Blood Wars by D. Richardson (best affordable ebook reader txt) 📕

She was about my age and one of the few friends I had bothered to make here. Not to mention she’s the only human that knew what I was. Not that I told her or anything she just happened to be stubborn enough to figure it out. Lucky for me she’s open minded about that kind of thing. I opened the door and yanked her inside really quick.

“Owe! What was that for?” I looked outside really quick and saw that the coast was clear. I slammed the door closed and locked it. I turned to her to see her rubbing her arm. Oops.

“Sorry”

“Yeah yeah. You okay? You look a little paranoid. I told you it’s not healthy to live in isolation like this.”

“Yeah, I’m fine I just thought I saw an old friend at the store earlier. And I‘m not isolated. I live with Belle.” Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Belle walked out of the bathroom as soon as she heard her name.

“Old friend as in…?” she knew a good bit about what had happened.

“Yeah”

“Jeez. What are you gonna do if they’re here?” I shrugged and plopped down on the couch. She sat down next to me. “You’ll run again won’t you?” I thought about it for a moment and nodded.

“Yeah probably. I can’t face them.” she was quiet for a few moments, and Kathy took the seat next to me. I worked with Kathy. She was a good waitress and a better listener. Which, coincidentally, is how she figured out what I was.

“I understand. Well if you need, you know you can crash at my place for a while. Throw them off your trail. I know how it is when you need to get lost.” I spared her a small smile. She ran away from home when she was sixteen. Her mother had died and her father got really abusive. “So anyway, I originally came over to invite you to a girl’s night out. You’ve been here for almost six months and you haven’t taken any time to have fun. It’s not healthy.” I rolled my eyes.

“Yes I know. You’ve given me the, it’s not healthy, lecture more times than I can count. But I can’t.” she sighed.

“Oh come on.”

“I can’t I have to work tonight.”

“Are you kidding? You have enough money saved up that you can live for the next two years without working, the way you live.” I had to admit she was right. One of the benefits to being a vampire was quick reflexes and a lot of stamina. I can run the dining room by myself on the busiest of nights. My boss loved it. It saved her a lot of man hours to schedule me on nights by myself. So I worked about forty hours a week and made almost a hundred dollars in tips a night. I lived cheap so it all added up. Although, I had recently considered getting a TV, just to have some background noise when I was home alone.

“Still, Patty is counting on me. She doesn’t have anyone to work nights anymore.” She nodded knowingly.

One of the reasons I had agreed to work only nights was because I could handle myself. There were quite a few gangs that decided to use the small out of the way towns around the city as their base of operations. And I had caught the scent of vampire around the town, so I knew a few of those gang members weren’t human. So far they had left me alone, and I didn’t search them out.

It surprised me how easily they allowed me to stay in their territory. Then again I wasn’t the normal vampire, and my scent would show that. Even new vampires knew not to screw with a born vampire of my caliber. It probably helped that they didn’t know I was female. I’m sure they had caught my scent by now, but they would only catch the power in my scent, not my gender. They most likely assumed I was a powerful male, and as disgusted as I was on behalf of my gender, I was in no mood to teach a lesson to a few delinquent males. As long as they left me alone and didn‘t leave a trail of blood, I wasn’t about to call attention to myself.

“Fine, but do you mind if I crash here tonight then?” She didn’t have many friends.

It was dangerous for her to get close to anyone. She was only seventeen, whereas I turned eighteen not long after I got here, she was still legally supposed to live with her father. If someone got too close they would feel it was the right thing to turn in a runaway. They wouldn’t mean her any ill will, but several people never understand the circumstances.

All they would see is a troubled girl who threw everything out of proportion. They wouldn’t bother to get the facts before acting the good Samaritan. People never stop to think in their attempt to do the right thing, that they may be causing more harm than good. Like sending a victim back to their abuser.

So she didn’t go out by herself and she stayed with us a couple times a week. I didn’t know what she did the rest of the time. All I knew was that she worked at the diner as often as she could. But then again, money makes the world go round.

“Sure thing sugar. I could use the company while miss responsibility over here works herself into the ground.” Belle answered shooting me a snarky smile. Kathy wasn’t the only one irked by the amount of time I spent at work. Belle had the night off anyway so Kathy would be safe for another night.

I rolled my eyes before getting up to get ready to go to work. I didn’t have to do much. I didn’t have a mandatory uniform, all I really needed was an apron. I made sure I had my pen and order pad, then headed for the door. I waved a goodbye to my friends, then walked out prepared for another grueling night.

It wasn’t until halfway through the night that anything unusual happened. I was just standing there making drinks when I felt eyes on me. It wasn’t abnormal for a few customers to watch me work, but this gaze made the hair on the back of my neck stand.

I turned to look out the window and standing there was a wide eyed Devon. I did a double take, but he was gone. But this time I knew I wasn’t hallucinating. He was there, and if he was in town then so were the others. My thoughts turned to panic. Why were they here? How did they find me? Of course, it didn’t even occur to me to check the bond. I had worked really hard to suppress it. It was now just a low hum in the back of my mind, that I barely noticed.

“Michelle? You okay?” Patty asked. She was the only one working tonight except for me and the dish washer, I think his name was Josh or something, I never really bothered to remember since I only every saw him long enough for him to grab some dishes and go to the back. I hadn’t realized I had been staring out the window, and shook my head while trying to get my breathing back under control.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine, sorry just kind of zoned out I guess.” I chuckled awkwardly trying to put on the air that I was okay. She didn’t buy it but she left it alone with just a slight nod before she retreated back into the kitchen.

The rest of my shift crawled by. All I wanted was to go home and hide. I knew it wouldn’t work, if he was here then so were my friends and it wouldn’t take them long to follow my scent back to my apartment. But the vision of my locked door comforted me.

I walked home quickly, but I felt others following me. So I did the only thing I could. I ducked into an alley and waited. I moved silently down to the middle of the alley and waited. I didn’t have to wait long.

About two minutes later a dark silhouette filled the mouth of the alley. I pressed back into the wall as he walked closer. He moved slowly and cautiously, but I could hear his accelerated heartbeat and smell the sweat that he excreted. If he was sweating and his heart beat was elevated that meant that he was human. A vampire wouldn’t have anything to fear, especially from the dark.

When he became level with me I acted. Within a second I had turned him to face me and pressed him back against the wall with my hand around his throat. He was much taller than me, but my added strength and speed was no match for him. He grunted when he hit the wall.

“Who are you and what do you want?” I snarled, to my surprise he chuckled lightly.

“Nice to see you too Jaide. Good to see you haven’t lost your touch.” I let him go and stepped back. Now that I really focused I could make out his features and I knew his voice.

“Nikolai, what are you doing here?” I asked a little panicked. I was right to be too. A few seconds later I heard running feet, and seconds after that several people spilled into the alley.

As they came toward us their scents hit me, and it was all I could do not to cry. Jess, Lexi, Matt, Scotty, and Sam slowed as they neared us. I eyed them warily. It didn’t even occur to me that Devon wasn’t with them.

When they got close enough they stopped. Then I was rushed by all of them, including Nikolai. They crushed my body between them as they all struggled to hug me at once. I couldn’t breath but the feeling of having them all with me made me want to cry.

“God, we were so worried.”

“I missed you so much.”

“You didn’t have to run away.” They all spoke at once as they disengaged themselves from me. There was only one person left close to me, and guilt filled me as I met her gaze. She reached out and slapped me across the face. The irony was that she was the only person in the world that could do that and keep a hand.

“How could you?! I was worried sick! Why would you leave me like that?” The first two questions were rhetorical and the last was spoken around tears. I sighed and opened my arms. She crushed herself to me and sobbed on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry, but I had to leave. I couldn’t stay with him, and I knew you would be fine without me. You’ve never needed me, you can take care of yourself.” She nodded through her tears and