A Shade of Vampire (A Shade of Vampire #1)(2)
Author: Bella Forrest

Big mistake.

The confident smirk didn’t leave his face for even a moment. “Like what you see?”

I frowned, annoyed by his audacity. “A bit full of yourself, aren’t you?”

He stepped forward, closer to me, and leaned his head toward mine. “Don’t I have the right to be?”

He knew he looked good and wasn’t about to act like he didn’t.

“Whatever,” was my oh-so-brilliant comeback.

My shoulders sagged with defeat as I took a step back, overwhelmed by how close he was. I rolled my eyes and did a one-eighty, not quite in the mood to play whatever game this stranger was proposing.

I would soon realize that I was about to play his game whether I liked it or not. He grabbed my arm and turned my body to face him. The motion alone made every single internal alarm I had go off in a frenzy.

This man was danger and I knew it. I tried to wriggle away from his touch, but I was no match for his strength.

“Tell me your name,” he commanded.

I was about to refuse, but was horrified to find myself blurting out my name in response. “Sofia Claremont.”

He traced his thumb over my jaw line. “Hello, Sofia Claremont. You’re one stupid girl for taking a walk alone at this time of night. You never know what kind of evil a pretty little thing like you could happen to come by.”

I found myself wondering exactly what kind of evil he was. But I was suddenly overcome by the sensations that were surrounding me. My senses took everything in at once. I heard the waves, felt the sand beneath my feet, smelled the ocean salt, tasted the flavor of cherry on my lips and saw the stranger’s manic appearance as he stuck a needle to my neck. The effect was instant. I was barely able to gasp, much less scream. I went from sensing everything to sensing absolutely nothing.

My last conscious thought was that I may never see Ben again.

CHAPTER 2: SOFIA

I blinked several times, hoping that I would see a bit more clearly if I did it enough. No chance. I was enveloped by darkness and it didn’t look like that was about to change any time soon.

I sensed my claustrophobia about to kick in, afraid that, for all I knew, I could be in some sort of extremely enclosed space, but the cold, airy feel of the room soon assured me that I was not.

I tried to move about the space and quickly realized that the lack of lighting was the least of my concerns. For one thing, I was being held by metal restraints on my wrists and ankles.

I could barely even raise my arms without requiring a considerable amount of effort. I tried to pull against my chains. They were fastened to the wall. I felt straw beneath my bare feet. I ran my hands over my body and felt the soft linen fabric of the white cover-up I pulled over my swimsuit before my untimely walk earlier that evening.

I had intended to go for a swim.

Yet another one of your brilliant ideas, Sofia. Now you’re locked up in some sort of dungeon wearing your swimsuit and a cover-up that’s nowhere near enough to fend off the biting cold. Genius. Just genius.

I gritted my teeth, loathing myself for being so careless about my own safety. I caught myself before I could turn myself into my own personal villain. The severity of the situation hit me full force and I was unable to suppress a shudder. What have I gotten myself into?

I’m in a dungeon. The word alone caused alternating images of stories I read about places like the London Tower and the kinds of torture prisoners endured there. I balled my fists, realizing for the first time how much I loved my fingers, as images flit through my mind of someone sticking sharp objects under my nails.

If my goal in life was to not go insane, then this sure as hell was not helping me meet my objective.

I sank to the ground, pulling my legs against my chest with my arms, remembering all those times I felt like something was wrong with me. Familiar fears of turning out like my mother did began to assault me. Growing up, I’d seen psychologist after psychologist trying to figure out “what was wrong with me”. I apparently had ADHD when I was a kid, OCD during my preteen years. Just recently, they were testing me for bipolar disorder. Given this situation, I was sure I’d develop an extra disorder or two.

Let’s add post-traumatic-stress disorder to the bunch.

I heard sounds – footsteps – coming from outside the room I was in.

Eight seconds later, the door unlocked and swung open. The incandescent lighting flickered on. It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust to the sudden flow of light. My first instinct was to take in every detail of the room I was in. With the light, it looked less archaic than it was in my imagination. The walls were actually made of concrete and not of mortar and brick like the castles of old.

I stared at the floor and frowned in confusion at the straw beneath my feet.

“The hay adds a nice touch I think. Makes our captives feel like they somehow time traveled to the Dark Ages.”

My eyes were quickly drawn to the source of the voice. All I could do was glare at him.

It was the stranger from the beach.

There were so many questions I wanted him to answer, so many curses I wanted to blurt out, but I held my tongue. Considering my predicament and my very limited mobility, irking my captor didn’t seem like the wisest thing to do.

He eyed me from head to foot the same way I did to him when we were back at the beach. This time, however, I could sense his hunger. He was predator. I was prey. I shuddered to think of exactly what kind of predator had just caught me in his trap.

His eyes were spanning the length of my legs as he approached me. He seemed to find amusement in my anxiety.

He stopped about a foot away from me and grinned as he studied me closely. The fact that he seemed pleased by what he saw made the situation even scarier than it already was.

“Who are you?! What do you want from me?!” I asked the questions not so I could hear the answers. I just needed to break the silence, in hopes of hiding my erratic heartbeats.

He raised his hand and brushed a stray strand of my auburn hair away from my face. I couldn’t help but flinch from even the slightest hint of his touch. Everything about him told me that I wasn’t safe around him.

His next actions solidified my suspicions that his intentions toward me were less than noble.

He pushed me to the wall and pinned me to it by leaning his full weight against me. It felt like he was trying to crush my ribs and every other internal organ I had.

“Welcome to the Blood Shade, Sofia.” He leaned closer, his breath cool against my ear. “You really are quite a beauty, aren’t you?”

From his lips, it sounded more like an insult than a compliment.