[ #1 in Vampire ] [ #3 in Twilight ]
Violet Forsythe and her family were crowded into the depths of a beautiful castle in Volterra during their vacation when they got ripped apart - literally.
One of the monsters that killed Violet's family miracul...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I stayed crouched by his corpse for an immeasurable length of time.
I was in a nightmare.
I sat there, stunned, as blood continued to spread across the snow.
In the back of my mind, I remembered that despite the corpse on my doorstep, I still had a much larger issue to deal with.
Jacob.
I clumsily grabbed Liam's ankles and dragged him into the cottage. I left him on the kitchen floor and I stepped back out to get the machete and kick the snow around. Moving the snow did little; the disturbed snow was still vividly pink, no matter how hard I tried to dilute it.
Giving up, I went back inside to try to clean up the sizable blood trail the body left behind. I grabbed as many dish rags that I could find and tossed them into the kitchen sink to douse them in hot water. I got on my hands and knees and frantically scrubbed the floor with the rags, periodically getting up to rinse them out in the sink.
As I stood over the kitchen sink, wringing blood from the rags, I saw movement through the window curtains. I quickly shut off the water and held my breath, listening. I heard a familiar sound, but I had to hear it a few more times before I realized it was the crunching of footsteps on snow. I used my fingertips to gently move the curtain to peek out at the front yard.
Jacob was striding across the lawn towards the cottage with a tight grimace on his face. He only wore a pair of denim cutoffs despite the ungodly low temperature outside. His eyes were cast down as he approached, presumably at the bright blood that still remained on the doorstep.
My heart thundered as I crouched down slowly, though I almost slipped; despite my efforts, the floor was still slick with blood. My boots squeaked on the tile. I froze - as did Jacob on the other side of the door.
"Violet!" he called out. His voice was laced with animosity.
I didn't respond.
"I know you're in there!" he roared. "Unless those Italian leeches got a hold of you and this is your blood," he added, laughing bitterly.
I wanted to cry, but I wouldn't dare to make a sound.
"I'm sure you've heard the wonderful news," Jacob said into the door. His voice was much lower, almost a growl. "Nessie broke up with me. I couldn't imagine who was behind that one," he said sarcastically.
I felt a flash of anger. How dare he blame me for his problems? It wasn't my fault he was an asshole! I wanted to scream and curse and cry, but I kept my mouth shut and stayed put.
"VIOLET!" he screamed through the door.
I flinched so hard that I slipped on the floor and landed on my rear. The machete clattered against the ground as I scrambled to pick it back up.
"I knew you were in there," he taunted, barking out a sharp laugh. "Now. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way," he threatened.
"You're insane!" I yelled; my voice was pitchy and raw.
"I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll BLOW YOUR MOTHER FUCKING HOUSE DOWN!" Jacob screamed before slamming his fist against the front door.
I let out a blood curdling scream.
I jumped to my feet and bolted for my bedroom. I heard the front door explode open as I slammed the bedroom door closed behind me, narrowing dodging the shower of splinters. I wildly shoved at the heavy dresser, moving it to block the bedroom door.
"Well, you've certainly been busy!" his voice boomed through the house. "How many other skeletons do you have in your closet, Violet?"
I heard him thundering towards the bedroom as I threw open the window and climbed out, landing gracelessly in the snowdrift below. I jerked myself back to standing and ran into the forest without looking back.
Snowflakes began to float down from the sky as I sprinted through the forest, stumbling through the dense snow. It was much colder than I expected, but I didn't have time to care. I minded my path to the best of my ability and prayed I wouldn't accidentally trip over a root, or, God forbid, the bear trap.
My breath billowed out in short, erratic puffs as I pushed myself forward. My legs burned and my lungs felt like they were on fire, but I didn't slow. Even the smallest mistake could kill me.
I heard a deep howl echo through the dense forest. The forest floor vibrated from the steady rumble of large, deadly claws as they dug into the earth. It was only a matter of seconds before I could hear its heavy panting from directly behind me.
