Chapter 1
“Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.”
Alfred Tennyson
"SWEET,"A MALE VOICE SAYS. "Michel's little pet. He's not being very careful with you."
I blink, my eyes focusing slowly, pain throbbing in my head. I sit in a chair with my arms bound behind my back. A man in his twenties with reddish blond hair to his shoulders stands directly in front of me.
I glance around, trying to get my bearings. We're in an office in what looks like a warehouse filled with rows and rows of furniture stacked high.
"I'm not his pet."
"Oh, yeah? Then what's up with the bite on your neck? Moles?"
"What bite mark?"
He smiles at me as if I'm a child.
"That one," he says and points.
"It's not a bite," I say but I can't be sure. My hands are tied. Then I remember my dream from last night.
"Sure, sweetheart, and this," he says and points to a wound on his neck, "is just a birthmark. It just so happens to be in the shape of a vampire bite. You know, one of those freaks of nature like Elvis on an English muffin?"
I sit helpless, all my so-called vampire hunter fight skills worthless.
"What are you going to do with me?"
He comes closer and bends down, lifting up a piece of my hair with a dagger.
"I'm not going to do anything with you, but I think my boss has a few ideas and will want to come and have a little visit. If Michel doesn't show up soon, he's going to claim tribute and keep you for himself."
There's nothing I can do or say. I feel helpless at that moment and close to panic. Finally, the man leaves me alone with another bulky guy in leather who smokes a cigarette, flicking the ashes towards me in disdain.
Time passes – I have no idea how long but soon I start to really worry that Michel won't come.
Finally, the first man returns and stands in front of me.
"Time's up, Eve. I guess Michel needs a bit more convincing because he hasn't arrived."
I want to say he's out of town, but don't know if I should so I keep silent. He holds out the dagger and lowers it to my sweater, cutting the buttons so that it opens to reveal my bra.
"Stop," I say, trying to move away but I'm trapped.
He cuts the strap between the cups and my breasts spill out and there's nothing I can do about it. The two men stand and gawk at me and soon, my cheeks are hot and I avert my eyes. Then, the man slides the blade across my left breast above the nipple, drawing blood and I gasp with the pain of the knife blade. He holds a tiny glass vial up to catch some of the blood as it drips off my breast. He puts the stopper on the vial and stands admiring me as I sit there, helpless.
"I should take a picture. Post it on the 'net at one of those vampire fetish websites. Lotta guys would pay good money to watch. Like a piece of art. Hey, Jim, doesn't she look like a piece of art with that line of blood dripping down her tit, her nipples all puckered?"
Another man enters the room and the blond jumps out of the way, and stands to the side, his head down. The strange man is taller than the other two and lean, with long dark hair. I blink away tears and see that he's a vampire from his pale skin.
"Enough fun," he says and holds his hand out. The guard passes him the small vial of my blood. Then, the vampire kneels down in front of me, his gaze fixed on the bleeding cut on my breast, his eyes momentarily reddening. "Boys, didn't I tell you not to play with the pets? You should have taken the blood from her arm, not her breast. Now, Michel will be angry. Leave us."
The two men leave the room and I'm alone with the vampire. He looks really young – early twenties. Maybe even as young as me.
"So you're Michel's new pet," he says, his voice soft, his eyes flicking to my face momentarily before moving back to my wound. "You're pretty, but you've got a lot to learn about what a vampire likes. Your clothes," he says and waves a gloved hand at my sweater and jeans. "Not very flattering. You've got to wear something a bit more revealing. Put your hair up, expose your neck. Show some leg. You look like a college student."