured at a very uncomfortable-looking leather couch. “Would you like to sit?”

“Thanks.” I sat in the very corner and pulled my legs up as if making myself small would do anything to help the situation.

“I have an hour at most before the sun gets the better of me,” he said, but the drapes were tightly shut. There was no way the sun could even reach him. “I’d like to explain what happened and what you can expect in the next few days.”

My breath left me in a whoosh. “Oh, good. I’ll get to live a little longer. Can we extend it by another month? I’d really like to graduate from college.”

He gave me a funny look. Probably because he also never had to die this close to graduation.

“I don’t know if you can finish college unless all your classes are after dark. You’re not fully turned yet, so the sun will have a lesser effect on you now, but within days, it’ll become deadly. Just being awake during the day will drain you.”

Well, that sucked. “My graduation is during the day. And I have finals next week. I can't miss my finals. I studied for them.”

That sucked so bad. I didn’t go through four years of college just to end up a college dropout this close to graduation. And a blood-sucking dropout at that. And maybe a dead one if Hart and Blister got their way.

Getting killed by members of my favorite band a month before graduation was officially my least favorite way to die.

“I’m sorry,” Golden said, his voice turning gentle like he was worried I might burst into tears. He wasn’t wrong. “If I knew you weren’t one hundred percent human, I never would’ve approached you.”

“But I am one hundred percent human.” And I was crying again. In front of Golden. I never looked cute while crying.

“You’re not.” He scooted closer to me and put his hand on my knee. “I can feel you turning. The vampire blood can only bind to magic, so you can’t be a hundred percent human.”

I shook his hand off me and got up. Turning me into a vampire and ruining my graduation was just rude.

The noise outside the window drew my attention, and I went to take a peek. Golden rushed to me faster than I could blink and pushed me away.

“Just because the sun won’t kill you yet doesn’t mean it won’t hurt,” he said.

I shoved at his chest, hoping I suddenly gained superhuman strength and it would launch him to the other side of the room. Spoiler: I did not have superhuman strength. Golden didn’t move an inch.

“Hart already shoved my hand into the sunlight, and I was fine,” I said and tried to push him again. “Golden, let me go.”

“Call me Felix,” he said and carefully stepped away, but his body was tense, ready to pounce on me at any moment. And not in a sexy way.

“Oh, I get to hear your real name, but only after you bit me?”

I turned away from him. That will show him.

The voices outside reminded me that I wanted to see what was out there. I carefully moved the heavy curtain and looked at the lawn under the window. Hundreds of party goers were stumbling out, looking confused.

“What did you do to them?” I asked.

“They are unharmed,” Golden–Felix–answered.

“Yeah, they’re so unharmed they all have amnesia.”

“We mesmerized them into forgetting. It doesn’t hurt.”

I let the curtain fall back into place as I turned to glare at Felix. “You just wiped their memories for fun?”

“No, but they are unharmed,” he answered slowly, carefully. “Would you like to know what will happen to you in the next few days?”

“Nice topic change, but yes, I would.”