Free The Blood Talisman by Kim Culpepper Page B

women with the utmost of respect.
You can’t expect any less than that.”
    She quietly sat back down on her cot,
still eyeing the dark soul behind the rusted door.
    “ I will return with your
clothes in a moment,” he said.
    “ Wait! Can you look at my
neck then? It really hurts,” she said suddenly, stopping
him.
    He unlocked the rusty door. Leaving it
cracked open for light, he walked over to her bed and sat down next
to her. She never took her eyes off him, distrustful as she was. He
brushed her brown hair off of her shoulders and she leaned away
from him. He grabbed her by the arm and she looked intensely into
his eyes. His hands felt soft against her arm. It was a nice
contrast, compared to her current living arrangements.
    “ I won’t hurt you,” he
promised.
    She reluctantly complied and he leaned
in closer, looking at the gash that his moronic associate had made
on her neck. It was red and pulsing. The blood had stopped and
clotted on her neck. It was healing, but slowly.
    “ You will be fine.” He
rubbed the other side of her neck to bring it in even closer. His
lips were inches from the healing wound. She looked at him, in
fear. He noticed and released her from his grasp. “Forgive me.
You’re very beautiful.”
    She scrunched her forehead up at him.
“Is this how you got your imprisoned wife to fall for you? If it
is, then you need to find a different strategy.”
    She angrily stood up and walked to the
other side of the room. She turned at stared at him. He was an
attractive man and he obviously felt an attraction to her, but she
wasn’t buying his bullshit.
    “ You will be going through
some changes in the next few days. Being in prison tends to alter
people. Hopefully, it will improve your attitude.”
    He walked back over to the rusty door
and stood at it, looking back at her. He had pulled a dainty white
handkerchief out of his pants pocket and was rubbing the little bit
of grime he got on his manicured hands onto the clean cloth. She
was rubbing her neck and wishing he would leave. He stepped out and
locked the door. She breathed a sigh of relief and returned to her
cot. She noticed him looking through the bars again at her. He
watched her with his dark, probing eyes. She ignored him and turned
back to the peeling paint on her concrete wall. She picked at it
until she heard his footsteps leaving her.
     
     
     
     

Chapter 12
     
    They were getting uncomfortably close
to Blearney. Alex was nervous and Selene was, well, just Selene.
Her laid-back attitude helped him to not be so anxious. Their gas
hog was getting low again as they pulled into an almost-deserted
gas station. A big rig hummed near the diesel refueling post. There
seemed to be nobody at the truck and the gas station itself was
eerily empty.
    Alex turned off the car engine and
said, “Stay here.”
    Selene complied graciously and he
stepped out of the car. His heart was racing with every footstep.
He could feel something was not right. He also felt a kinship in
the air. It was a warm edginess. He made it up to the double glass
doors, inundated with beer stickers and candy advertisements.
Nobody was to be seen at first glance. He heard muffled sounds
coming from the back and a tanned blonde emerged.
    Her arms were wrapped around a
middle-aged, overweight man in a tie-dyed t-shirt. He could have
easily overcome her and Alex wandered why he didn’t try. He looked
terrified and Alex glanced down at their feet to understand why.
Off to the right was another attendant but she was lying in a pool
of her own blood with her throat ripped out.
    “ Alex, my name is Ember. I
need you to feed on this fat fuck. I’m only going to give you this
chance. If you will look outside…” and she pointed to Alex’s car.
Selene was standing outside it, being held by his former Commander,
John Fortner. Surrounding the car were five men that Alex could
sense were werewolves.
    “ I’m not going to kill him,
if that’s what you’re asking. I