The Rock's of Beauty by Meghan Escott (books for new readers TXT) 📕

the drawing on each turner’s door?” I nodded. “Good. You may go and get ready to turn ten people. I’ll have someone take you down to where they are and some pure blood of course.” I nodded and turned to leave. I was just still in earshot when the Head spoke again. “So what have you two been arguing about this time Samuel?”
I stopped in my tracks and looked round at Sam to see what he would say. “That got a reaction.” The Head muttered.
“Nothing. I did something stupid. Who are you going to give her for blood?” Sam said looking at me even though he was speaking to The Head.
“I haven’t decided yet but either Tristan or Josh. I can’t trust you with her any more.” He said smiling. I smiled two and glared at Sam. “Or maybe Eric.”
“What?” I said to The Head.
“Eric, the Vampire Prince that I sent to you when you were in so much misery.”
“You sent Eric to me.” The Head nodded. “Why does he even have to be on your short list?”
“I’m going to ask you three questions and I want you to answer them without lying whether your Sam knows or not. One, have you had his blood?” I nodded. “Two, has he had yours?” I nodded again, putting the hair behind my ear. “And three, you have kissed?” I nodded for a third time and I could feel Sam’s anger in my mind. “Awe, he really isn’t protective of you then is he?”
“One click of my fingers and you could be dead on the floor.” I said quietly.
“If you even think about that one more time, you won’t live to get married. Are we clear?” I nodded and turned away from him and walked out of the office and collapsing into a chair. The lady behind the desk came over to me and handed me tissue. I hadn’t even realised I’d been crying until then. I thanked her then got up when the door closed again. I turned to see Sam rushing towards me. I whipped the tears from my face again and turned to face him.
“What?”
“The Head wants to see you again and Eric is here. He asked to see you as well. Please, just listen to me, don’t listen to anything that Eric says unless you know it is true and please don’t threaten The Head again.” Sam said to me quickly. I nodded my head and walked up to the door again and opened it to go and stand in the place that I was in before. Sam tried to hold my hand next to me but I pulled it away from him.
Someone laughed in the background and I looked up to find Eric coming towards me smiling. I nodded to him and his smile grew even wider.
“You tried to forget about me but you couldn’t. My voice snapped your spell where Sam couldn’t snap it.” He whispered to me when he had got close enough. I could feel his breath on my ear and he licked my ear. “How sweet. You couldn’t even admit to your fiancé in words that another man had kissed you.”
My anger snapped like the spell on my mind and I slapped him straight across his face. Sam got behind me and pulled my fists down to my side so I couldn’t punch him or slap him again. “She’s a feisty. Must be hard to keep her under control. Oh, wait. That’s where I came in. You can’t control her but I can.” Eric said to Sam then turned to the Head.
“I love a bit of drama. Especially teenagers. Well, that was sorted quite quickly. Eric will feed her after she’s done turning people. Right off you go now. Show her to the basement.”
Chapter Six

I got led out of the room and down many stairs to a big, wooden door. As we got closer to the door, my turner bracelet hummed with energy like it knew something was going to happen. Eric was already there when I got there and he held out his hand to me. I ignored him and carried on through the doors.
There were nineteen people in the small room beyond the doors. They were sat on the floor and each had two or more suitcases. They obviously had been randomly picked because they were all so different from each other. No one was talking; they were all just staring at me and Eric who had taken my hand; the hand Sam had used to call my friends. For that moment I wasn’t concerned about Eric and his hand holding but I was concentrating on my task in hand.
I had to pick ten of these people and turn them. I counted the men and women and then picked the ten men that were there by pointing at them and looking at Eric. He called out ten names and the men that I had pointed at followed us from the room. Eric led us up the stairs and into my block. He posted a piece of paper on the ten doors on the right closest to me with a name on them and then told the men to find their name and enter the room.
All the men had entered the rooms designated to them and left the door open. Now it was me, Eric and Sam in the corridor; Sam having come out of my room when he heard Eric giving instructions. He stared at me and I stared at him, never leaving eye contact. I blanked out his mind and everyone’s in my block. We could have just stared for ever but Eric tapped me on my shoulder, making me turn around into his bloody wrist.
Lots of his blood went into my mouth and I instantly swallowed. Once I had done that I couldn’t stop myself from drinking more. I sucked until I felt energised and ready for the task ahead of me. I pulled away and healed Eric’s wrist. He smiled at me and I sighed. I turned around to find Sam with his mouth wide open and tears in his eyes.
I shrugged and turned back to Eric. “Who am I doing first?” I asked him giggling. He pointed at the door closest to my door and walked there pulling me along with him. As we entered the room, Eric closed the door and the man stood up. His name was Ashton as he introduced and I told him to lie on the couch, bed or floor. He lay on the couch and I slid my Turners bracelet and started to mutter.
When the magic words were finished, I took the bracelet off and put it on Ashton’s left cheek. As I continued the magic words, he started screaming in pain and gasping dramatically for air. I ignored him and carried on muttering until his cheek was a bloody mess. I took the silver off his cheek and put it back on my wrist. I watched as his cheek reformed and created an amazing mark.
I looked away from him as I cut my wrist and put it up to his mouth. He bit immediately and I screamed in agony at the force of the bite. He sucked a lot before Eric came next to him and whispered something in his ear and he pulled away from my wrist. I healed it quickly and moved away from Ashton. Eric came to stand next to me and gripped my elbow to steady me.
“He’ll need blood lust control. He nearly bit my wrist off.” I said to him shakily.
“Sure, I’ll tell the Head.” He said and opened the door and backed out of it, taking me with him. Sam was still there and sat on the floor next to my door. When he saw how shaky I was, he started to get up but Eric shook his head and glared at him. Sam sat back down again and shook his head. Eric held his wrist out to me and I bit into it again and sucked what I needed.
This happened every time, ten times until, Ashton, Lie, John, Riley, Adam, Ben, Ronald, Malcolm, Jordan and Max were turned and in their rooms having drunk my blood. By the end, my vision was blurred and I couldn’t hear people properly – their voice was all slurred – and I could barely walk. Someone lifted my up and took me to my room. I couldn’t tell if it was Sam or Eric because I couldn’t see them very well. They – whoever it was – set my down in my bed and pulled the covers over me and I drifted off.
When I woke up, my vision was back to normal and I could hear everything perfectly. I looked around and saw Sam sat at the end of my bed fiddling with my silver bracelet which had burnt me by the end of the ten people now Vampires. When he saw I was awake he jumped off the end and came over to me. He tried to hold my hand but I moved mine away from his. He frowned and sat on the bed again.
“Why did you leave me?” I asked him quietly.
“I didn’t. Yes, I left you with Eric but I could stand to see you two together and him acting all boyfriend and girlfriend with you but I didn’t leave you. I stayed in your mind the whole time so I knew how you were.” He said back, gripping my hand and not letting me pull away from him. “Why did you drink from Eric in front of me?”
“I couldn’t help it. What the Head wants, he gets. He wanted me to feed from Eric and that would piss you off and anger you and that is exactly what it has done. The Head has a weird way of showing compassion towards me.” I said back.
“Will you kiss me any more? Will you drink from me any more? Will you still marry me?” Sam asked.
“Yes, yes and yes. I never had said no to any of those requests.” I said back. I sat up in bed and leaned against the head rest. Sam lifted my chin with his finger so I was looking directly at him. He leaned in slowly and I was willing to kiss him but at the last minute I felt something in my neck move and I turned away from Sam so he kissed my cheek.
“You just said you would kiss me and then you turn away. What does that say to me?” Sam asked looking down at our clasped hands. He let go of my hand but I kept hold of his. He looked up at me and urged me to let go but I didn’t. I lifted my other hand and put it under his chin. I pulled his face towards me and kissed his lips softly, like it was our first kiss all over again.
Sam pulled away and gripped my hand and smiled. I