Page 3 of Burn Falls

“Tu—turn me?”

“You’ll have thousands of years to realize you’re just a pawn in my game. A soldier.” He roughly pulled my head back by my short, dark-brown hair, my scalp burning as he exposed my neck and bit into the other side. Once again, I tried to break free from the restraints at my wrists that bound me to the chair, but there was nothing I could do as he sucked.

I was light-headed as Cavalli pulled back and wiped his mouth, smearing my crimson blood on his hand. He laughed. “You see, I’m a seventy-nine-year-old vampire.”

Seventy-nine? He didn’t look a day older than my twenty-four. I struggled to swallow and to speak, still in denial. “Vampires aren’t real.”

He grabbed my head and forced me to look at Mary’s brutalized body. Then he walked over to her and picked her up using only his fingertips. “Is this proof enough?” He twisted her head off and threw her remains onto the floor at my feet.

“I’m dreaming,” I said, unsure if I was speaking to him or to myself. None of this was making sense, and the only logical conclusion I could make was that I was sleeping.

Back at my side, he laughed again. “You’ll learn very soon that you’re wrong. It’s time we end this conversation and seal your fate in my game, Draven.”

Renzo was on me again, jerking my head back and then he bit into his wrist. “Drink, boy. Complete the turning, and then I will truly own you.” He shoved his wrist to my mouth, and once the first drop of his blood touched my lips, I was unable to resist and attached myself like a leech. It was hard to describe the sheer level of hunger for the life force that dripped from his vein. Almost as though I was finally getting my first taste of food after being without any for years.

“Enough,” he said, knocking my mouth away. Then he was gone in a flash, the metal door slamming in his wake.

I was left in the windowless room while I waited to wake up from this nightmare. It felt like the devil himself had unleashed his furnace within me as my insides burned, passing out when the pain took over my body.

As the nightmare continued, I was vaguely aware of someone undoing my shackles. My limbs cracked, broke and renewed, my body becoming taut. When the pain finally abated, I felt myself falling into unconsciousness.

Again.

Once I opened my eyes again, I realized I could see clearly in the darkness even though the candles had been extinguished. I blinked a few times to get used to the clarity of my eyesight. A smell hit my nostrils, the aroma of which was far superior to any liquor I’d ever tasted. I turned to my side, my eyes widening as I realized it was the smell of iron—of blood.

My gaze flicked toward Mary’s body, and without a second thought, I tore her to shreds, searching out every last available drop. After I’d consumed every ounce from her body, I licked the traces from my fingers to make sure I got it all. Once they were clean, I stared at my bloody hands.

I was a monster.

I banged on the door over and over to no avail. I was trapped, locked in a dungeon—maybe forever.

When the door finally opened sometime later, a girl was pushed into the room, and I was on her before I knew what hair color she had, what her eye color was, or even her approximate age. I didn’t care. All that mattered was her blood. I fed on her quickly before tearing out her throat like some beast.

I was that beast.

I detected the sound of someone approaching, and I smiled to myself. I had accepted my fate, but I had also come up with a plan.

The door opened, and a woman was pushed inside. The need to feed was starting to diminish over time, but each timefoodentered into my cell, a lust for blood flowed through me, and I was unable to resist my hunger. I knew it was wrong to feed from a person, but I couldn’t help myself. The venom in my veins was like a stick of dynamite being lit and I had to curb my appetite.

Not this time.

This time I wanted freedom. I flew across the room and grabbed the vampire by the throat before he could close the door. The woman ran out, screaming as I struggled with the vamp, going around and around, trying to get the upper hand before I was yanked back and thrown into the wall back in the windowless room. The cement crumbled around me and the pain from the impact quickly subsided as I felt my body heal quickly from the force against my backside.

“Well, it looks like Draven survived his turning,” Renzo said, staring down at me.

CHAPTER ONE

Seattle - Present Day

I sighed and fell back onto my bed, wanting to cry because the jeans that fit last Friday were now too tight to button. I knew the reason: my mother. Three weeks ago, I went home to visit my family for Thanksgiving, and ever since I’d been feeding my face with everything I came across.

Monday donuts in the breakroom—Check.

Rainy day pizza for lunch—Check, and of course, every day in Seattle seemed to be a rainy day.

Margarita Friday—Double check.

Frustrated, I sent a text to my best friend, Valencia: