Shades of Red Read online

  That was the first time I felt my fangs come out.

  They cut my lip and filled my mouth with my own blood, but that wasn't good enough.

  When the woman was above me, I leaped to my knees and pulled her onto the bed. I could hear and feel her life rushing through her veins, and I couldn’t help myself.

  I licked my lips and knew I was going to taste her blood.

  I must’ve been terrifying because she screamed and tried to escape, but I moved with lightning speed and extreme strength. Covering her mouth with my hand, I bit into her neck and began to drink.

  As her blood started to satiate me, I became horrified about what I had done.

  Her auburn hair hung messily around her ashen face, and she hung in my arms like a broken doll.

  I licked the fang wounds on her neck, and they disappeared before my eyes.

  Her heart still beat, very rapidly and unevenly, but she was alive nonetheless. Carefully laying her down, I covered her up with a blanket. Her hat had fallen off onto the floor, and I kicked it under the bed to hide it.

  I was powerful with this much blood, and my mind seemed to return to the present, awake and alert.

  With lots of blood, I feel fantastic. My brain seems to work a hundred times faster.

  I had to get out of there.

  However, after the terrible words Alexander had said to me before locking me in the insane asylum, I knew I could never go back to him. He would never accept me. He’d only had contempt, hatred, pity, and disgust for me.

  I had never said the “V” word or how my change occurred, and now I was glad I never had.

  He would’ve never believed me anyway.

  So, I retrieved my clothing from the wardrobe, donned it, and looked around. The hospital staff would see me if I left through the door, so I made my way to the large window and opened both panes.

  Standing on the sill with my hands braced on the frame, I knew I could jump to the ground. It was three stories up, but I could make it, to get out of this place.

  Large snowflakes hit me as I landed in a crouch in the garden behind the asylum.

  At that moment, I knew for certain what I was.

  I had fangs.

  I was fast and strong.

  I was a vampire.

  Chapter Five

  Sitting on the wide ledge outside my bedroom window, I looked up at the night sky. I’d been out there for several hours, I was out of blood, and my cravings were stronger than they’d been in a long time.

  I needed to go into town tonight again, but I wanted to see Owen, so I waited.

  The stars disappeared, and it began to rain.

  When he finally came home, the slow rainstorm had turned into a downpour, and I watched as he ran from the detached garage to the house.

  I thought of the other night we spent together and how his golden eyes seemed to look past all my lies, to the true me.

  I wanted to stay and be in the same house as him.

  But I had to satiate the beast inside me.

  My inner thirst stirred, and it scared me. I hated myself for feeling this.

  I was right though, about staying away from him. It was the right thing to do.

  I waited until the house was asleep. My car was electric and silent, so I wasn’t worried about disturbing anyone when I left.

  Reaching the small town, I parked near the river in a grocery store parking lot. Making my way down the river trail to beneath the bridge, I found my prey. I heard their hearts and smelled their alcohol-laden breath far before I saw the two younger men sleeping rough.

  “Stay asleep,” I willed them. “Stay asleep. Nothing is happening.”

  I crept up slowly until I stood above the first man. An alcohol bottle shifted by my foot, and I picked it up out of its paper shroud. Everclear.

  Disgust filled me, along with the smell of the unwashed bodies that lay before me. It was a shame, really, because these young men couldn't be older than twenty-five.

  I shifted his head sideways, exposing his neck, and scrubbed at the dirt with an alcohol-soaked napkin until his skin was clean.

  He opened his eyes, and they shone in the moonlight like twin blue diamonds.

  I felt a thrill of excitement and nudged him with my mind.

  “Sleep,” I whispered to him. “Sleep.”

  He obeyed readily in his altered state.

  My mouth watered, and I licked my lips and felt my fangs run out. As I bit into the one clean spot on his neck, a sense of relief mixed with euphoria took hold of me. Feeling that hot, tangy, yet chemical-filled magic run down my throat was nirvana. I moaned in pleasure and drank in deep gulps.

  I usually only take about one or two cups from a person when I drink from them. It’s the equivalent of donating blood. This amount was two or three times my usual amount, but I did it to stave off the thirst. I wanted to make it last. Besides, they wouldn't miss a few cups worth, and it didn't hurt them. However, if their hearts began to race, then I had to stop.

  I still wondered about the nurse from the asylum.

  I don't think she died. I hoped she didn't die.

  I have to believe that she didn’t.

  I had plans for the other homeless man. I hadn’t done this in a long time, so I fumbled with the package of the IV needle before ripping it open with my teeth. I was able to hit a vein in his calf after my second try, before attaching the tubing and packet for collection.

  He laid there and stared at me with unblinking dark eyes.

  “Don’t move. You’re not worried, and when I finish, you're going to go to sleep and forget that any of this happened.” I watched the packet slowly fill and sighed, licking my lips again to make sure I had cleaned off all the blood.

  Crouched as I was, I alternated between looking at those wide dark eyes, my hand holding the needle in place, and the painfully slow-filling blood bag.

  Just then army tags fell from his collar, poor thing.

  “What branch of the military did you serve in?” I asked.

  “Army,” he answered in a monotone.

  I decided to try something I'd never done before. If I was going to take something from the soldier, maybe I could also give him something in return.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Evan Tucker.”

  "Evan." I pushed more of my will into him. Having recently fed, I felt energized, and bold because of the added chemicals. "Why are you living like this?"

  His eyes were blank. “I need to make it go away.”

  “What? What go away?”

  "The ambush…" Evan's eyes creased in pain.

  “Hmmm.” Could I take away that memory? Or change it? Would that help him? I wasn’t sure, but it was worth a try. I focused on the dark pools of his eyes.

  “Tomorrow, you are going to change your life.” I hoped that what I was doing would help. “Evan Tucker, you will remember your time in the Army, but you will have no emotional connection to it. It happened, you remember, but none of it bothers you. You’re going to wake up tomorrow feeling wonderful. You’ll go to the shelter, clean yourself up, and find a place to live. You’ll be happy, and the…” I hesitated, “ambush will never hurt you again.”

  He continued to stare at me with those big black eyes until I snapped at him, “Close your eyes. Go to sleep.”

  Driving back to the house, I chewed on the inside of my mouth until I drew blood, feeling torn about what I had done.

  Could anything good come from my incredible abilities?

  Strolling to my room, still lost in thought, I wasn’t quite as aware as I should’ve been. When a crash echoed through the house from the main floor, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

  Speeding down through the kitchen, I followed the sound to Owen’s study. However, when I opened the door, the room was empty, and in order. A lone lamp stood in the corner. The built-in bookshelves looked neatly arranged, and the rolling library ladder perched on its bar in its usual place.

  I looked around and cou
ldn’t find a thing out of place. The sound must have come from something falling over in a closet nearby.

  Turning on my heel, I took a step away when I heard a low whoosh and a thud. The sounds made me spin back again in time to see Owen standing next to the bookshelf.

  I caught a glimpse of surprise before his features smoothed as he seemed to contemplate my presence there.

  I braced my hands against the doorframe. “I heard a crash…”

  "You were out?" He motioned to my large shoulder bag and the dampness on my hair and shoulders from the rain.

  I affected an innocent expression. "I needed erm… feminine products.” He looked incredulous, which stumped me. The feminine products excuse always worked on men. “It was kind of an emergency," I gave the last word a sing-song quality.

  How did he always know when I’m lying?

  “Are you all right?” I asked.

  Owen gave me a questioning look.

  "The crash?”

  He looked around the room. “I… I fell off the ladder.”

  My ass, he fell off the ladder!

  One moment, the room was empty; the next, he stood beside the bookshelf.

  We contemplated each other in silence for a moment.

  I knew he’d lied. He knew I’d lied.

  We were at an impasse.

  I wasn’t sure what to make of my boss. Could he have been drunk? No. Not drunk, I would’ve smelled it. If it was an innocent accident, then why hadn’t he just admitted it?

  Was he embarrassed?

  No, Owen was hiding something serious, probably something confidential and work-related. I knew he’d come from somewhere inside his study.

  There must be a passageway or secret door. I decided to check it out.

  I quietly made my way to the study and tried the handle. It was locked. I was going to pick the lock when I heard Elaine, the cook, open the back door and set bags of groceries on the kitchen counter.

  I knew it would just be a matter of time before I would have access to that room again, so I decided to wait.

  The children have become dear to me, even when they’ve been little devils. On some days, they’re so naughty that I'm nearly beside myself. Most of the time, I feel that I've received a precious gift.

  Jack looked up at me and took my locket into his small hand. “Can I call you mama?”

  Shock and embarrassment washed through me. “Jack, sweetie, you know I’m not your mama. It’s not right to call me something that I’m not.”

  “But, you’d be the best mom, and Dad likes you,” Becca chimed in.

  “Yes, you’re the prettiest mama, like on TV, and you could even tuck us in at night.”

  I pursed my lips and took Jack’s hands in my own. “I would be the luckiest woman on earth to be your mother, but I’m not.”

  Although I was pleased that both children agreed I would be a good mom for them, it made me uncomfortable.

  After the awkward discussion with the kids, my curiosity had me asking Elaine about Dr. Bennett’s wife.

  The cook turned her graying-blonde head and pinned me with her shrewd blue eyes. With pursed lips, she eyeballed me for a moment. “He hasn’t told you anything?”

  I met her gaze. “I haven’t asked. Did she pass away? If I had a better understanding of the circumstances, I might be able to head off any problems early on with the children.”

  Her expression closed to me, so after a few minutes, I took another route. “Have you been with the Bennetts long?”

  Elaine continued to chop the vegetables. “I’ve been with them since they moved here. Little Becca was a tiny thing, and Sarah—Mrs. Bennett—was expecting Jack.” Sliding the pan into the oven, she checked the temperature on the roast.

  “You were good friends with Mrs. Bennett?”

  Elaine leaned against the counter. “Sarah? We were friendly. I think she was lonely. Always here by herself. Back then, Dr. Bennett was still working in New York.”

  I tilted my head. “He left her here? Alone during her pregnancy?”

  “Sarah could take care of herself.”

  “Oh, I guess she’d already been pregnant once, so what was one more pregnancy? Right?”

  “No. Sarah’s pregnancies were high risk because of her age.” Elaine’s hair swung around her face as she wiped the counter absentmindedly.

  My brow knit together. “She was older?”

  Stopping mid-stroke, Elaine cocked her head at me. "In my opinion, she was too old to be pregnant."

  I was taken aback. “How old is Dr. Bennett? He can’t be even in his forties yet.”

  “He’s not.”

  My own marriage had a significant age gap, so how could I judge Owen on his? “So, what happened? Did she leave?”

  “What happened is that Sarah shouldn’t have pushed her luck." She pointed at me with the dishrag. “That’s enough of this talk. If you want to find out about Sarah, you’re going to have to hear it from Dr. Bennett’s own mouth.”

  The electric tea kettle beeped and startled us.

  People with an age gap got married all the time, but things weren’t quite adding up. Could the age gap have seemed to grow larger because Dr. Bennett was a vampire? Sarah could’ve noticed that her husband wasn’t aging. Had he gotten rid of her?

  No, I thought of his warm hands on me and his calm demeanor. He wasn’t a killer.

  But, how could the young doctor have accomplished everything he had in such a short time?

  I mulled this over in my mind.

  I needed to tread carefully. Was my imagination running out of control?

  Either way, I needed more answers. I needed to get into that study.

  Hope alongside fear made me want Owen to be a vamp like me.

  It seemed like every time I learned something new about the Bennett family, I had twenty more questions in its place.

  I had gotten as much information as I could from Elaine, so I busied myself with the task of tea. After I poured in some milk and a teaspoon of sugar, Elaine touched my arm. “We all loved Sarah. Please don’t say anything to the children or Owen.”

  “I would never.” I smiled and took her hand in my own. “I am the soul of discretion.”

  She shook free of my grasp. "They've been through so much."

  All the questions swirled in my brain, so I decided to take a walk and see if I could make sense of everything I’d learned so far.

  I followed a route that took me near the iron fence to where the creek bisected the property.

  I was nearing the babbling water when I heard Owen jogging up behind me.

  I can tell people apart by the rhythm of their heart, their smell, their cadence when walking or running, and maybe by some other mysterious thing.

  “Elizabeth!”

  I turned and couldn’t help but light up. I’d gotten used to my new name now and laughed, happy that I’d finally answered to Elizabeth.

  I admired Owen’s efficient stride as he slowed to talk to me. I sighed with appreciation before mentally slapping myself.

  His eyes lingered on my face momentarily before he spoke. “I’m sorry to bother you, but…”

  Stupidly, I wanted more of a connection with him. I hoped he was about to ask to walk with me or for me to join the family for dinner again.

  He did none of these things.

  “The accountant at Cronus Corp brought something to my attention about your paycheck. He noticed that all of your paychecks are being written over to,” he looked at his phone, “Emilie Edwards.”

  I could feel the suspicion flow from him even though his expression was neutral. Maybe I was reading into things, but I’ve found my instincts to be spot on over the years. What would come of his suspicions?

  Not having time to check into Liz’s accounts, I had been signing my checks over to my old pseudonym and still using my old debit and credit cards.

  I sighed. “I’m sorry, that’s my neighbor in the city. I owe her back rent, and so I’m doing that until I
pay her back.”

  Good lord! I came up with that one quickly!

  I looked through my lashes to gauge his reaction.

  Crud! His expression flashed with disbelief. “What? You drive a Tesla.”

  Why was he such a complicated man? His cheek twitched as he clenched his jaw and furrowed his brow in concern.

  “Yeah,” I said slowly, grimacing. “I bought it with my inheritance.”

  He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked down at me. His gaze compelled me to look up. “Would you tell me if you were in some kind of trouble?”

  "Well…" My hesitation was real, and I forced a swallow. “I was going to go back to New York over Thanksgiving and finalize everything with her. It’s really not a big deal.”

  The corner of Owen’s mouth quirked up. His pale eyes searched my face. “I’m going to New York a few days from now. Why don’t you come with me? Take care of your neighbor?”

  I hesitated.

  “Chronos is sending the company jet. It’s no big deal.”

  “Wow, that’s fancy.” I looked away at the leaves of a nearby aspen tree.

  "The company doesn't want security or anyone messing with my samples, so…" He rubbed circles on my shoulders beneath his fingertips. "You can get that old biddy off your back."

  I laughed at that. “How do you know she’s old?” Looking up, I told Owen, “All right, yeah, I’ll go. That would be great.”

  His enigmatic expression infuriated me, and I wasn't sure if he wanted me to accept his offer or not.

  My skin felt cold as soon as his hands lifted off my shoulders. I stood there and watched him walk away. Turning before he was out of sight, he looked back at me.

  He must have done some digging on my old alias. Emilie was a senior citizen now. I was lucky that I hadn’t been caught using that identity. It was so troublesome in the digital age where everything could be checked and verified.

  At least Elizabeth had a fully fleshed out background, complete with social media accounts and longtime friends who lived far away. I was fortunate to have stumbled upon her situation, even though the memory of it haunted me.