Page 1 of Vampires of Eden

CHAPTER 1

Alexander

What happens when you’ve been promised something all of your life, but it doesn’t materialize? When you’ve spent years and years waiting—believing in this event thateveryonehas assured you would come to pass if you played by the rules?

But in the end, it just… dies. There’s nothing.

The promise evaporates.

Hope disappears.

Doubt and suspicion take its place.

Was the possibility ever truly there? Was it all an idiotic fantasy made up in my mind, or was there a moment—if only for a second—that what I wanted was real and tangible. Achievable but just outside of my reach. If I had given a little more effort or made a different choice, would I have everything that I wanted now?

The answer? I don’t fucking know. It all feels like lies, though. A complete scam.

“So, what’s going to happen now that Oliver has fled his estate and broken off this engagement to get the hell away from you?” Ashwin leers from behind her playing cards. One of her eyebrows is raised above the heavy flap of her blunt, ice-blonde bangs.

I don’t say a word. I stare blankly at her and she goes on, snootily examining her two cards. “Since your formal arrangement fell through, your parents will want to sell you to the highest bidder as quickly as possible. That’s what happened to Lily Bridgeworth after Santiago ran away. I heard they shipped her off to Dubai. She’s expected to bond with some wealthy purebred there. New money. Call.” Ashwin tosses two red chips toward the center of the table. “Let’s see your flop.”

With the elegance of a master conductor, the dealer turns over and reveals three cards. Queen of spades, four of spades and a four of clubs.

“God, I would rather die.” Sebastian bristles, using his fingertips to slide two blue chips across the velvet surface. His flashy emerald ring glitters in the low light from the gesture. “I’ll bet twenty. All that hot weather and sand. Ugh. I hate sand. I had sex on the beach once. Did I tell you about that? On the western shore.”

“That doesnotsound like something Piper would do,” Nadya comments, frowning.

“Not with Piper. Before we mated. Anyway, ghastly. Sand soaks up any and all moisture and days later, I was still finding it in crevices that I didn’t even know I had.”

“Gross. Over-sharer, stop oversharing. We’ve talked about this. Check.” After setting her chips down, Nadya sits back against the tufted chair and lifts her flavored cigar toward her plum-painted lips. The tip of the cigar burns and curls with a thick stream of smoke. It saturates the room in an intense haze of dark spices and smoked almonds. “They won’t ship the next King of Eden off to some foreign aristocracy. We can’t afford that kind of PR nightmare right now.”

“Rumor has it, Golden Boy is going to have to pay out hisentiredowry to evil Lord Blakeley.” Ashwin tilts her head, examining me. “No dowry, no power.”

“Oh my God, is that true?” Sebastian draws back, shaking his dark curly head. His mesmeric reddish-brown eyes blink inbewilderment. “You gave up your entire dowry for Oliver? Even though he dumped you? Why the hell would you do that?”

Nadya pulls from her cigar, then lazily blows it out in a wispy cloud. “For love.”

Ashwin scoffs. “Or stupidity. Desperation? Did you think you’d win him back by making some kind of heroic sacrifice? Some grand gesture?”

The room falls silent as everyone stares in my direction with their ethereal eyes. Time stands still. In my peripheral vision, brass lanterns warm the bookcases lining the walls. The flickering lights cast long shadows against weathered spines. It makes them shift and move, like ghostly silhouettes dancing across a haunted library.

I don’t want to be here.

I hate this.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Sebastian leans forward and the elaborate chandelier situated above us illuminates his rich brown skin. “What’s wrong with you?”

“It is your turn, Master Kendrick,” the dealer says politely. “May I have your choice?”

I take two dark green chips, then toss them into the center pile. “Raise.”

Silence ensues.

Everyone except for the dealer gawks, open-mouthed.

Nadya is the first to move, shaking her head and tossing her two cards toward the center of the table. “Ohhellno.”

“Christ on a bike, Aleksey.” Frowning, Sebastian pushes his cards away as if they’re suddenly made of toxic materials. “Did we not all agree that tonight was low stakes? I fold. Piper will kill me if I lose fifty-thou on a frivolous game with you idiots. I’ll never hear the end of it.”