The Instinct by Taylor (iphone ebook reader .TXT) 📕

When she saw what was in Shane’s hand, she winced. A blood bag, filled with warm, sweet blood greeted her. Was it… human blood? Shane looked like he was going to be sick.

“Oh,” she murmured, opening the door further and grabbing the bag with a wary hand. His fingers bushed against hers, which were cold like ice. His skin was warm.

“It’s not human. It‘s deer,” Shane assured when he saw her fear.

She swallowed and offered him a small smile. The bag was warm in her hands, but something about it smelled funny. Gross, like dead animal. Devyn grabbed hold of the straw before bringing it to her lips. She could almost taste the maggots in the dead carcass as it rotted.
It stank. She couldn’t drink it. The thought of the warm liquid oozing down he throat made her feel sick.

“I-I can’t,” she whispered, dropping the straw.

“Sure you can. It was nothing, really,” he insisted, watching as she lowered the bag of blood.

“No. I mean I literally can’t do it. It smells worse than them.”

It took him a moment to realize she meant Sam and Leo.

“Oh….” He took the bag from her and motioned for her to follow. She did, but kept her distance from him. She looked around the oak hallways. The place was surprisingly clean, and smelled a lot like Sam and something fresh, like flowers. Daffodils, she noted. The two walked in silence, down the long hallway.

Devyn looked at the pictures that lined the walls. She spotted one and knew it was Shane. He had kept the boyish dimple on his left cheek. The picture was of him, a boy with dirty blond hair, and Sam, when they were about thirteen or fourteen. They played in front of a large cabin, with lot of windows. It kind of looked like the Winder’s place, just across the lake from where Malcolm and she had….

“When can I go home,” Devyn asked, her round eyes locking gaze with him. Shane bit his bottom lip.

“Leo said you should stay here for a while. Until you can… control yourself.”

Devyn narrowed her eyes and hissed at him. Shane jumped, slightly startled. “You think I’d hurt my father? I can control myself,” she insisted stubbornly.

“You’re a newborn. You’d attack the first thing you’d see that had a pulse,” Shane scoffed.

“Well then, what are you? I haven‘t torn off your head yet,” she hissed, lowering her voice. Shane stopped walking. They had reached a tall doorway, and Shane motioned for her to quiet.

“-they have to be long gone by now,” an unfamiliar man insisted. Devyn noted his voice wasn‘t manly and controlling like Leo‘s, but not taunting like Sam’s. “They’re nomadic.”

“But we have something they want,” another voice, Leo’s, Devyn recognized, boomed.

“We can’t just throw her out,” a third voice piped up. This one was female. “They’ll come after her. She’s like family to them.”

Devyn resisted the urge to hiss. She knew who they were talking about. Maeve, and the man with skin as pale as the moon. Despite Shane’s warning, she barreled into the room.

“I am not family to them,” she cried, baring her fangs. She was beyond angry. She felt as though she should tear someone’s head off for comparing her to them.

The three voices she had heard silenced. She recognized Leo, who was watching her, and Sam, who sat on the couch and was flipping through ESPN channels. She stared at the two unfamiliar people.

She actually recognized one. He had dirty blond hair and blue-green eyes. He had been in the picture that was hanging in the hallway. The third voice, the woman, was tall. Her face was slightly plump and her black hair was in a messy, greasy bun. She looked just like Sam, except she wasn’t extraordinarily beautiful. She was… human.

“Piper, this is Devyn,” Leo said quietly, gesturing between the two women.

“Leo, she’s beautiful,” Piper gasped, beaming before stepping forwards and wrapping her long arms around her. Devyn’s snarl slowly faded from her face. Piper smelled much sweeter than the blood in the bag. Her warm touch made Devyn’s fangs slide out from beneath her gums.

“Who is this, and why is she hugging me,” Devyn hissed. Sam smirked.

“Mom, back off. Shane’s already got dibs on her,” he teased. Devyn glanced at Shane to see his tan cheeks reddening. The third boy stayed slightly frozen. His long blond hair fell into his eyes as he watched Devyn slip out of Piper’s hug.

“What’s going on,” Shane asked, looking between his uncle and aunt.

“We’re deciding what we should do now,” Sam grinned, grabbing a hand full of potato chips from the bag in his lap and stuffing his mouth.

“And…?,” Devyn snapped, raising a dark brow.

“You’re going to stay with us for a while. We’re going to call up an old vampire friend.”

Even the word felt surreal and made Devyn’s skin crawl.

“So you do this a lot,” she asked, looking straight as Shane.

“No. We usually just kill them,” he said quietly. There was no malice in his voice, only truth. Devyn’s scowl crumbled.

“What happened to me,” she asked quietly, not looking anyone in the eye. She could feel her eyes growing wet. Was she… crying? She brought her fingers to her wet cheeks and realized to her horror it was blood. She was crying blood. Oh that’s just like some cruel ironic joke to her. She wiped her bloody cheeks and sniffled slightly.

“Shane had found you, when Rowan and Maeve were…. He got you out of there and came back here. Piper, she, um, gave you some of her blood, when you were changing. And now… well, now you’re okay,” Leo explained quickly. He was obviously uncomfortable explaining exactly what happened to an angry, vampire teenage girl. Devyn thought back to what Sam had told her earlier.

“What… What are human vampires?”

Everyone in the room quieted. They looked around, and Sam groaned.

“Dear lord, why does everyone look so excited to explain it to the bloodsucker,“ he cried out before looking around the room and then back at Devyn. She winced.
“Human vampires are like you. They look like humans, they act like humans. Hell, for a while they even kind of smell like them. And they’re weak. They somehow manage to attain human souls while they drink people dry. And then there are the Originals,” Sam explained.
“Originals are the oldest clan of vampires in the world; they don’t look like humans. Maeve is an original; been around the block and back a couple times. Rowan is just her shit-headed little pet. Originals have the power to change humans, and their bite can stop a werewolf from shifting. Human vampires are pretty much beautiful immortals that do the dirty bidding of the Originals.”

“Werewolves?”

“Well, yeah, what else did you think we were,” Sam laughed.

“You’re werewolves,” Devyn scoffed. she raised a brow in disbelief and waited for someone to tell her they were pulling her leg. No one looked at her. Shane shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. Devyn was convinced this was all a strange dream. It had to be.

“Yes. Do you need proof,” Sam challenged, beginning to unbutton his shirt.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” the blond kid shouted out. Sam laughed and rolled his eyes.

“Tell me more about them,” Devyn demanded, sitting down on the plaid couch in the middle of the room and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Who? Maeve and Rowan?”

“No, Santa Claus,” Devyn said sarcastically, “Yes, Maeve and Rowan!”

Sam looked at the people gathered around him and shrugged. “What’s there to tell? Maeve’s been around before any of us. Rowan’s just her pet. He does the luring and the plotting. You know… they’re like… your blood parents. Literally.”

Devyn grit her teeth. She was not related to those… monsters.

“We have bigger problems than daddy issues, guys,” Shane insisted. “She can’t eat from the bags.”

“Well,” Sam drawled, “ did you shove it down her throat?”

“Shut up, Sam,” the blond kid and Shane said at the same time.

“Well then, Gabriel, enlighten us with some genius plan of yours,” Sam snapped at the blond boy.

“I think it’s hunting time,” Gabe shrugged.

“No! That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Leo jumped, glaring at Gabriel from across the room.

“Yeah, shut up, Gabe,” Sam mimicked, slapping his friend upside the head. Devyn brought her fingers to her temples, which pounded. Was it possible for vampires to get headaches?

“I-I’m kind of tired. Could I... get some rest,” Devyn asked, biting her bottom lip faintly.

“I’ll show you,” Shane volunteered, smiling dopily. Devyn offered him a smile that revealed her fangs. He motioned for her to follow and she waved goodnight to everyone. Not that anyone was jumping to give the vampire a good night kiss…

She followed him back to the bedroom she had woken up in and smiled as she sat down on the blue comforter. Shane didn’t say anything as he began opening the closet doors.

“What are you doing,” she asked, looking over his shoulder to see a drawer full of boxers.

“Well, this is my room,” he drawled, “ and I kind of need my underwear. Is that okay with you?”

Devyn could feel the embarrassment bathing her cheeks. She could have blushed, when she was human…

“Why don’t you smell as bad as everyone else? Besides Piper, I think you smell the best out of all of them,” Devyn asked. Her curiosity was killing her. Her eyes wandered to his neck. She wondered how he would taste…

she didn't notice how he tensed when she said that. He dared to sniff himself, and slightly grinned.

“I’m like Sam; half human. But he’s rightful alpha… or I guess he is now.”

“What do you-”

“Goodnight, Devyn,” he interrupted, slinking towards the door before she could finish another question. He flickered off the light, and left her to sit on the bed, in the dark.

Imprint

Text: I own this
Images: I got this from Google
Publication Date: 12-22-2012

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
To Kayla, the girl who shoved The Immortal Rules down my throat. Well, I've crossed over to the dark side now ;)