Cross My Heart Read online

“No, they took your humanity away from you. You can’t age. You can’t go out in the sun or eat food. You can’t see your family ever again. You can’t have kids of your own. You will be forever twenty-six. You’re stuck like this, because they kidnapped you and turned you against your will. You must drink blood t’survive, hurt people t’survive. Why aren’t you angry about that?”

  “I am.”

  “Shut up.”

  “You don’t seem angry. You’ve been locked up for weeks. You’ve clearly gone mad because you’re talking t’yourself—”

  “I’m talking t’you.” Irritation wound round my spine.

  “And I said shut up,” my guard grumbled.

  “What, and that’s not insane? I’m a figment of your goddamn imagination, Nathan. I’m not actually here, talking t’you. You’re alone with a bunch of Vampires. You’re dead. You’re cursed. These bastards have taken your life from you, your human rights from you, and you’re fucking scared of hurting them, of decapitating one of them t’get away. Jesus, you are a little bitch. “

  My eyes narrowed to slits as I glared at her. “Shut up, Elle.”

  A punch hit my back. “Are you deaf?”

  I threw a dirty look to the dickhead behind me.

  “Deaf and stupid, like a little bitch. Scared t’fight the creatures that have taken everything from you. They wouldn’t have taken me without a fight, but then, I’m not useless. No wonder we’re not friends anymore. You’re a fucking pussy, Nathan.”

  “I said shut up!”

  Something popped inside me, the irritation bursting through my arms, and before I knew it, I was in front of the guard with the chain. Only, it wasn’t a glistening length between us, but a thick necklace around his neck. His eyes had already started to bulge, and tendrils of smoke were rising from beneath the links of metal.

  “Pull!” Elle screamed.

  So I did.

  Time seemed to slow down, or was it already slow? It wasn’t like I could count a second since I had no pulse.

  The male’s face went slack as the chain slid through skin, cartridge, and bone, like cheese wire on a block of cheddar. Blood splattered across my face, black, rancid, and thick. His head toppled off his shoulders.

  The female behind us lost her grip on the box she was carrying. Files slid, spilling to the ground, her expression stunned as she watched the male’s body sinking to the forest undergrowth.

  “That file has your name on it.” Elle’s voice was all I could hear. “Grab it and run.”

  The blood-stained chains dropped before me, the weight pulling my arms down hard, the heft causing the shackles to rub further into my wrist. Sizzling pain bit me. Gravity felt as though it was standing on my shoulder. All I wanted to do was fall, but Elle wouldn’t let me.

  “Nathan! Grab it!”

  One look at Elle’s startled eyes was all the motivation I need. Even though my legs were about to buckle, I lunged forward. My right knee smacked the ground as I reached for the folder Elle was pointing at. The shackles pressed against my skin, sending blazing pain up the back of my calves.

  “Run!”

  At that command, I seemed to have lost control over my entire body. Before I could even think, my feet were hitting the forest floor in short, awkward strides. My arms stretched out in front of me while I pressed my folder tight between my palms.

  “After him,” Constance shouted in the near-distance.

  Hands still bound, the silver chain followed, slashing against my upper arms and back. Each hit felt like fire licking across my skin, the agony short-lived for as quick as a cut was delivered, I could feel tightness as my flesh knitted back together and wounds were gone.

  Footfalls sounded swiftly behind me.

  “Run faster.” Elle ran beside me.

  “I can’t,” I growled through clenched teeth.

  A howl split the night sky, the sound so unexpected, I lost my footing and ended face first on the ground.

  “Get up, you eejit,” Elle screamed.

  I propped myself on my elbows and twisted to see the other male mere feet away, his eyes lost on the treetops, searching.

  “Leave him,” I heard Jonathan call. “Let the Pack have him. As far as anyone is concerned, they killed him when they came for the girl.”

  The guard sneered at me and quickly ran back to the group.

  I watched as the four remaining Vampires disappeared into the wilderness.

  “They’re letting me go. Why?” I looked toward Elle. Her focus moved across the trees that surrounded us, staring into the darkness.

  “So something else can finish you off.”

  I rolled back onto my stomach and crawled toward the nearest tree. “Would it hurt you t’say something like dumb luck?”

  Another howl split the sky, followed by dead silence. Nothing in the forest moved, not even the trees.

  “Wolves.”

  Twisting, my back hit the rough bark. “Wolves in London. Don’t be crazy.”

  That was presuming we were still anywhere near London, near where Freddie and I had been jumped. Poor Freddie ... What had they done with his body?

  “The female Vamp didn’t seem t’think it was a crazy idea.”

  Constance had gone out of her way and said that Wolves were to blame for what had happened at the facility. But how would Wolves even get in? Surely, they would be helpless against Vampires?

  “You need t’get out of here, Than.”

  “And go where exactly? My mum’s probably worried sick about me since I haven’t called for weeks. I don’t know how long I’ve bloody been like this. What t’hell am I supposed t’say? How can I—”

  “You can’t go home.”

  Her words were a dead weight that hit me right in the chest. If I couldn’t go home—and deep down, I knew that. Of course I knew it—where else could I go?

  I sagged against the tree, defeated. Part of me wanted to feel it, that sinking feeling that was despair and grief. I had the notion deep inside the cavern that was my stomach that I should feel devastated by the fact, that such feelings were right, but I just felt empty, numb.

  My focus wandered to the brown folder that had slipped from my grasp while I had face-planted into the undergrowth. I could see my name scribbled fancily across the front. I reached for it, and opening the flap, pulled the wad of pages out. A photograph of me was clipped to the top of the first page—a naked, unconscious me, lying on a stretcher. It reminded me of a post-mortem report, the type you saw on CSI and other such shows. I read my details, the first page just information I imagined they had pulled from my wallet and passport. It was the second page I was stuck on.

  “They removed my—” The sides of the pages crumbled in my grip. I couldn’t finish the sentence. My throat seemed to be closing over, but I remembered the pain, in between my legs, knowing when I came to that something wasn’t right down there. The bastards had taunted me about losing my balls, but I’d just presumed it was part and parcel of the ridicule. It looks like they’d meant it. “They fucking ... They fucking castrated me.”

  “Why, that doesn’t make sense?”

  “What t’hell are you asking me for?” I glared up at her, tension cradling my jaw. “How t’hell should I know? You’re the fucking Vampire Expert. Why don’t you tell me?”

  I wanted to scream, cry, but I couldn’t feel the build-up even though I knew it was there somewhere, lost in the abyss that was now my dead body. I should feel something, be able to react. I’d been kidnapped, murdered, neutered, cursed to be undead, unable to eat or sleep, or see my family ever again ...

  “Come and find me.”

  I looked up at her. “What?”

  “Like you said, I’m the Vamp expert. So come find me.”

  I laughed, short and shallow. “Get real.”

  “Where else are you going t’go? Who else will believe you?”

  Another howl ripped through the night sky, that wild, haunting sound making the darkness more isolating.

&nbs
p; I was alone, and I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t go home. My friend was dead, for real this time, and I was currently shackled and half-naked. I had no money. I had no balls. No heartbeat. I had nothing.

  “Firstly, you need t’stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

  “Are you freaking kidding me?” I held up the folder. “I’m absorbing my situation here.”

  “You’ve been absorbing your situation for weeks. If you haven’t got it in your head by now that you’re undead and your life will never be the same ... then you will never get it.” She walked over to me and knelt, her moss-green eyes on level with mine. “I know this is bad, but it could be worse.”

  I snorted. “How?”

  “You could be dead and buried in a field.”

  Okay, you have a point.

  “But you’re not. You’re still here for a reason, and sure it’s complicated, but at least you get t’find out why t’hell this happened t’you. You can get answers for yourself and Freddie.” She straightened. “So, you need t’get your arse up and get out of this forest. Secondly, you need t’find somewhere indoors t’hold up before sunrise, and then, you need t’come find me. I’ll know what t’do.”

  “You really think you’re going t’help me after all these years?”

  “Maybe, maybe not, but I’m the only Vampire Hunter you know. Who else can you go to like this?”

  I looked back down at the folder, at the photograph of my naked, lifeless body.

  “You want t’know why, don’t you? Why this happened? What all of it means?”

  Part of me did. Part of me just wanted to wake up and find that it was just a long nightmare. “I’m not sure what I want.”

  Something rustled in the distance.

  “Well, for now, I suggest you figure it out somewhere else, because in this forest, there seems t’be more than one type of monster that you need t’be worried about.”

  I placed the folder on the ground. “It’s going t’be tricky t’move while I’m still cuffed.”

  “As long as you’re able t’move t’some degree, that’s all that matters.”

  Ignoring the bite of metal against my wrists and ankles, I pushed myself up, using the tree as support.

  Twigs snapped to my left.

  “I’d be quick about it, if I were you.” Elle pointed at the folder while backing away from me, her focus in the direction of the rustling undergrowth. “It doesn’t look like we have time t’ take in the scenery.”

  I had no idea what happened next, what my future held, if I could even have a future. I was a changed man—no, I wasn’t even a man anymore, and according to the she-devil, I was a different class of Vampire, whatever the hell that meant. Elle was right; only she would know the answers. Question was, would the real her give them to me?

  Bending down, I collected the folder, grasping it to my chest. “Lead on, spirit. Lead on.”

  Chapter Two

  ~ Danielle ~

  Sunday 11th October, 2015

  Wicklow, Ireland

  I awoke to the sound of rain hammering against my window, one of my all-time favourite sounds, especially when snuggled beneath my duvet. The world beyond my partly closed wooden blinds looked grey and wet—why would anyone want to leave the comfort of their bed for such a day? Why did anyone want to leave their bed most days? My bed had to be my all-time favourite place in the world, and I would gladly hibernate in it all year round if I thought I could, but my parents wouldn’t forget about me so easily.

  A glance at my digital alarm clock informed me it was past noon, so regardless of the lethargy hugging my limbs and the want to just stay put for the rest of the day, I really needed to get up.

  Before I could change my mind, I threw my thick, blue duvet to one side, letting the cool air of my bedroom hit me, chasing away the want to hibernate. Hands firmly planted on my mattress, I pushed myself up. A groan escaped me upon catching sight of my face in my freestanding, black mirror across the way from my bed. Mascara was smeared all over my eyes, my hair resembled a bird’s nest, and I was still wearing last night’s white T-shirt.

  When had getting ready for bed become such a chore?

  Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I forced myself to stand up. Last night’s jeans and boots were pooled on the cream carpet along with my black bra. Shedding my knickers and top, I wandered into my bathroom, disposing the items in the bamboo wash basket. Grabbing my hairbrush, I set to work on the bird’s nest, pausing to untangle the stray bobby pins caught in the auburn strands.

  “You need to sort yourself out, Elle,” I told my dishevelled reflection. I had been telling my reflection that a lot lately.

  Hair untangled and tied in a high ponytail, I flicked the power on to the shower and walked inside, washing away the crust that was my make-up and the scent of cigarette smoke and lager, wondering yet again why these ordinary every day smells seemed a million times worse than Vampire blood.

  Because you’re not used to the smell yet. Give it time.

  Not used to the smell of everyday vices, and yet Vampire blood ... I could have been coated in the rancid black gunge and it didn’t bother me, and, well, when I stopped to think about it, that just seemed wrong. So very wrong ... Then again, not like my family were normal.

  Washed and dressed in black leggings, a vest top, trainers, and smelling of sweet cherry blossom instead of a brewery, I headed down the hall toward the kitchen where I could hear my mother humming away, the scent of chicken broth wafting in the air.

  “I didn’t hear you come in last night,” she commented as I stepped through the doorway.

  The skylights beamed from the tall, arched ceilings, the white light more effective next to the roof window that revealed storm clouds and the ongoing slaughter of rain that heavily hit the double-glazed panes.

  I made a b-line straight to the coffee pot, retrieving a clean mug from the silver stand which stood beside the green machine situated at the corner of the counter. “Well, I wouldn’t be a very good hunter if I couldn’t sneak around undetected.”

  “I’ve never known a hunter to waste their time standing behind a bar serving men pints,” my father said from the kitchen table.

  “That’s because normal hunters never run out of prey,” I retorted, pouring the fresh brewed caffeine into my mug.

  Not even an ‘’Afternoon, dear daughter. I trust you slept well?’ It was straight in with the snide remarks. He couldn’t just drop this, for one day.

  My father hadn’t been too happy when I went and got myself a part-time job at the local pub. Vampire Slayers weren’t supposed to do anything else with their time but train, hunt, and talk about training and hunting for Vampires. I was one of many in a long-standing family business—an isolating, crazy-dangerous business which he much preferred me to be doing over the safety and monotony of standing in a building, serving customers, and earning money.

  “You haven’t run out of prey—”

  “For the last time—” I put the pot back on its stand and turned to face him. “—I’m not going t’continue driving t’every corner of Ireland just t’look for Vampires. That was a big waste of time, not t’mention your money.”

  Fuel costs alone had been crazy. Throw in the fact that I needed to eat and occasionally sleep, it was costing a damn fortune to make sure the whole of Ireland was safe.

  He lowered the newspaper, his dark eyes fixed on me beneath the two caterpillars that were his crazy, thick eyebrows. Lines marked the corners of his thin mouth, which was set in its usual line of disapproval. His fading brown hair was damp and combed back, and at least two days’ worth of stubble claimed his tense jaw. “It is your duty—”

  “Do you have t’discuss this again?” My mother stopped peeling the apple in her hand and glanced over her shoulder. She didn’t move from her spot besides the cooker, but her gaze wandered between us. “Danielle is fully aware of her responsibilities.”

  “She could have fooled me.” His tired gaze moved back to the paper
in his hands.

  “What do you want me t’do, Da?” I leant against the counter. “Go over to the UK and pay some Vampires t’come over here so I can hunt and slay them? It’s not my fault that the undead find our lovely emerald island too boring to stay in. We all know the only reason activity was so high for all those years was because Alexis and Heather were with us.”

  He dropped the newspaper to the table. “This has nothing to do—”

  “It has everything to do with Heather.” I moved over to the table and took a seat opposite him. “She was the special one. The one they all wanted. When she moved, they moved.” I took a swig of my coffee, before resting my arms on the table. “You should be happy there’s no more activity over here. Isn’t that what we all want, a Vampire-free zone?”

  “What we want is to see Marko dead.” He stabbed his finger against the wooden tabletop with each word spoken.

  “He is dead,” I remarked before taking another big swig of my coffee.

  “Don’t get smart with me, missy.” His index finger now pointed at me, his French accent rearing its head as his irritation doubled. “You were trained to kill Vampires, like I was. Like—”

  “Like every damn member of this family has been, and yet where are the rest of our family?” I put my mug on the table. “Is it left up to just us t’look for Marko? Are none of us allowed an ordinary life?”

  “So, that’s it?” He slumped back in his chair, hands gesturing to the ‘outside’ world. “You plan to work in the local pub for the rest of your life, ignoring what happens outside your door?”

  My father thought I’d abandoned him and everything he had taught me, or at least that’s what it sounded like recently, since I had come home from my hunting trip a few months back and declared that the undead had well and truly gone from Ireland. He was under the impression that I wanted to spend the rest of my life as a bar maid, and I had no clue what had given him that idea. All I wanted was to fill my time before I ended up going crazy, because what was I supposed to do with my time if all the Vampires had vanished? Was I just supposed to sit and wait for them to come back? Was I supposed to spend the rest of my life just existing?