Free Dark Cravings by Madeline Pryce Page A

legends
are true about vampires and demons, it is obvious there is something…different
about you.”
    I stared straight ahead at the mirrored walls. Two blue
flames stared back at me. Beside me, Hannah and I couldn’t have looked any more
different if we’d tried. She was tall—five-eight—and blonde, where I was short
and brunette. Her short knee-high skirt and pastel V-neck sweater brought out
her inner cheerleader. My black combat boots brought out my inner badass.
    “I’ve been out in public with Julian before. He didn’t
frighten small children the way I seem to be doing.”
    “Julian was,” Roy paused, “charismatic. I believe it’s why
the Vampire Court chose him as their human-vampire liaison with the Agency. You
give off a different vibe, something richer, more potent. There is strength,
power, inside you. Micah told me about the phazing. Coupled with the new
changes, I don’t know what it means yet. Anyone with even the slightest degree
of sensitivity would recognize you as not a normal human. It won’t be long
before the Shadow Agency is alerted.”
    “Shouldn’t the fact that my heart is beating count for
something? I’m not a dog to be put down.” I pressed my back against the wall
and gripped the metal railing. When the aluminum dented, I let go and flexed my
fingers. Whoops.
    Roy gave me a chiding look. “You aren’t the only living
vampire, Ella.”
    Hannah clapped. Her shimmering gloss covered lips curved in
a smile. “Lizbeth Tepes, the reclusive queen of all vampires, that no one
outside of her Sacred Eight has seen since she was fourteen. That makes her over
six hundred years old or something.”
    I glared at my sister. “Who told you that?”
    She lifted a delicate shoulder. “I may or may not have found
a book in Roy’s study. Did you think my sister would get turned into a vampire
and I wouldn’t do some research? As if.” Hannah continued as if she didn’t see
the eye roll I gave her. “According to the Shadow Agency, she was born to Vlad
the Impaler sometime during the fifteenth century. She carried the genetic
defect that made her the first, and only, vampire of her kind. Until you, of
course, Ella.”
    “I’ve got nothing in common with that sadistic bitch besides
the beating heart. And really, who knows if her heart is even still pumping?
Julian never said much about her. The only thing I know about Lizbeth is that
she gets off on torture.” I looked at Roy. “Why is my heart still beating?”
    “That, my dear, is an excellent question,” he said.
    The elevator doors slid open with a ding and a wisp, announcing
our arrival and the end of our conversation. People who overheard you talking
about vampires tended to think you were crazy. Roy and then Hannah followed
close behind me. I stopped in front of the fifth door on the left. I knew it
was Micah’s room but not by the instant surge I got in the dark, shadowed part
of my soul where my inner vampire lurked. The almost hysterical shouting was
what tipped me off. Micah’s voice was deep, raspy—I shuddered.
    “She can’t be here. I don’t want her here,” Micah roared.
    “An hour ago, she couldn’t get here fast enough. What’s
going on with you?” Eli yelled right back.
    “Ella can’t be near me. I don’t know how to explain it.
Make. Her. Leave,” Micah shouted.
    My chest ached. Cautiously, I cracked open the door. The
distinct smell hanging in the air was a combination of bleach and formaldehyde.
No matter how pungent or unpleasant, the aroma was not enough to drown out
Micah’s scent.
    The room I walked into was cold and sterile. Functional. Everything
from the ceiling to the floor, including the slatted blinds, shone white in the
dim fluorescent lights. I looked at the bed, the man in it, and then lowered my
gaze to the ground.
    I wasn’t prepared for how fragile Micah would look in his
thin cotton gown. He didn’t turn at my approach when I shuffled fully into the
room. The tense line of his