Free Redemption (Dawn of the Damned Book 1) by Connie Chance Page A

her shoulder.
    That’s when she’d come to the conclusion that she’d have a better chance escaping from here the day she was let out of this very comfortable room she was jailed in.
    The day was finally here, and her brother’s presence should not deter her from her goal. She’d escape, because an eternity of running is better than living with beings that condoned what her father had done to her and the elder sister she never met, and what Kjeld’s parents had done. Half-bloods should not be enslaved by pure-blood families for feeding.
    Her escape would have to be today.
    She ate her breakfast slowly, taking her time, all the while replaying in her mind the layout of the compound as she remembered it as she’d driven up with Jon that first time.
    It’s both Jon and Kjeld that came to get her from her room, to go and meet up with the council. They stood on either side of the doorway and patiently waited on her.
    “It’s time,” Jon said, his eyes endearing as they assessed her. She ignored the kindness in them though, for to let it in would be to let in the hurt of losing him. Over the last century, even though she hadn’t been with him, she’d always thought him as hers. But now she knew for sure that he was hers no more. He was Pendo’s, the pure-blood.
    She slid off the windowsill she was still sitting on while having her breakfast after her brother left, and landed on her bare feet. She reached for her dark coat lying on the foot of her bed, throwing it over her shoulders as she dragged out the shoe-box from under the bed.
    “Don’t be nervous,” Jon was saying as she stuck her feet into her court shoes and brushed back her currently lacklustre hair with her fingers.
    “Remember that I’ll be there,” Kjeld then added, as though that ought to be encouraging news to her.
    He was partly the cause for all this, all matters considered, for he never stood up for her against his parents and stopped them from feeding on her. And it is the fear of involuntary feeding that had now made it very hard for her to re-enter into Draugr society.
    “And I’ll be right outside the council room,” Jon attempted to reassure her as well, with better result, having a better understanding of her to know that being in the same room with Kjeld is not exactly reassuring.
    Anja remained silent as she followed with them out of the room.
    “Just speak the truth, and all else will be fine,” Kjeld went on to say as they made their way down the corridor.
    Anja barely missed a step, her heartbeat remaining regular, her countenance clear as they approach the window at the end of the corridor that she’d long studied from her room.
    It’s there that she’d planned the escape to start.
    At just the precise moment, she faked a misstep, twisting her ankle enough that it was believable, the two men with her who held her in high enough regard to care turned with worried looks her way.
    And it was at that precise moment that she aimed a flying kick at her former love, sending him hurtling down the staircase with great force, and while catching the pure-blood by surprise she pounced on him and sank her fangs into his neck.
    She fed on his blood with near manic intensity, gouging it as fast as she could while also letting most of it slip out of her mouth, for soon more Draugrs would be coming to check on the thud caused by Jon’s fall. She was not really drinking his blood as much as she was sucking it out of him. She was more determined in draining him as much as she could in these fleeting seconds she had, so as to considerably weaken him against following after her.
    “3, 2, 1..!” She counted to herself before lifting her head from his neck, blocking out the sounds of boots pouncing up the stairs as she kicked hard against the back of the now very much weakened pure-blood, sending him down the stone staircase too before throwing herself against the window, crashing through the thick glass and leaping out the three stories or