Chapter 1
She woke in a cold, white hospital room. She started to sit up in the bed, but looked at the restraints that held her ankles and her wrists.
What the hell? She pulled against the restraints but they didn’t budge.
She lay back in the bed, regrouping. She was alive. That was positive. She was in some type of hospital or medical facility. She looked down at the hospital gown and frowned. Had she been in an accident? She searched back in her memories.
Nothing.
Who was she? What was her name?
Her head whipped to the side as she heard the door open. A pretty female vampire walked in with a clipboard. She wasn’t dressed like a nurse; she was dressed in a business suit. She felt her insides freeze as the woman looked at her and then slowly smiled.
“Good, you are awake. That took longer than we expected. I’ll let Mortemus know that you are aware.”
She watched the woman walk back out of the room. Who was she? Who was Mortemus? What did they mean by being awake? She pulled against the restraints again, then stilled as the door opened again. A tall vampire walked in. He was dressed in a dark suit, a snow-white shirt, the top button unbuttoned, showing translucent white skin. He had jet-black hair and an angular face familiar to all vampires. She knew vampires, she thought, but how did she know that? He smiled at her with bright white teeth; his fangs had not descended yet.
He walked over to her, and every alarm in her body went off. He had golden eyes that seemed to bore through her, she tried to look away but his fingers caught her jaw and turned her eyes toward him.
“Finally, you’ve been out for a few days. I was beginning to worry,” He said, “I’m Mortemus.”
She just looked at him. Then sighed, “I don’t know who I am.”
He looked at her sadly, “I know, dear. Your memories start with me, today. We shall call you,” He looked out the window at the setting sun, “Amber.”
She took the name and tested it on her tongue. Was that her name? It didn’t feel right. Did she have a last name? Where was she from? “Where am I?”
He moved close to her and ran his finger down her body. Amber shivered. “You are with me, and that is all that matters.”
Amber didn’t like the sounds of that. Her mind screamed that she shouldn’t be with him. But where was she? Tried a different level of questioning, “Why am I here?”
Mortemus replied, “You are here because I want to learn more about you. You are different. How you went so long undetected, I’ll never know, but you are now my treasure.” His hand came and played with her red hair, letting a curl wrap around his finger. “You belong to me now, Amber. Mine.”
More alarms went off in her system. This was wrong, flew through her mind. She froze as he leaned close to her and ran his nose down her neck. “So beautiful,” He murmured. His fingers brushed her soft skin.
Amber struggled more with the restraints. Mortemus put his hand in the middle of her chest, “Don’t hurt yourself, darling.”
She lay on the bed and watched him go over to a glass cabinet. Amber began to struggle more when she watched him pull out a long needle. She started to scream as he approached her with the needle. He crooned to her, “Shhh. Everything will be all right.”
She watched the needle go into her arm, felt her body loosen, and her scream froze in her throat. He placed the needle full of blood to the side and bent over her. Amber felt blackness on the edge of her vision. She bucked against the restraints as he licked and then bit into her throat.
What was happening! She heard him moan in ecstasy. Her stomach rolled while her mouth went dry.
Her eyes closed as she felt light sucking at her throat.o
