Free Betrayed by Morgan Rice Page A

to meet these people; she hoped that they liked her.
    “This is Tyler and Taylor,” Polly said, gesturing. “Vampire twins. You don’t see that often. Their coven didn’t want them, so they ended up here. Good for us. They are some fighters. And while we always know what each other is thinking, those two really know what each other are thinking.”
    Caitlin watched them. The identical brother and sister were startlingly attractive, maybe 16, and the two of them sparred against each other with bamboo swords, going blow for blow, parrying each other’s every move. They were each worked up in a sweat.
    As Caitlin passed, Taylor, the girl, turned and smiled, and waved at her. Her brother, Tyler, used the opportunity to lunge in and whack his sister on the leg with his bamboo sword.
    Taylor turned and screamed at him, indignant. “Not fair! That was cheap.”
    Tyler just laughed.
    “Will you two quit it and come over here and give our new sister a proper hello?” Polly chided.
    Sister . Caitlin liked the sound of that term. She’d always wanted a sister.
    Taylor and Tyler came jogging over.
    Rose ran up to greet them, and Taylor’s eyes opened wide in delight. “Oh my God! She’s beautiful!” she exclaimed, kneeling down and hugging the excited Rose.
    Rose licked her face.
    Tyler then stood and embraced Caitlin in a big hug.
    Caitlin was taken aback, and tentatively hugged her back.
    “I feel like I’ve known you forever,” Taylor said, as she leaned back and studied Caitlin’s face.
    “My turn,” Tyler said, prodding Taylor to the side, stepping in and hugging Caitlin, too.
    Caitlin was once again surprised, and didn’t quite know how to react. She was about to hug Tyler back, but suddenly, with her newfound vampire senses, she felt an electric chill run through her. She could actually, truly, feel what this vampire was feeling. And it scared her. She knew that he was attracted to her.
    Caitlin quickly withdrew from his embrace, feeling as if she had somehow just been disloyal to Caleb. Tyler stared at her, and she could feel his attraction as if it were a tangible thing.
    “OW!” Tyler screamed.
    He turned and saw that Taylor had whacked him hard in the back with her bamboo sword.
    “That’s what you get!” Taylor said. “Leave the new girl alone.”
    Caitlin smiled and waved, as Polly took her arm and continued to lead her through the battlements. Soon they were on another path, and in another courtyard.
    “Most of us are sleeping now,” Polly said. “We can come out in the light, of course, but most of us still don’t want to. The only ones usually up at this time are the ones doing guard duty, or the ones training because Aiden forced them to.”
    “Aiden?” Caitlin asked.
    “He’s our coven leader. Like a trainer and mentor and school principal all rolled into one. He’s ancient. He’s been here forever, probably longer than the island itself. No one knows exactly when he came here, but he’s thousands and thousands of years old. A real sweetheart, as long as you’re on his good side. He’s the one that will set your course. He keeps things in shape around here, keeps us all on track. We all answer to him—that is, if we want to stay here. But he’s more like a father figure than anything else. And he’s one of the best vampire trainers around.
    “Anyway, as I said, most of us are sleeping. They’ll be out in force tonight. See over there—that’s where we sleep.”
    Caitlin looked, and as they walked through another stone archway, she saw, off to the side, several arched doorways leading into the castle.
    “And over there, that’s where we eat,” Polly continued, gesturing.
    Caitlin saw a huge, stone dining table, long enough to hold at least 30 people, placed to the side of the courtyard.
    “We rotate. One of us is always on hunting duty. That one brings in the deer for everyone else. This island—luckily, it’s full of them. Acres and acres of forests, in case you