Chosen by the Vamprie, Book One

Chapter Two

Frigid air slid over my skin, leaving me trembling.

I curled my legs to my chest and dared to open my eyes. Darkness surrounded me. I sucked in an icy breath and unfurled my fingers, inching them higher until I reached my temples.

A dull throb cut through my head as I opened my eyes. I tried to remember...tried to think. Only the past was slow to come, smothered in a dark fog.

Hinges howled as the carriage door swung back and forth from the icy breeze. Dread locked my jaw tight as the unknown covered me in shivers. What in the world? I shoved myself upright in the seat of the old carriage sitting still in a forest ruled by Lycans. Faint trickles of whatever foul liquid the man had used to knock me out lingered at the back of my throat.

Had he left me out here alone? That wasn't part of the plan. He had to kidnap and deliver me to the ceremony.

I stared outside, my heart thumping. Trees swayed in the breeze, their leaves rustling, and the heavy stench of moldy, decomposing leaves stung my nostrils each time I inhaled.

A single howl pierced the night, and I flinched forward to reach for the door, when the sound of breaking twigs and crunching leaves came from up ahead.

My hand fell to my boot for my blade, my mind conjuring images of a bloodthirsty beast lunging at the carriage.

A shadow slipped out of the woods, and I caught my breath.

The man emerged from the shadows, fiddling with the buttons of his pants, when he glanced up, meeting my gaze. He looked less savage in the moonlight, less hard and brutal...now he looked like any other man. "Thank heaven, you're finally awake."

He rushed over, his gaze swinging left and right, watching for predators, as he should in these woods. No one was safe out here, where monsters lived and hunted us humans.

"Is this the place?" I pushed the door wider and stepped outside, my boots cushioned by the softened soil. The red ribbon around my neck flapped in my face, and I tucked it under my coat as I pulled the collar tighter around me.

"You sure you want to do this?" Concern pinched his features, but he didn't know me, didn't know I'd been ready to do this for the past eleven years. All he saw was a young girl who reminded him of his daughter.

I nodded and glanced to the orange glow amid the trees up ahead. "We need to hurry," I whispered. He gripped my arm and we moved faster, him taking charge.

Smart thinking, in case guards noticed we weren't playing this stupid kidnapping game correctly.

The old woman in the hills had told me the Sinful loved games to keep their boredom at bay. Her words terrified me, because it meant the Sinful had nothing to lose. A man with a purpose could be negotiated with, could have compassion. Not these vile monsters who played their wicked games for nothing more than pleasure.

We passed horse drawn carriages, left unattended, the beautiful animals snorting, hot steam rising from their nostrils. We stepped off the main road, leaving the carriages behind, and reached a narrow trail in the forest, knotted by tree roots and low-hanging branches. Only the burning flames ahead guided our path.

Fear weighed me down with each step we took. I carried no doubts about my mission... none at all, but I couldn't push the worry away.

Whispers and soft cries reached us as we emerged from the dense woods into a small clearing. My heart thumped hard at seeing families huddled close in small pockets across the grounds. Their cries and terrified voices locked my legs in place.