Essence sipped her coffee. It was bitter, which matched her mood. This was why she never dated. She wasn’t smart when it came to…
She never saw the taxi coming when it plowed into her.
She never felt a thing.
*
Alec woke up slowly, as he had nearly every day since becoming a vampire. Another night, endless darkness alone in the vast wasteland of the universe that would never again have color in it. He swung the blanket off his body. Although his body stopped all function during most of the day light hours, he insisted on sleeping on the best sheets and blankets.
His monster was close tonight. He’d have to feed a lot and it even might behoove him to leave
his town and go stalk someone in a park somewhere. He wouldn’t kill, but, he might play a bit. Giving the monster that much might silence the blood lust.
The phone rang, which jarred him. No one had phoned since Essence called last night . He hadn’t exactly felt like talking to anyone. In fact, he could go years without actually needing to converse.
Holding back the monster and feeding was a full time job. What had he been thinking, going on dates and pretending he could be normal?
He picked up the line, half expecting to hear someone asking him if he wanted to change long distance carriers, although it had been a long time since that happened. “Hello?”
“Sir…” He recognized the voice of Richard Digger, the man he’d hired to keep track of Essence. His company had been paid to follow her around whenever she was outside. It was going to take some time to get her the money she needed to move—hidden properly so she never knew who sent it.
“What’s happened?” Had she been mugged on the street? Had her apartment been robbed? Did she trip again?
His gaze tracked to the window. The sun was down. He could leave the house.
“A cab jumped the curb and hit her. She’s very severely injured. I called 911 and the ambulance came. They’re not sure she’s going to make it.”
The monster roared for blood, and Alec tamed him down. “You did just say she wasn’t dead, yes?”
“Not yet.”
His fangs ached. He would have to stop to feed on the way to the hospital. He’d have no choice. Essence would not die tonight and, when she awoke, she’d be given a choice.
One no one had ever offered him.
Alec didn’t remember getting to the hospital. He must have fed—he felt in control but he had no memory of the act. Sometimes that was the way vampirism went. If the Monster took the driver’s seat, he often didn’t remember it. Hopefully, he didn’t kill anyone. He held better control—usually. The occasional lapse did happen.
The truth was that he wouldn’t even suffer remorse. Those were human emotions and guilt for death when he was in a moment like this one simply didn’t happen.
Light beamed down on him and the stink of the hospital—the disinfectant, the dying, the sick—he hated the whole place. Essence wouldn’t remain here very long. Staff moved around him like the parting of the Red Sea as he passed. They wouldn’t even realize they’d done so. Most of them wouldn’t remember they’d ever seen him at all.
The beauty of his monster…
He rounded the corner, following her scent. Machines beeped and something looked like it breathed for her. Her pale skin and closed eyes caught his attention. She was alive, but barely. If he left her alone, she wouldn’t make it through the night. Death was his friend; he knew her ways. She’d kill Essence before the evening was over.
Standing there, he almost didn’t move forward. He almost let her die. The humane thing to do would be to allow her to move on. Only, he wasn’t human, and he didn’t want to.
Alec lifted his wrist to his mouth, letting his fangs descend. He bit down hard on his vein, letting the blood flow out onto his arm. Her mouth was covered, he couldn’t get his blood into Essence’s mouth but that wasn’t his plan to begin with. Instead, he took her IV that fed her whatever the human doctors thought she needed.
With one hand, he tugged the end not attached to Essence and let his blood drip into it. Once it reached her, it wouldn’t take long to work. She’d suddenly feel better. Alive enough to tell him if she wanted more. It would take a great deal more to become a vampire. Otherwise, she would die from her injuries.
But it would be her choice. Or at least that’s how he’d justify his actions later.
The second her lungs were capable of taking in air, he unhooked her from her machines. Alarms would go off but he didn’t care. He was fast and they’d never catch him. As though it was the most normal thing in the world, he carried Essence from the hospital. What he had done, he’d never be able to undo now.
*