First Bitten (The Alexandra Jones Series #1)

I run my fingertips along the bare brick wall, watching in the dark as a fly struggles in vain to free itself from a spider’s web in the far corner of the windowless room. I’m locked in but all the fly manages to do is trap itself further.

We’re not so different, the fly and me. We’re both trapped, we’re both as dumb as hell, selfish (well that’s just me not the fly), and we’ve done absolutely nothing to help ourselves from landing into the situation we now find ourselves in. The only current difference between the fly and me is that I’m in a position to set one of us free.

I drag my weary body off the bed, put my bare feet to the tiled floor and, interfering with nature, drag my fingers through the web, freeing the fly. It zooms off in blind panic and flies straight into the wall, knocking itself out, dropping straight to the floor.

Like I said, dumb.

I sit back down on the bed and rest up against the cold wall. Regret steam rollers over me.

I left Nathan there. I ran and left him to fight my battle like the coward I’ve always known I am. I know he told me to run but I shouldn’t have listened. I should have stayed and fought too.

I just can’t get the image of him laid there on the ground, battered and bruised, from out of my head. I did that to him. It might not have been my boot coming down on his face but I was the reason it was happening. I’m the reason all bad things happen. I see that now. People who care about me either die, or end up suffering, and I guess me being here, trapped in this hell, is my penance.

Tears slide down my cheeks, dripping off my chin, but I can’t move my hand to wipe them away.

My only hope is that Nathan is okay. I won’t blame him if he doesn’t try to find me. I just pray to god he will, if only so I can tell him how sorry I am.

But even if he does try, he might not be able to find me. I have absolutely no idea where I am.

I was dumped in the boot of the car they dragged me to, my hands bound behind my back with wrist ties. I listened as hard as I could while they drove for anything to tell me where they were taking me, but after a while things went pretty quiet, and I guessed we were where people don’t go. Then the boot was opened and a blanket was thrown over me, covering my head before I could get a glimpse of my surroundings, and I was carried from the car, kicking and screaming, and thrown in this hell hole, and here I’ve been ever since. While it feels like days, it’s probably only been hours.

They’re waiting for the Originals to arrive. I wonder just how long I have left.

Without warning, horrific images of what is going to happen to me start flashing through my mind, like they’re a graphic trailer to a horror story, the one starring me, the one I am already condemned to live, taunting, torturing footage of the living hell that awaits me probably as early as tomorrow.

My body recoils away from my mind. Bile rises in my throat. My whole body goes numb.

Nathan, please find me. Please.

I let my body fall to the side, my back scraping roughly against the wall, until my head meets with the bare mattress.

I don’t know if I fell asleep, or simply passed out, but my mind comes around, alert to the sound of the lock turning on the door. I leap to my feet, swaying unsteadily, press my back up against the wall and dig my toes into the mattress.

Light floods the room and the door swings open, revealing Albino.

My skin crawls at the sight of him. Every muscle in my body is tightening.

“How are you enjoying your stay with us so far, Alex?” His eyes drift idly over my body.

I say nothing. Fear has me choked.

He strolls further into the room and casually leans up against the wall directly across from me. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to ignore your host?” he chides.

I gulp down. I can literally feel the air around him crackling with its negative charge.

When he realises he’s getting nothing from me, irritation flickers over his face and the next thing I know he’s standing on the bed in front of me. He leans in, pressing his hard body up against mine, pinning me to the wall.

I can smell his vile, hot breath on my face. Feeling sick, I turn my face away from him.

“Let me make this simple for you.” He hooks his fingers around my chin, forcing my face back round to his. “You be nice to me and I’ll be nice to you.” The instructions are simple and clear, as if he’s addressing a child.

My stomach flips upside down and inside out, and I have the distinct feeling of an ice cube slithering down my back. Then, from out of nowhere, I garner some courage. “Fuck you,” I say in a low voice.

“Now that’s more like.” His lips twist into a sick smile. “So, I was thinking … ” He casts his gaze downwards, relenting ever so slightly allowing him to explore my body. “We have plenty of time before the Originals arrive…” He runs his fingers intimately down my bare arm. “We could make good of it.” He puts his lips against my neck and I feel his tongue brush over my skin. I have to stop myself from throwing up. “You are really beautiful, Alex.” His hand moves lower. He runs his fingers along the top of my jeans.

Horror settles itself in the pit of my stomach. I quickly consider my options. There aren’t many. Give up, or fight back.

Giving up means, well …

Okay, so I’m going down fighting.

“You touch me,” I say quietly, with a discreet undercurrent of menace, “and I guarantee it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

He pauses, leaving his hands where they are, still on me, and brings his face close to mine, looking me straight in the eye. “Confident words for a girl in your position,” he murmurs. I refuse to blink, holding his stare. He opens the button on my jeans. My heart drops down to zero. Then he presses his disgusting lips to mine and yanks down the zip.

I hold my fear back. “Not confident – true,” I get out quickly, muffled by his mouth, before he can attempt to kiss me properly. My lips rub against his. I cringe, holding back the urge to bite them hard. “You lay one finger on me and I’ll tell the Originals just exactly what you’ve done to me, and knowing what I already do about them – what my worth is to them – I’m sure they won’t want you getting there first.” I take a quick breath. “And I’m guessing this isn’t part of the deal and isn’t double-crossing them a deal breaker, one that can end only … well, one way … ” I fight to keep my voice steady, using his own words against him.

He moves back, appraising me. A muscle in his jaw twitches. He scratches his cheek in contemplation and steeples his fingers over his mouth.

It’s a long silence while he watches me closely, considering my words. I keep a tight hold of my breath and heart, stilling everything inside me, willing this to work, because if it doesn’t, I can’t bear to think what’s going to happen to me.

“So I brought you a present,” he says, moving his hand from his mouth, his voice suddenly bizarrely cheerful.

He jumps down from the bed and strides over to the door.

My legs nearly buckle under the weight of my relief. I grip the wall with my fingertips for support and quickly fasten my jeans.

“I’m guessing you haven’t fed in a while,” he continues, “so I’ve brought you something to eat. You can thank me later.” He gives me a diffident wave of his hand and I watch as his lips curl up. “Can’t have my girl going hungry now, can I?”

I move across the wall, levitating on my fingertips, trying to put more distance between us. “I’m not hungry,” I say, keeping my voice even.

I am. I’m starving, but I’ve got the very distinct feeling the food he’ll be putting on offer will not be the same as Nathan’s.

“Au contraire, my darling,” he winks knowingly at me, “you’re very hungry. I can tell. And I also know you’ve never tasted human blood in your short little life. I can smell that rotting animal blood your shifter’s been feeding you on, like you’re drenched in it. You can deny your hunger all you want but you won’t last another hour, and that works perfectly for me.” He pauses, rubbing his index finger over his incisor. He looks like he’s trying to sharpen it to his fang. “The Originals will be here in three hours and by then you’ll be looking fit and healthy for them.” He leans his head out the open door. “Jin, bring Alex her gift now.”

I almost know what’s coming next and it’s confirmed a nanosecond later when I hear the deafening cries of a young girl.

The Asian guy who was with Albino earlier strolls into the room, dragging along a dark-haired girl of about seventeen – eighteen at the most – with him. She looks terrified. Her face is streaked with tears. Jin pushes her forwards, straight in my direction. She stumbles, falling to her knees on the hard floor.

My initial reaction is to go to help her. I’m down and off the bed, pulling her to her feet. “Are you okay? Have they hurt you?” I say quickly.

She shakes her head and I don’t know if she means she’s not okay or that they haven’t hurt her. I don’t push it further. I just go with the latter.

“Aww, now would you look at this, Jin. Alex is getting to know her dinner. Sweet, isn’t it?”

The girl’s confused eyes flicker in my direction. I step back away from her.

“I fucking hate you!” I spit at Albino.

He moves so quickly, and hits me so hard in my face, that it knocks me off my feet, sending me flying backwards. I crash against the wall and nearly bite my tongue in two as my jaw spasms in shock. Blood floods my mouth.

It takes me a moment to find myself. Dazed, I struggle to my feet, using the wall for support. I swallow my blood down.

Albino’s calm is long gone. His eyes are flaring and his shoulders are rising and falling with each angry breath he takes. He grabs hold of the girl by her arm and drags her over to me. She cries, struggling, but he’s unyielding. Then I see the blade glint in the light as he pulls it out from the back of his trouser pocket and, without flinching, he slices her arm open, cutting clean around it in one fluid movement.

She screams, a gut-wrenching scream. I cover my hand with my mouth, horror-stricken. Her panicked, helpless eyes flick to me, then down at her arm. She passes out. Her body goes slack but he keeps her held up by her arm, showing no effort whatsoever, leaving her limp body hanging in the air like a puppet on a string, her brown hair draped across her young face.

And I can only watch in horror and fascination as her blood trickles to the tiled floor, sitting in a pool by my bare feet.

The second the smell hits me, my fangs are out and I’m consumed.

It’s like nothing I have every smelt before. If I thought animal blood smelt good, it’s been like having a lifetime of Cava only to discover Dom Perignon.

Albino runs his index finger through the blood on her arm, momentarily breaking its flow, and places it in his mouth. Even the grotesque sucking noise he makes doesn’t break my focus.

“Drug free, even better,” he says in a sick-sounding voice. “Surprising for a skank like her.”

But his words are just a dull buzzing sound. All I can see and smell is her blood. It’s my only focus as it runs like strawberry juice down her arm.

I’ve never wanted anything so badly. I thought I wanted Nathan; that was nothing in comparison.

“It tastes as good as it smells,” he tantalises me, his voice soft and silky as he moves the girls arm up closer to me, her body floating like it’s somehow detached from her arm. “Why don’t you try some?”

The ache in me intensifies. I’ve never felt this before. It’s unyielding, all-controlling, and I’m moving closer to the blood before I know it, my hand itching to reach out and take hold of her arm.

Albino is whispering words I can’t hear anymore. The monster is talking to me, ruling my domain, telling me just one little taste won’t hurt anyone. The girl is already cut and bleeding, the blood is dripping wastefully onto the floor. It’s not like she needs it anymore and all I have to do is reach out and …

Remember who you are.

Hot unaccountable emotion slaps me hard across the face and, for a split-second, I actually think Nathan’s here. My heart searches the room, it wilting when I realise it was all in my mind.

I recoil backwards, covering my mouth with my hands again. “I won’t do it,” I cry, “I won’t be like you!”

His eyes narrow to slits. He releases his hold on the girl, dropping her to the floor before me. He steps over her still body like she’s nothing, backing me up to the wall, and puts a hand either side of my head, trapping me.

He leans his face in close. “Yes, you will, Alex.” There’s no bargaining in his tone. “Play nice with her before you feed on her or don’t, I don’t give a fuck. But you will feed. You will become a true Vârcolac before the Originals see you, not some animal-fed half-breed. I’ll be back in an hour, and if she’s still alive, I’ll feed her to you myself.” He pushes himself off the wall with his hands.

My body is shaking and I can’t stop it showing. He turns, walking around the girl, stops and turns back. I see something flicker across his face, like something very significant has just occurred to him. The hairs on my scalp tingle, and a shiver shoots down my spine when I see the smile he gives himself.

He takes a step back toward me. “On second thoughts, don’t kill her.” He scratches his nose. “Feed, but leave her with enough blood to keep her alive. I’m interested to see if you can change her to be like you. And try your best, Alex, because it’ll be real nice for me to have another bargaining chip to play with.” He smiles, an oddly pleasant smile, displaying just the level of psycho he truly is.

I wrap my arms protectively around myself, and lowering my trembling voice, say, “Nathan will find me, and when he does, he’ll tear you to pieces.”

“I look forward to it,” he replies, his voice gentle, almost flirtatious, but his eyes are as cold as ice. And with that he breezes out of the door, Jin in tow. The thick metal door closes with a clang. I hear the lock turn, trapping me in here with the girl, the girl who has blood oozing out of her arm.

I run at the door, hammering against it with my fists. “Let me out!” I scream. “Don’t do this! Let me out! Please!”

But all I hear is the cackles of their callous laughter as they walk away from the sound of my pointless pleas.

I rest my forehead head against the door, tears rolling down my face, as I continue to bang my hands in vain against it.

Then I hear the girl groan as she starts to come round. The pain must immediately have set into her consciousness because she starts screaming in agony again. “Help me!” she cries out. “I’m bleeding real bad! You gotta help me!”

Slowly I turn to face her. She’s sitting on the floor, her arm pressed tightly up against her chest. Her blood is seeping into her white cami. She looks up at my face and in this moment I realise my fangs are still out, but it’s too late. I see the horror stretch across her tiny features when she realises what I am, or what she thinks I am, the thing her nightmares are made of.

Only she doesn’t realise this nightmare is mine, not hers.

She starts to scream, an ear-piercing scream. She scrabbles backwards across the room, away from me.

I clap my hand over my mouth, pinching my nostrils, cutting off the scent, stopping it flooding in, trying to hide my monstrous fangs. Sinking to the floor, I turn my face toward the door, trying to block her and her blood out.

I won’t do this. I won’t become one of them. I’m not a monster. I’m not.

But I was wrong earlier. I’m not like that fly at all. I’m not the innocent here. I’m the spider and the girl, well, she’s the fly.