Dinner With a Vampire Read Online Free PDF Page B

to the opposite bank.
    An eerie silence descended. There was no crashing, no sound of footsteps, nothing. I took a lengthy look behind, searching the forest for any sign of the killers I was sure were following me.
    The quiet was even more unsettling than the noise and I began to edge around, speeding up to a bolt as my hairs stood on end. As I started moving again, the crashing returned, definitely footsteps this time and they were following me around
.
As I sped up, so did they, and reaching the opposite bank, I realized they were circling on the other side too. I had nowhere to run.
    I backed up as far as I dared, waiting, like prey herded into a trap.
    Without warning, six figures leapt from amongst the trees, and in fright I scrabbled backwards, forgetting that I stood on the very edge of the bank, and with a shriek, I was sent floundering down into the water.
    Before I even hit the surface I felt its chill and saw my skin turn an icy blue. As the water erupted around me, it poured into my still shrieking mouth. I coughed and spluttered, gulping down even more. My legs flailed and searched for the bottom, more resembling an octopus than a human being. Nevertheless, I broke the surface long enough to snatch a breath. But it wasn’t long enough to scream as something that felt like seaweed wrapped around my ankle. With one yank, it pulled me back below the surface. Looking down, I realized it was a tentacle wrapped around my leg, and that I was face-to-face with what looked like a giant squid.
    I groaned in my mind.
Why can’t my life be normal?
    Panicking, I started attacking the tentacle, trying to pry it from my skin but the squid didn’t seem to notice and just pulled me deeper. My lungs began to burn and scream for air and I realized there was nothing I could do but give up.
    My mind became fuzzy as something white flashed in the corner of my eye.
A white light. How very original.
I vaguely recognized that it was moving and that its blurred outline resembled a body before my eyelids fluttered and then shut.
    Kidnapped by a vampire, death by squid. How tragic.

Kaspar
     
    ‘Violet! Wake the hell up!’ Fabian said, bending over her limp body and slapping her cheek. He raised his hand to hit her again when her eyes flew open, water spewing from her mouth. I caught sight of the fleshy roof of her mouth and her teeth, fangless. Fabian sprung back, yanking his hand away. But I stepped forward, finishing the job for him. My hand came into contact with her skin with a satisfying crack and her cheek became a bloody red.
    Fabian turned to me, his eyes becoming black.
Kaspar,
he growled in my mind.
    I shrugged, pushing my dripping fringe from my forehead. ‘Just making sure,’ I replied, aloud. Her dress had become sheer and my eyes roamed over her body, wondering what I had done to have such a good specimen cross my path. Fabian pulled his jacket off and slung it around her shoulders as she sat up, his consciousness lingering around the edge of mine.
    But she didn’t miss my gaze either. ‘Oh, Kaspar, my hero,’ she said between gasps of air, her voice thick with sarcasm.
    ‘And yes, you are the damsel in distress,’ I answered, equally sarcastic, pulling my soaking T-shirt up and over my head.
    ‘That’s all the thanks you’re getting, so I suggest you take it,’ she muttered, clearly thinking I wouldn’t notice her stealing a glance at my chest. I ignored her, shouting to Cain and the others to start heading back. Two of us should be able to handle a half-drowned human girl, even if she was a little feisty.
    Fabian offered her a hand and she got to her feet, only to drop again, her eyes – such an unusual colour for a human – becoming unfocused. Fabian caught her and I stepped forward, sighing, resigned to the fact I would have to carry her. Her eyes slid back into focus and back out again as she squirmed and buried herself deeper in Fabian’s arms.
    ‘You take her,’ I said to him, figuring she would