When love has never been an option, how does one understand when and how to love and be loved? It’s not something that comes easy, but anything worth fighting for will always be hard. If it were easy, where would the hope, desires, and inspiration come from? Anything that’s easy would not be worthwhile, and what may be tough was most desirable.
It sounded like a bunch of crap when said out loud, but to Sadie, it was a statement of fact. If she would only allow herself to be open to experience this magnitude of emotions from three different men, she could finally understand what it meant to be adored, cherished, and above all, loved.
After spending time with Charles, Adam, William, then the three of them together, it was so much more than what she could have ever bargained for. Her heart felt like it would explode with the feelings that rushed through her, the threat of self-combustion teetered on the edge of destruction, and it scared her…truthfully scared her.
Sitting on the edge of her bed in her apartment, she looked around the small, quaint room. The driver took her back home earlier this morning to pack what belongings she wanted, where everything else would be donated. She made the decision to take a leap of faith. She wanted this life with her men as much as they wanted her.
What if they tire of me?
What if I grow out of love with them?
What if I only want to be with William for a while and not the others?
Or Charles or Adam?
What if we were to bring in another vampire to our humble abode?
She lay back on her bed and covered her face with her arms. So many details, and too much to consider right now.
“One day at a time, Sadie. One day at a fucking time.”
She thought back to her time with each vampire, from Australia to Mexico, to the house in New Orleans. Each brought their own flavor of uniqueness and experience, as well as personality.
How could she ever grow bored?
What she needed to do was get out of her own way. Every time she took one step forward, she would force herself to take three back.
Why?
She didn’t have the answer, but she had a notion to blame it on her own self-righteous upbringing from the orphanage. There’s the possibility they knew and prevented her from being loved.
Why?
Because she was an abomination?
That wasn’t her choosing, that was her parents doing, whoever they were.
With a sigh, she finished packing up the goods she planned to take and turned off the light. The darkness concluded this chapter of her life, and soon, she’d open the next chapter and start anew.
As she closed the door behind her and locked it, she smelled something rotten, something familiar.
“Where are you going, little girl?”
She turned and gasped. Her heart plummeted into her gut and her chest tightened to the point she was about to hyperventilate. She looked to her left and right, surrounded by the hall of her complex. All the doors were closed, and no one was coming or going, except for him.
“How,” she managed to croak and took a step back.
Where would she go?
There was one way in and out of her building and it was behind him. She wasn’t fast or strong enough to get past the man. And even if she did manage it, he would throw her to the ground like a rag doll.
And kill her.
This time, he would absolutely kill her.
“I knew I would find you if I just looked hard enough. Your blood calls to me, poppet.”
She swallowed the fear to keep it from bubbling up as a scream. Sadie didn’t want her neighbors involved. They wouldn’t be able to save her from him, anyway.
How could they?
Everyone here was human and he…well, he wasn’t.
And there was no William, Adam, or Charles here to save her this time. She left their home on her own, except for the driver who dropped her at the door. She promised them she would be safe, that she would be aware of her surroundings, and she didn’t need an escort.
She couldn’t have been more wrong.
Before she could react, a blunt force struck her head. As she fell to the ground, the last thing she saw was the face of the vampire who attacked her that day in the alley when her life took a drastic turn.
“Wake up, poppet.” The smell of death wafted through her nose and Sadie’s gag reflex forced bile from her stomach to expel out of her mouth. She opened her eyes and the bright light of the room blinded her. Her head thumped in rhythm with her heart, the pain radiating throughout her body.
She tried to move her arms, but she was tied to…what was she tied to? She lowered her head and opened her eyes enough to see her body bound by rope to a chair. Her shoulders hurt and she wiggled her fingers. Her hands were tied behind her, and her ankles secured to the legs of the chair.
She opened her mouth and sucked in a deep breath, then raised her head and looked the assailant in the eyes.
The vampire who attacked her that day in the alley bent down in front of her. His hair was dark and greasy, his face a mess of dirt and dried blood.
Blood.
She didn’t feel anything else hurt on her body and sent a prayer up that the vampire didn’t sink his teeth into her flesh.
Again.
“What do you want?” she managed to croak. Her throat burned and her mouth was parched.
“You, poppet. I want you. I needed blood that day and low and behold, you were a blood demon! It was my lucky fucking day! Then, Johnny Do Good ruined it. Well, when I was taken before the fearless leaders, I was punished for open feeding, but then they allowed me to feed from the donors and let me go on my way. It wasn’t before I saw one of the men inside that I decided, then and there, to get my vengeance!”
“But why? What did I ever do to you?” He stood and the grin on his lips was laced with malice. He had every intention of drinking from her again; whether he chose to let her live or not, it wasn’t yet clear. “You don’t want to do this,” Sadie whispered.
“Oh, but poppet, I do want to do this. I’m starving and your blood was so sweet, untainted, and perfect.”
“But my vampires, they drank from me.”
He lifted a blood-crusted brow. “But did you drink from them?” She shook her head no. “Then you’ve not been tainted. And you’ll be mine.” He snarled, then grabbed a handful of her red hair and yanked her head to the side. He growled and his mouth crushed the side of her neck. Pain erupted in her body and a scream roared from Sadie, a call of desperation, need, and survival breaking through her. She wanted to survive but more than that, she needed to survive for her vampires. She wanted them, their love, their devotion, but now, there was no way she could have her own happy ending.
As her blood drained, the pain throbbed, and her heart began to slow. The room spun on a different axis. She heard the vampire’s voice mumble something, but it was intangible. She took one final look at the man, his face full of desperation, before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and darkness took her under.