The Vampire's Hope Read online

  The Vampire’s Hope

  Danica Winters

  The Vampire’s Hope

  A Books to Go Now Publication

  Copyright © Danica Winters 2012

  Books to Go Now

  For information on the cover illustration and design, contact [email protected]

  First eBook Edition –August 2012

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.

  If you are interested in purchasing more works of this nature, please stop by

  www.bookstogonow.com

  Acknowledgement

  To my Mom, Penny. Thank you for all of your support and kind

  words. You will always be my best friend.

  CHAPTER ONE

  The couple in front of her stood under the bar’s lopsided mistletoe, their lips pressed against each other in a gesture of Christmas spirit. On the man’s lapel was a white rose, smashed against the woman’s full breast.

  The sight made Ellie Smith laugh. Ellie was the same age as the two lip-locked party goers, yet they were so much younger. They wore the white rose of hope—probably hope for love that would undoubtedly turn bad, or hope that the holidays would bring them the gifts of eternal bliss… those naïve fools.

  The couple parted and their cheeks glowed with the pink twinges of arousal. The sight was more than she could handle and she looked away. They were luckier than they knew. They probably did not have any idea what it was like to be without a bed for the night, without a home, without purpose, and without hope.

  To her left a thick-set, redheaded man approached. His shoulders were erect and he walked with a stride that conveyed power. Catching Ellie’s eye, he smiled the grim smile of subtle manipulation.

  Whatever he wanted, he wouldn’t get it from her.

  A blonde man with an arched smile stepped out from behind the threatening redhead and sat down at the table. “Hello, Elpis. Welcome to The Ravena.”

  The way he said her name made her skin crawl.

  The blonde waved his hand at the rows of booze and the surly bartender. “I hope you like the bar.”

  The bar was like any number of others, just another stop in her constant travel through the dark world of the forgotten.

  “Thanks. I have no idea how you know my given name, but I’d rather you called me Ellie.”

  “Sorry, Ellie.”

  “Are you the owner of this place?”

  The blonde motioned to the dangerous-looking redhead behind him.

  She knew she should fear them, but there was nothing inside of her heart. “I need a job. Are you hiring? I can dance.”

  The blonde laughed. He looked over his shoulder at the red-headed man. “She doesn’t have a clue.”

  He turned back to her as if he had said nothing to the man who was clearly his boss. “My name is Ian. And this is Master Liam…” He pointed at the rigid redheaded man.

  “What are you after?”

  The club’s music filled the silence between them.

  Ian smirked. “Master Liam would like a dance.”

  Ellie gazed over Ian’s blonde hair and his features—his eyes were the same blue as the sea, and his face was wide and rugged. He looked like a portrait of a Viking.

  Master Liam extended his hand in a silent command to dance. She looked back at the handsome Viking. Liam was a threat, but so was Ian. Was it better to go after a powerful man who she wasn’t attracted to in hopes of getting a job, or was it better to forget her chance of getting hired and stay with the handsome Viking?

  For once Ellie wondered what it was like to feel something—anything. If she was normal, would she blush? Would her lust move her nearer to him? Instead, she only felt the dull emptiness inside of her breast. Was there truly life without emotion?

  Ellie slipped her hand into Master Liam’s. He led her to the dance floor, but she could sense Ian’s eyes upon her.

  Master Liam moved in a stiff, archaic way and his hands never strayed from her waist. Not that she minded. It was nice not to be groped. What kind of dancer would Ian be?

  She looked back at her table. Ian stared at her with a hunger in his eyes. She dropped her gaze. If he wanted her, he didn’t act the part.

  Master Liam said nothing to her as she looked up into his face. His eyes were filled with lust and they slowly danced their way to the farthest recess of the dance floor. His cold hands forced her head back and she stared up at the ceiling.

  He pushed her against the wall.

  He slowly bent down, taking each movement in his own unhurried time. He inhaled and blew his chilled breath against the skin of her neck.

  He wasn’t the man she wanted, but a job was a job—however she had to get it.

  Liam leaned in, and instead of kissing her lips, he pressed his face into her neck and caressed her skin with his icy lips.

  She drew in a breath and her pulse quickened.

  His teeth pierced her skin, and she started to shriek, but his hand clamped down over her opening lips. She struggled but as he drained her, weakness won. A fire burned where his teeth dug into her flesh. Acid filled her veins.

  With her last thought, she envisioned the white rose on the stranger’s lapel. No emotion, no hope…

  CHAPTER TWO

  The change had carried Ellie to the farthest recesses of hell, and at its end she had come through to find herself floating on a cloud of inky black satin. How strange life was.

  The sheets felt warm on her chilled skin. Ellie closed her eyes and listened to her body. There was no heartbeat, no rhythmic constrictions of her lungs as they searched for breath. There was nothing but deafening silence. Her mind raced with questions. What had she become? What had Master Liam done to her? What was to become of her?

  She sat up and stretched her tight limbs. The movements felt foreign. The body that had once been how Ellie identified herself was now only a vessel for what she’d become—a creature of the night.

  Ellie’s feet struck the cold floor at the side of the bed and she stood up. Walking to the mirror, she looked at her reflection. Same grey eyes, same black hair, and the same pale skin. She closed her eyes and listened for the thump of her heart, but there was only the deafening drone of silence. Yet, she still felt…nothing. No sadness that she wouldn’t be able to hear the sound again, no happiness that her human life was over; only the bleak nothingness which had passed on from her old life to her new Vampire form.

  Ellie made her way around the bedroom. The walls were limestone and upon closer inspection she could see the tiny shells permanently cemented in their personal mausoleum. She thought of the beings that had once inhabited the little casing. They had finality. They had died. They didn’t have the confusion of waking up inside a body that had belonged to them, but now was only an empty shell of what they had once been. They were just gone.

  Her fingers trailed down the rough wall of death. She could feel every tiny shell and the imperfections of their surfaces. Bringing her fingers to her nose, she inhaled. There was the faint scent of the sea’s salty brine and the musk of decay.

  In a strange way the scent made her—hungry, so hungry.

  On the end of the bed was a mahogany colored footboard. Lying on top was a set of clothes. Ellie pulled on the white cotton blouse and gasped as it brushed against the raw nerves of her skin. The leather pants were a new experience, but an experience that she already loved.

  She was a bad ass.

  She pulled her thick black hair into a tight bun as her mind wandered. Why exactly had Master Liam done this to her? Why had he chosen her? What did he want?

  The solid wood door was silent as she opened it and stepped out into the echoing darkness. Each of Ellie’s fumbling steps sounded like an elephant thundering through a jungle.

  The walls tore at her sensitive touch as she moved. She could feel everything. It was amazing. Ellie murmured as she counted her steps. When she counted four hundred thirty paces she could go no further. Her hands searched in the darkness until they felt a cool metallic door knob. The heavy door clicked quietly as she pressed it open.

  Though the light in the room was dim, it burned her eyes and it took a second for her to adjust. Blinking, she stared out at the empty room. It reminded her of a large dining hall, but instead of tables, there were giant day beds covered in fluffy black and white pillows.

  The scent of fresh iron-rich blood made her mouth water.

  Footsteps echoed from behind her and Ellie turned defensively. From the darkness, a thick shouldered man stepped into the light of the room.

  “Hello, Elpis. I have been waiting for you to awaken,” Master Liam said in a high-pitched voice, almost comical in the way it sounded coming from the robust man.

  Ellie didn’t know how to react. Should she bow? Salute? Slap him and yell in anger that he killed her? But she wasn’t angry. It was better to remain composed, so she simply nodded.

  There was a tiny
quiver in his lip that she assumed was his attempt at a smile.

  “By now, I expect you understand that you are dead. Correct?”

  Ellie nodded, “Yes, sir.”

  “You may call me Master Liam. For that is what I am—your master. I expect absolute respect from you. You would do best to remember. If you treat me in any way I deem undesirable, I will put an end to you.” The ferocity of his gaze told her there was truth in his warning.

  “Now, Elpis, about your death. Do you understand what you have become?”

  “Please call me Ellie. And yes, I have heard of this kind of thing before. But, I don’t understand why you chose me.”

  “It is of no concern why I chose you. You are here to follow my commands, not to ask questions.” Master Liam reached behind him into the darkness. “This woman has proven to not be as useful as we would have liked—she made the mistake of killing one of us.” He pulled a quivering, mouse-like woman into the dim room. “And I am sure you are hungry. So eat.”

  “I guess this vampire thing doesn’t come with training wheels,” Ellie whispered under her breath.

  “No it doesn’t,” Master Liam frowned. “You will learn quickly or you will not be long in this place.” He turned around and walked into the darkness. “I expect her to be dead when I return. There are no second chances.”

  Chapter Three

  The murderous woman begged and pleaded for her life. Ellie felt nothing. She was a predator. This mouse was prey. Simple.

  The taste of the warm blood on her tongue was life, thick and rich—the nectar of the damned. The woman’s pulse raced as she began to feed. Ellie took her time enjoying her first true meal of life.

  The woman’s dying veins slowly began to decrease in pressure. She let the body slump to the floor. It was an empty husk.

  Stepping over the body, Ellie made her way into the darkened corridor where Master Liam had made his entrance.

  Walking in the darkness, she ran her fingers along the wall until she got her bearings. The rough rock scratched at her fingers as she began to ascend into the depths of the corridor. Somewhere in the distance was the sound of people screaming.

  She was missing out on a feed.

  Her footfalls echoed as she ran.

  The screaming got closer, but strangely it was less intense as she neared the source.

  As she turned a corner, she found a room was packed with vampires. Each of them clad in robes the rich burgundy color of blood. On their chests was the picture of a gaunt woman-like creature with deep hollow cheeks, fangs, and instead of hands, talons erupted from the creature’s limbs. Ellie hadn’t seen anything like it before.

  In the center of the room, spread over a black wooden altar, was a woman dressed in white. Her brunette hair flared around her as she looked towards the vampire at her side and said, “I accept my fate. I willingly commit my soul to the Keres.” The woman smiled. “I am ready.”

  The man at her side looked up to the crowd of vampires around him. “The first woman on earth, Pandora, opened the jar and unleashed all the evil upon the earth. The most important of these is our sacred Mother spirits, the Keres. Pandora, we thank thee!”

  The vampires around him raised their hands towards the skies and moved them into an imitation of the skeletal idol’s talons.

  “Over time, our Mothers’ love of death has resulted in plagues, violence and genocide.” The man’s fangs shone as he smiled. “And through their love of death, we were created. Without their bloodlust we vampires would not exist. With this sacred offering, we honor them.” As the last word rolled from his sneering lips he plunged the stake deep into the woman’s chest.

  The man looked up to the sky and yelled, “Please, beloved Mothers, guide us in our battle!”

  A hand grabbed Ellie from behind. “Shh… Come here.”

  She turned to see who risked touching her, but she couldn’t see anyone in the darkness. She could only feel the hand on her arm.

  “What’s going on? Why are you touching me?” she whispered.

  “Follow me. I’ll explain later,” the man whispered.

  She resisted him as he pulled her away from the ceremony in front of her.

  “Don’t worry. You can trust me,” he whispered, as he pulled her into the darkness. “You don’t want to be a part of that.”

  Ellie blindly followed the shadow-masked stranger deep into the bowels of the cave system. His hand slipped into hers and felt warm against her cool skin.

  Under his thin skin, she could feel his rhythmic pulse. Though she had just eaten, her mouth watered.

  She needed a quick drink.

  They slowed down as her fingers brushed against a wooden door. Stepping closer to him, she could smell the sunlight on his skin. Her fangs extended as she moved closer to the thunderous beat of blood.

  He turned. “What do you think you are doing?”

  He pushed her away with more force than she expected. She stumbled and fell backwards and onto the floor. Her back hit the wall. Under her hands she felt a stiff cord. The round cord felt strange and out of place in the mysterious underworld, but she shrugged it off. She jumped up to her feet.

  “What are you? You aren’t human. There’s no way some blood bucket could push me away,” she spouted.

  Death was getting more interesting by the second.

  The man stepped back from her. “I’m human, but I have secrets like everyone else here. Otherwise I wouldn’t have survived in here as long as I have. They think I am a minion, but they have me all wrong.”

  There was a rush of a draft as the man opened a door. His body was hidden in the darkness, but he extended his hand into the weak light and motioned her into the shadowy room. “Step inside. We don’t want to spend too much time in the corridors. They aren’t safe for anyone, especially a new vamp and a human.”

  The man stepped into the weak light of the bedroom and Ellie’s heart shifted in her chest as she recognized Ian from the bar.

  Ellie relaxed her fists as she made her way across the room and away from the handsome man. In the center of the bedroom was the familiar bed clad in black satin sheets.

  She slid her gaze back up to lightly tanned man standing by the door. “Nice room. Are they all the same?”

  “Yeah, and one of my jobs is to help clean them. Blood is hard to get out of satin.” He smirked.

  “How many vamps live in this place?”

  “Well, as far as I can tell there has to be at least a thousand in the Keres den. It’s almost impossible to keep track. There’s a lot of death and final deaths here.” He smiled and pushed his blonde hair out of his face. “I must say, I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again.”

  There was a strange flutter in her chest, but it faded. “Did you know what Master Liam planned to do to me? That he planned to kill me?”

  “I did. But there’s nothing I could have done. I swear. I convinced him to procure you that way. Sometimes it has been much worse.” He shuddered.

  She needed no further explanation—Ian had given her the gift of an almost fearless death—which apparently was more than most received.

  He reached over and ran his hand down her arm. “I’m sorry it had to be that way. But Master Liam takes what he wants.”

  There was something in his touch. Ian wanted her. Ellie stepped back from his fingers.

  Master Liam was a stark contrast to the blonde statue in front of her. Ian was chiseled and raw, sublimely beautiful in every way. Something about him drew her closer, and with each second that passed it was harder to resist the need that pulsed up from deep within her.

  “What was going on in that room?” She inquired, as she tried to break the spell he had cast.

  “For now, I’ll only tell you that everything that happens in that room is dangerous. Do not join them in their evil.” He looked into her eyes. “It’s important that I can trust you. Can I?”

  She wasn’t the one to worry about. Everything in Ellie’s human life had required her to remain secretive. Other people were the problem. She had learned the hard way that the only person she could trust was herself.

  There was something about Ian that made her ignore the voice which screamed inside of her head to run away—to not trust—but she couldn’t ignore the impulse in her heart.