When did it become so hot? I wondered as I felt heat pulsating through my body. Then there was silence. The night had grown hushed, the kind of quiet where you could hear a pin drop. Or was I just imagining it? Where was I again? And where were Damien and the other guy? And where was Devin?
As my body convulsed violently and fire filled my veins, I forced myself to sit up. Something surged in my chest, hot and painful. I squinted my eyes, my pupils refusing to cooperate. My heart raced, the beat irregular. Everything seemed different somehow. Like it was red and hot. Was the world on fire? No. The pain twisted inside of me, non-relenting, pulling at me from deep inside and taking me to the very edge of what I could stand. My breath caught and I felt light headed. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and opened them again, forcing myself to focus harder. Red spots formed before my eyes. I blinked. My eyes squeezed shut again. I felt so much horror, because I knew the truth. I had known what they were and I knew what I was becoming.
I felt the pain overtaking me, gripping my very being. I would have fought it, but I was too tired. My strength was gone. So I let myself disappear into the red, hot darkness. The lights grew dimmer behind my eyelids as red-hot bolts of pain ripped through my body. It was a savage, fierce, stabbing agony that felt as if it would rip my body to pieces. I felt myself sinking into a dark swirling vortex of nothing. Afraid, I forced my eyes open again. New spots formed before my eyes, these white and dizzying.
I think I may have been in and out of consciousness through the pain. The next thing that I remember was hearing voices arguing. The voices belonged to Devin and Damien. Devin! There was also a female voice which I was sure was Kya’s. “Fight it, Nicole! Fight it!” I heard Devin call out to me.
It took all the strength I could muster to bring myself up to a sitting position. My eyes roamed, seeking the whereabouts of the voices I could still hear. Finally my eyes locked on Devin’s. He was fighting Damien while Kya stood back and watched, grinning cruelly. Devin! I had to help Devin! That was all I could think of at the moment.
I forced myself up only to stumble and fall back to the ground. The fire burning inside me felt like it was getting hotter by the second. I screamed out as I forced myself up a second time. Again I fell to the ground. I’ll not go down like this, I thought as I found the strength to pull myself up a third time. My legs were shaky, but this time I did not falter.
It took awhile for my eyes to focus on the scene that lie in front of me. Devin and Damien were tearing each other apart. And Kya… Wait, where was Kya? I closed my eyes and reopened them. Then I saw her. She was heading right for me – a look of sheer determination and hatred displayed on her face. Bring it on, bitch, I thought as I forced myself into a fighting stance. My own fierce determination startled me. Suddenly, when she was maybe twenty or so feet away, she stopped. She seemed to be listening to something I couldn’t quite hear. Then she turned and began running in the opposite direction. “They’re coming!” she yelled.
I heard a blood-curdling howl. Nevaeh? Was that my dog I just heard? I turned my head in the direction of the noise. Yes, it was my dog. She was attacking the other man that had been with Damien and Kya. I watched as she tore him apart and he screamed for help.
I turned my attention back to Devin and Damien. Only now I didn’t see Devin. It was just Damien standing next to a crumpled body. Oh no, Devin, please don’t be dead, I thought as I stumbled forward toward him.
“They’re coming. We must leave now,” Kya repeated to Damien.
“Why don’t we stay and fight?” Damien asked.
“No, we’re not prepared for this kind of fight.” She turned her head to watch as my dog tore apart the other male vampire she had brought with.
Damien shrugged his shoulders and followed Kya back to the vehicle and they took off.
I finally reached the crumpled body lying in the field. It was Devin all right. I fell to my knees and began stroking his hair. I heard Nevaeh growling. She was still tearing that man apart. I turned my attention back to Devin. “It’s going to be okay,” I whispered. It was then that I noticed that his neck was broken and several of his limbs were separated from his body. He had fought for me and he had lost. He had died trying to protect me! It was all my fault.
I heard a familiar bark and turned my head to look. Coming toward me was my dog, Nevaeh. As she got closer, she stopped dead in her tracks and stared at me. Then she let out a loud moan, sat down, and howled at the moon. I turned my head and saw that the man was no longer writhing on the ground. He was now motionless. I leaned over Devin and tried to put him back together as I cried. It was no use. He was dead and I needed to accept that.
I pushed myself up and decided to go home. As I walked down the lonely dark country road toward my house, I couldn’t ignore the burning feeling in my throat. My world of nightmares had become my reality and I knew what I had become. My own face turned to stone and I released my pent up breath in a low hiss. Then I burst into uncontrollable laughter as I walked on. Nevaeh soon followed me, but she kept her distance.
“Shit!” Michael yelled out as he pounded the steering wheel.
“What is it?” Raphael asked.
“It’s happened. We’re too late. I can’t sense her presence at all now.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that either she is dead, or she has become one of them,” Michael replied as he looked over at Raphael. “It means we have failed.”
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Avengers of the Unavenged,
Book 2 in the Protector’s of the Light series…
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Chapter 1
I continued to walk down the dark lonely country road, laughing hysterically to myself. I mean what else was I gonna do? My nightmares had become my reality. Both the men I had ever loved were now dead and I was now a vampire. I shuddered at the thought.
I had given it everything I had… and I had lost. Sure I still had my life, but I was now marked for damnation. Devin’s words repeated themselves in my mind. ‘Nicole, you’re an angel’. I laughed even harder at the memory. Some angel I was! Devin was obviously delusional.
I felt the cold metal of the St. Michael medal I wore against my chest. I clasped it in my hand and pulled it off, then stared at it. “Some help you were,” I snarled as I threw the chain with the medal on it to the ground and kept walking. I could hear Nevaeh cry out several feet behind me, but I didn’t look back.
In no time, I had reached my house. The lights were all out and I was pretty sure everyone was sleeping inside. I crept around to the back door, retrieved the spare key under the mat, and unlocked the door. I slowly pushed it open and walked inside.
The house was quiet, as I had expected. I tiptoed up to my room, careful not to make a sound. I reached my bedroom and turned on the light. The brightness burned my eyes, so I quickly turned it off and switched on the nightlight instead. I looked down at myself and noticed how dirty and disheveled my clothes were, so I decided to take a bath and change them.
As I entered the bathroom, I came face to face with a mirror for the first time since the “incident”. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I took in my new appearance. Aside from the swelling, welts, and bruises, I was quite stunning to look at. It was how my new identity was designed after all, right? I mean everything about me was supposed to invite people in, wasn’t it? Attract them to me so that I could move in for the kill? My stomach churned and I spit at my reflection in the mirror.
I decided against taking a bath. I just lifted my old dress over my head and pulled on a new one. As I left the bathroom, my throat burned – a painful reminder of my thirst. I tiptoed down the hallway and stopped at the first room I came to. It was my mother’s. I slowly opened the door and peered inside. She was asleep with Kelly cuddled up next to her, clutching tightly to the teddy
bear I had bought for her. I took a few steps forward toward them and stopped dead in my tracks. I could actually hear their hearts beating and smell the sweet blood as it coursed through their veins. Suddenly my thirst was all I could think about.
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