Free Born to Darkness Book 1 in the Immortal Destiny Series: Vampire Romance Paranormal by Lorraine Kennedy

creaking noise. Nicole froze.
    Holding her breath, she turned slowly to see what was making the noise. Near the small - worn couch was an old wooden rocker. It was moving back and forth, and as it moved - the floor beneath it creaked.
    The chair was empty!
    The door was still closed, so it was unlikely that someone had started the rocker moving while her back was turned. Besides, she would have heard them come in and leave.
    Setting the jug of water on the kitchen counter, Nicole walked to the rocker. She held up her hand to see if she could feel a draft, but there was none.
    Creak - creak. The rocker still moved back and forth.
    She placed a hand on the back of the rocker to stop the movement. It became still.
    Sighing with relief, she turned back toward the sink.
    Creak - creak. There it was again.
    Nicole swung around to see the chair was again moving by itself. A shiver went up her spine and goose bumps covered her arms.
    She didn’t believe in ghosts.
    But then again, she didn’t believe in vampires either.
    Clearing her throat, she called out, “Who is it?”
    There was only silence, apart from the continuous creaking noise from the chair’s movement.
    Nicole shrugged. There was nothing to do about it but share the place with its ghostly resident for a few hours.
    “Well whoever you are … I will only be here for awhile. I hope you don’t mind,” she said out loud, feeling a little foolish.
    Turning away from the rocker, Nicole tried to ignore the sound as she went about cleaning the glass so that she could get a drink of water.
    Cackling laughter filled the room.
    Nicole’s hands trembled. A chair that rocked by itself was one thing, but this was something else altogether.
    Suddenly the laughter was gone and the chair stopped moving.
    Nicole held her breath - waiting for something else to happen, but all was still. When she could finally breathe again, she forced herself to go back to what she’d been doing.
    She didn’t mind going into hiding, but she wasn’t so sure she liked being haunted.
    * * *
    When Alec stepped through the door, he wasn’t too surprised to see the carnage that greeted him.
    The vampires that had stayed behind were feeding on those unfortunate souls that had made the ill-fated decision to remain at the Cell and party.
    Near the bar, a woman lay sprawled on the floor - her eyes open and terrified. Her death had been a surprise - a horror she hadn’t expected to find when she’d come out to party with her friends at the Cell.
    A young vampire lifted his head from where he’d been feeding at the throat of another victim - his eyes were still glowing with Immortal light and his lust for blood.
    The scent of blood was intoxicating.
    Alec fought to keep his hunger at bay. He would feed, but after he’d faced Omar.
    Stepping over a corpse, Alec made his way to the back room where he knew he’d find Omar.
    Knocking twice, he waited for permission to enter.
    “Come in,” the deep - raspy voice call from behind the door.
    Alec turned the knob on the door and pushed it open.
    At the back of the dimly lit room - Omar sat in a large chair that resembled a throne.
    Alec hadn’t seen Omar for a very long time. He tended to avoid the old ones and their vamps as much as possible. The ancients were nothing but trouble - always had been and always would be.
    Omar hadn’t changed, but vampires didn’t change. Not really.
    They might change their hairstyle, some would push themselves to change their style of dress, but real change never happened.
    Omar had no hair - his scalp was as bare as if he’d shaved with a razor. Like usual - he wore a long red robe, with a single medallion dangling from his neck.
    The medallion was disk-shaped and embellished with strange symbols. Alec had never seen the symbols anywhere else, except for on Omar’s medallion. In the middle of the disk was a small crystal that created prisms of bright color whenever the light hit it just right.
    The red robe and the