Free Witchblood by Emma Mills

rich, a bit like mulled wine bubbling on the stove on Christmas morning. Once again, I felt my new fangs run out and my pulse quicken ever so slightly. My worries faded away and I felt safe and calm.
         Suddenly there was a quick knock on the door. It swung open and before I knew it, my mind reached out and slammed it shut again. As soon as I realised what I’d done, both Daniel and I broke apart and swivelled round. The door opened again and Eva entered, looking most displeased with having had a door slammed in her face, and I can’t say I blamed her.
         ‘Eva, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I did, or how…’ I faltered.
         ‘So you did this? Hmm, interesting development. Well, we’ll discuss this later. For now I have someone for you to meet.’ She turned around in the doorway and signalled to someone standing in the corridor. ‘Gavin, come here darling,’ she said softly, as she smiled and beckoned him into the room.
         A young, good-looking lad of about twenty entered the room. His hair was fashionably dishevelled, his tight black jeans sitting low on his skinny hips. He looked around interestedly, but was not visibly nervous or frightened, and I wondered if he knew what we were, just as I’d suddenly become desperately sure of what I had become.
         The scent of his warm blood assaulted my senses with a blast and I could very faintly hear the quick drumming of his pulse. My mouth started watering, and my fangs, which had begun to recede with the disturbance, shot out to full length. I was exhilarated and thirsty. Very thirsty.
         I felt my body curl inwards, slightly tensing ready to pounce, and just as I was about to spring across the room and follow through with my natural instincts, Daniel’s hand was laid on my shoulder.
         ‘Slowly, try and rein it in a bit Jessica, remember you can’t kill him,’ he whispered, as Eva stepped slightly in front of the boy.
         Amazingly this was all it took, and I suddenly realised this was a test they wanted me to fail. Within seconds I understood several things. Firstly, if I jumped forth and fed from this boy, yes, it would be nice and legal, but I’d have failed in my pledge to prove to them that I was capable of restraining myself and therefore seeing Luke, my father or even Alex.
         Secondly, I was not sure how drinking ‘live’ human blood would affect me. They seemed to think it would help turn me into a fully-fledged vamp, thereby losing the human traits I still seemed to display. If these human traits were something to do with my supposed pagan heritage, would they be lost? These were not theories I wanted to test out right now, and in that split second everything changed and I was able to push up my barriers and look at the boy with human eyes. I was in control, just, but my barrier was shaky and my fangs would not recede.
         Eva stepped towards me, frowning slightly. ‘She’s controlled it. I don’t believe it!’ She sidestepped a little and turned back to the boy. ‘Gavin love, go to Jessica now. Show her what you want.’
         Gavin smiled as if in a dream and silently walked towards me. His scent became more intoxicating the closer he got. He stopped a couple of feet away and smiled lazily at me.
         ‘Hi there. Evie says you need me as much as she did, maybe more.’ I was paralysed with shock, trying to control my instincts, and as he slowly removed his jacket and undid the top few buttons of his shirt, exposing his neck to me I felt a gush of emotion; hunger, lust and need suddenly merged with anger and a furious disgust. I would not do this.
         ‘No!’ my voice croaked, as my throat had suddenly dried up, but as I stumbled backwards, trying to fight off the built-up emotions, they exploded, and suddenly the room was erupting.
         The mirror over the