Chapter 1
It all began with a bleeding red heart.
They all started the same, my dreams.
It was always Christian’s face I saw with his mouth wide open and a crimson stain spreading across his chest where his heart had once been.
And every time, when I’d look down, I’d find that the hand that had killed him was my own.
I did not enjoy these dreams.
In fact, these dreams, these nightmares were my purgatory.
Though on exceedingly rare occasions, like tonight, the dream was not unpleasant.
Tonight, I dreamt we were normal, him and I.
A mundane couple, sitting across from one another at a nameless restaurant, enjoying dinner. Christian was just another guy, and I was just another girl, with no powers good or dark.
Across from me, Christian smiled, a smile that could, without a doubt, put any Hollywood actor to shame.
Glancing up from the table, where our hands rested, intertwined, I smiled back.
It was relaxing. The music and the warmth of his hand brought a sense of normalcy.
We chatted, though I couldn’t remember what about.
The food was delivered, yet I didn't remember tasting it.
All I remembered, maybe all I really wanted to remember was his face, shining under the dim restaurant lighting. The sharp line of his jaw, moving as he spoke. What had he said to the server? It didn’t matter because he looked so handsome doing it.
The squeak of hinges jarred me awake, ripping away the image of a smiling Christian.
I sat up, searching my empty room.
The door was ajar, but I distinctively remembered closing it that night. Reaching under my pillow, I found the odd object Damian had given me.
Hell if I knew how to use it, but it was sharp, and according to Dai, covered in enough Holy water to burn a bloodsucker's skin right off.
Wary of what I might find, I neared the door, tearing it open.
An empty corridor greeted me. It was bright, the way hospital hallways were bright.
I continued down the hall, the stake firmly gripped in my hand.
It felt silly there.
Dare I say even laughable at this point.
I did not need a stake or silver bullets. I was a hybrid, a rare vampire faerie mix with powers strong enough to kill a man, human or otherwise.
But for some reason, the stake brought me comfort.
I remembered, with clarity, the night I’d left Dannek castle and the very first time that I’d seen a stake up close.
A soulsucker had torn into our vehicle, pushing us off the road and into a tree.
Gripping my head, which had been bleeding, I'd looked up to find the roof of the Jeep completely gone and on the other side, a red-eyed monster, who'd reached inside with greedy hands.
He’d been sent by my father. My real father, though I only considered him a sperm donor. One I’d kill once I got my hands on for taking Taylor and Marcy, my only real family.
“Your father wants to see you,” He said, right before Damian had grabbed him by the back of his shirt and yanked him off the vehicle.
Damian had slammed the soulsucker into the window.
I'd jumped at the sound, watching in horror as Damian pulled out a pointed, cylindrical object which gleamed under the moonlight.
Without hesitation, Damian had jammed the stake into the soulsucker's back.
The vampire’s mouth slackened, his blood smearing the window as he'd slid down and onto the ground, dead.
Damian had stood on the other side, breathing hard, his superman curl clinging to his forehead with blood.
And for a moment, I’d been afraid of him.
Of the quick and efficient way he'd killed a vampire. After all, wasn’t I part Soulsucker too?
I’d never seen Damian do a violent thing in his life. Though he was tall and had a ridiculous amount of muscle, I’d only ever seen him be a gentle giant, even towards my dog Pharaoh, whom he claimed to hate.
It was Damian who had brought me here.
To the United States Defender Embassy whose empty halls I now roamed.
I stopped at the end of a corridor and listened.
There was the soft padding of feet one corridor over. I hurried down the hall, catching a glimpse of a man with a black hair disappearing around the next corner.
My step quickened, trying to catch up.
I skittered at the next turn, seeing the same man, clad in dark clothing draw open a window, perch on the windowsill then jump out.
Massive black wings unfurled and then he was engulfed by the darkness.
I ran to the window, leaning as far over as I could in search of him.
I found him nearly blending into the darkness of the forest.
Maybe it was stupid. Who was I kidding, it most certainly was stupid, but I had to know who he was. Had Stefan sent him? What if it was Stefan himself?
If you don’t come with me now, I imagined him saying, I will execute your family tonight.
I climbed onto the windowsill, drawing in a deep breath.
The embassy was a three-story colonial building with a united states flag at its entrance. I remembered seeing the flag on the way up the driveway. I couldn’t see the flag now from this angle, but I could see the dense foliage that lead to a forest just at the edge of the property.
There was the silhouette of a man in the moonlight, standing under the shadow of a tree.
I stared down at the two-story drop, debating.
If I took the stairs and went out the side door like a normal person, would he be gone by then?
I spotted the branches of a tree, conveniently close enough to grab onto.
Climbing out the window, I planted one hand firmly on the window frame while the other inched toward a branch that looked thick enough to sustain my weight. I swung once, my feet finding a foothold and then my arms wrapped around the tree's trunk like a lifeline, the stake clumsily gripped in my hand.
Okay, Jane of the jungle, I thought.
Are you stupid or what?
Climbing out of a window like an adolescent girl to meet with a dangerous stranger was not my proudest moment.
But I ignored my inner musings as I climbed down the tree, finally landing on the grass covered earth.
I stole a glance at the man who still stood there, still as a statue.
As I neared, I conjured up my protective magic, felt its reassuring buzz at my fingertips.
When I was only a few yards away, the man turned on his heal and with a few brisk steps, disappeared behind a massive tree.
“Show your face,” I hissed. “I’m not about to play hide and seek with you. What do you want?”
There was a whisper of wings. One that grew distant, someone leaving, and one that drew closer, someone arriving.
A man appeared from behind a different tree.
I sucked in a breath.
But then he stepped closer and I saw his face, the left side illuminated by the moon.
“Christian.” I breathed. “W-what are you doing here?"
I took a step back and he noticed, following the movement of my feet with dark blue eyes. His eyes drifted back up to the stake in my hand and he scowled.
I tucked it into the back of my sweatpants, swallowing hard.
"I thought I was perfectly clear when I said I never wanted to see you again."
My heart thundered in my chest at the lie. Every fiber of my being had been, for weeks, longing to see him, to hear his voice, to touch him. But the other part of me wanted to hate him. It was a mixture of happiness and hurt, equal parts caution and excitement.
In that moment, I did not know exactly what to feel.
“I had to see for myself that you were unharmed.”
“Unharmed.” I echoed. “Depends on your definition of harm. If you mean physically, I’m fine.”
He tipped his head in acknowledgment. An olive branch.
He wasn't here to argue.
I crossed my arms to keep myself from touching him. His own hands were clasped behind his back and I wondered if he did it for the same reason.
“I don’t have a lot of time before the cloaking charm wears off.” he said. “You need to listen closely.”
“Christian, I-”
“I’m not here about us.” He cut off. “Please, I need you to listen.”
I clamped my mouth shut and waited. I may have even tapped my foot.
“You’re not safe here. You may be half faerie, Aimee but make no mistake, these people do not see you as one of theirs. To defenders, hybrids are tainted. Promise me you will be careful.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know that. But you tend to trust the wrong people.”
“Like you,” I said.
“Like me,” He agreed, softly.
“Is that all you wanted to say?” I asked, voice cold.
“No, I also want to apologize for what I am about to do next.”
“Christian, don’t--”
But he reached me anyway in two long strides. I’d expected him to kiss me or hug me but what he did next shocked me. He took my wrist and brought it to his lips. A sharp pain tore through my skin, like two pointed spears.
It was his fangs, I realized.
Before I could protest, a rush of pleasure rushed through me.
My knees weakened and I gasped, taken aback by the sudden wave of hormones. I could only describe is as the pleasure one felt during an orgasm, except this had no beginning or end.
My eyelids drooped closed. I could hear the fast pounding of my heart in my ears, delivering this sweet climax through my veins.
A distant voice told me to tell him to stop, even begged me to. The other much louder voice told that voice to shut the hell up.
“Christian...” I whispered. I was gone, lost to the sensation of bliss in my brain, the tingle of pleasure all over my body, with the pull of my blood into his mouth nearly as pleasurable as having him inside me.
He released my wrist, not missing a single beat before he bit into his own wrist, grabbed the back of my neck, and put his wrist to my mouth.
I made a sound of protest before his blood washed over my tongue like the sweetest of nectars.
All coherent thought left my mind. All that mattered just then was the taste of him, the incredible high his blood produced as it coursed into my veins, stronger, more powerful than any drug on this earth, I was sure of it.
Christian made a guttural noise in the back of his throat as I moaned into his wrist.
His fingers dug into my neck, his breath hitching as I was certain he was experiencing the same sensations I had when he'd bitten me.
I couldn't get enough of him. The taste of him was ambrosia, a delicious song thrumming inside my very being...
“Aimee, enough.” He breathed. His hand stroked my cheek and I opened my heavy eyelids slowly.
Seeing his face broke the spell and I pulled away from him as if I had been electrocuted.
I used the nearby tree for support, breathing hard.
Tears stung my eyes as the reality of what had just happened sank into me.
“W-what did you do?” I demanded, my voice quivering.
“Something I’m going to hate myself for in the morning,” He said. “But that will ultimately keep you safe.”
“Tell me what you did. Why does...” I dug my nails into the rough bark, hard enough to draw blood. Because every cell in my body was drawn to him. I’d been attracted to him before but now it was a physical ache.
Like my heart would stop beating if I wasn’t near him. Like the earth would literally shatter if he walked away now.
“You’re bonded to me now.” He said hoarsely. He looked at the ground. I knew him well enough now to recognize when Christian was ashamed of himself. “It means that we are connected now, as mates."
Red flag, red fucking flag, my mind screamed. What the hell was wrong with him?
“Is this your way of...of forcing me to keep on loving you? That’s sick, Christian.”
“Trust me, Aimee, I don’t want anything by force. I’m doing this for your own protection. If you’re ever hurt or in danger, I’ll sense it through the bond, and I will come for you.”
“What in the world would make you think I’d want to be bonded to you after you killed my father? That I’d even want you to come? Christian, don’t you get it? I—I hate you for it.”
Pain flashed briefly through his eyes, but he composed himself, running the back of his sleeve across his mouth to wipe away my blood.
“I don’t blame you for not trusting me. I deserve it. And we can both hate me for this later but until you are ready to see the truth, I can’t leave you unprotected. This was the only way. I am so sorry.”
I opened my mouth to respond but just then an alarm started blaring.
He cursed.
In the next second, he lifted me into the air and set me down on the windowsill. His wings unfurled on either side of him, massive and black, blotting out the moon.
“The man earlier, was a friend. But please don't follow any more strange men into the darkness. Promise me.”
Flood lights flashed overhead.
Christian looked up briefly and grimaced.
Defenders shouted from the rooftop, partly drowned out by the alarm.
“Aimee, promise, now.” He growled.
“I-I promise.” I said, stunned.
And then he was gone.
I saw a flood of arrows sweep after him and a part of me was relieved when not even one hit him.
Hello dear reader, welcome back to the Changeling Series! I am sorry for any delays in getting this up. I was moving homes and my laptop was packed away for the longest! But I'm SO excited for this new book. Let me know what you think with a comment <3
