Free Darkest Hour (New Adult Paranormal Romance) by Catherine Bullard Page A

clamped a hand over his mouth and held him
down, and though Thomas struggled with all his might, he could do nothing but
watch helplessly as the hunter unwittingly became the hunted.
    The vampires materialized out of
the shadows—three male and two female— and the hunter straightened,
blinking in the dark. “Who are you?” he demanded, nocking an arrow into his bow
and pointing it at the nearest vampire.
    “Oh, would you look at that,” one
of the females tittered, pressing long, curved nails to her lips. “Our food is
questioning us. How amusing.”
    “Amusing?” the tallest of the
males arched a pale brow. “I think not. Silence him, will you?”
    “W-what are you all talking
about?” the hunter took a step back, his bow steady despite his shaking voice.
“Is this a jest?”
    “I’m afraid he’s not really the
joking type, darling.” The female pouted, her red curls swaying gently in the
breeze. “It seems that—OH!”
    The redhead stumbled back as an
arrow shaft pierced her chest, directly below the collarbone. The other female
reached out and steadied her. The hunter nocked another and aimed it at another
vampire. “Stay away from me, you monsters!”
    “You miserable wretch!” the
redhead shrieked. The hunter’s eyes widened as she pulled the arrow from her
chest. “You’re mine!”
    She fell on him with a snarl of
outrage, knocking the bow from his hand and sinking her fangs into his neck. He
cried out, and Thomas struggled vainly in Elsbeth’s grip as he watched the
man’s face turn stark with pain, and then go slack. The other vampires joined
in, each taking a different body part and finding a vein to pierce. Thomas shut
his eyes, unable to bear watching—it was bad enough to watch one vampire
feast, but this, this was obscene. Almost like an orgy.
    Eventually, he heard the rustle
of clothing as the five got to their feet. “Time to find our next meal of the
night,” one of the males remarked. “And this time, Minerva, you’d be wise to
not show mercy unless you’d like another hole in your chest.”
    “Don’t you worry your pretty
little head over it,” Minerva said, her voice venomously sweet. Thomas heard a
very slight whisper that he knew meant they’d returned to the shadows, and were
even now flitting from tree to tree, looking for their next victim.
    Only when the sounds faded
completely did Elsbeth release him. Thomas sprang up as soon as he was free and
dashed onto the small path, dropping to his knees beside the lifeless body. His
heart clenched with grief and pity for the man, whose eyes stared sightlessly
up at the dark canopy of leaves, his pale body riddled with fang punctures in
various places. Thomas gripped one of his wrists, searching for a pulse, but he
knew it was hopeless. The vampires wouldn’t have left until he was drained.
    “Why, Elsbeth?” he choked,
forcing the words past the knot of tears and rage in his throat. “Why did you
make us sit back and do nothing?”
    Elsbeth laid a hand on his
shoulder. “You know why,” she said softly, and he could hear the aching sadness
in his voice. “They would have slaughtered us all.”
    Thomas bit back the slew of
bitter words sitting on his tongue and swallowed them like a foul-tasting
medicine. There was no point in arguing—Elsbeth was right. Throwing their
lives away was pointless, especially for a man they’d never even seen before.
Still, as Thomas reached over to close his eyelids, he couldn’t help but feel
sorry for the man. He’d been a true innocent, just trying to live his life.
    Like he once had been.
    “I’m going to bury him.” He slid
his arms underneath the body and prepared to lift it.
    Elsbeth tightened her grip on his
shoulder. “He’s been drained. If you bury him, he will rise tomorrow night as a
newborn.”
    Thomas froze. He’d forgotten.
“And if I leave him out here on the forest floor?”
    “His body will be incinerated by
first light.”
    Thomas laughed bitterly. “So,