Chapter 32

Another whistle streaked through the air, and I tripped on something and face-planted into the foliage. My gaze rapidly shot down to my foot. An arrow had landed right in front of it. I was glad that the arrow had missed me, but now I had lost all momentum.

"Gotcha!"

Strong fingers gripped the hair at the back of my head and yanked me off the ground. I screamed and scratched at the fingers that sent fire into my scalp as my captor turned me to face him.

His face was beautiful. Pale porcelain skin that seemed to glow in the darkness, smooth features that sought to draw you in. But there was an absence of light in his eyes. He wore a simple but elegant black suit, which made the white of his skin stand out even more.

"Aren't you a tasty morsel?" He sneered, and the flash of fangs that peeked beneath his lips gave proof to my suspicions.

He was a vampire.

My terror escalated, flushing every inch of my skin with white-hot panic. My heart was beating so fast that its cadence in my ears pounded like one solid roar, and I was sure it was about to give out.

It no longer mattered that this was supposed to be a simulation. The iron grip that held me up by my hair was as real as anything else, and I was certain this monster was about to kill me.

"The song of your frantically beating heart is so beautiful," the demon purred, the tip of his tongue tracing his upper lip and brushing over the points of his sharp teeth. "I love to savor its slowing melody as I drink."

I couldn't look away from this beautiful monster, even as it spoke so whimsically about killing me. He was as hypnotizing as he was terrifying.

I couldn't give in to his spell. I had to fight.

These were the creatures that killed my mom. Images of her lifeless body flashed in my mind. The teeth marks on her neck. The emptiness in her open eyes. The pain of never hearing her voice again, never seeing her smile again. Never finding out what she knew of our world, or why they'd killed her.

This creature took her from me. His kind had stolen all her secrets and love, and I'd never get any of it back. Because of them, everything about her was gone forever. And I despised them for it.

I desperately grabbed onto that hatred, fueling it with my fear and anger. I refused to let them have me too. I was determined to beat this fucking video game nightmare and make the real bastards pay for what they had done to my mother, to me.

A familiar force welled inside me, pooling in my gut, like some untapped power I didn't have a name for. It intensified my will, the energy it gave me humming through my body like electricity, giving me the strength to fight back.

"Put. Me. Down!" I commanded, my words coming out deep and booming, like the song of a cello.

The vampire's eyes widened, the impish glee leaving his face as his features smoothed to a completely blank expression. Suddenly, his fingers snapped apart, releasing my hair, and I fell to the ground on my ass.

My butt stung with the impact, and my scalp still screamed with the pain his pull had inflicted, but I ignored both and scrambled backward, staring up at my attacker all the while. I stopped when my head smacked into a tree, and I used the sturdy trunk behind me to pull myself up along its length.

The vampire didn't move, didn't react to my movements at all. It was like he was under some sort of spell. Was his programming malfunctioning? Had I said some magic words to stop the sim?

I chanced glances to my left and right, finding the forest was still solidly surrounding me. The sim wasn't over, I wasn't free yet. Then what happened to make him let me go and stand there like that? Had I discovered some trick to making him release me, to freezing him?

I wasn't going to waste time standing here to find out. If this was some glitch, he could snap out of it any minute and grab me right back up again.

I snatched the arrow that stuck into the ground a few feet away from me and bolted in the direction opposite to the statuesque vampire, running as fast and hard as I could through the woods.

My mind raced as I whizzed through the trees and around bushes. If this was like a video game, that meant there had to be a way to beat it. Did that mean I had to kill the vampire? Like actually kill him?

How the fuck was I going to do that? I had only been training in combat skills for a week, and what techniques I had learned would be no match against a vampire. Even if I could transform at will, my mermaid tail wouldn't help me here. And even if I did have any sort of control over my water powers, I couldn't see a way to use that against him.

Dammit, why couldn't I be a phoenix and accidentally start fires like Ashlyn? She'd have burned up that asshole in a heartbeat.

So, if I couldn't use my shifter abilities or brute strength—which, let's face it, I didn't have—then I'd have to defeat this vampire another way. Maybe I could come up with some sort of trap and sneak up on him.

My lungs strained with exhaustion, and I was forced to hunker down beside a bush to swallow hungry gulps of air. I looked down at my right hand to see that I was still gripping the arrow. It wasn't the typical fiberglass kind I'd seen before. Its shaft was made of a rigid dark metal, and its head was copper.

I remembered from some lecture in Shifter History—or was it Shifter Biology?—that vampires were weakened by copper. I could use this arrow to stab him, and it might actually hurt him.

But how the hell was I going to get close enough to do it? He'd see it coming, with those damned heightened senses.

"So, we're playing hide and seek, are we?" His ethereal voice echoed through the woods, and I couldn't tell which direction it was coming from, only that he was a fair distance away.

Should I run? Surely he'd hear my heavy footsteps crunching through the damned brush and snatch me up in an instant.

"I can hear your pretty heart calling to me," he crooned, his voice sounding closer.

I could try to hide, but for how long? I could climb up a tree or something and just hope he wouldn't find me, but I couldn't do that all night. The only way to end this stupid simulation was to beat it, and I couldn't do that by avoiding my attacker.

I glanced back down at the arrow in my hand, and an insane idea seized me. Before I could let apprehension stop me, I reached for the sharp tip with my left hand and sliced my palm.

The piercing pain was instant, and I stifled a hiss as blood began to seep from the open wound. I pressed my throbbing hand to the ground and smeared my blood into the crumbling leaves.

When I was sure I'd spilled enough blood, I darted toward the left, running as fast as I could to the nearest tree, where I once again streaked a crimson stain on the trunk. The rough bark prodded at my cut, spreading my flesh further apart, and I had to hold my breath to keep the groan of pain locked inside. Blood poured faster, and I told myself it was worth it.

As fast as I could, I smudged my blood on trees and rocks in what I hoped was a circle, though at this point, I couldn't really tell anymore. But it didn't matter.

Finally satisfied, I crouched up against a tree facing outside my makeshift circle and used the arrow's tip to tear a strip of fabric from the bottom hem of my shirt. I wrapped the thin shred around my right palm and tied it with the aid of my teeth, hoping it would be enough to mask my actual scent.

"Did you hurt yourself, love?" the vampire's voice called, and it sounded like he was only a few feet behind me now.

I covered my mouth and nose with my good hand to muffle my heavy breathing as I heard his footsteps crunching in the brush, praying the smell of my blood littering the space would override the sound of my pounding pulse.

There was a sudden movement in the area behind the tree, and the vampire shouted, "Gotcha!" as he shook the first bush I'd hidden behind.

Though he hadn't actually found me, fear shot through me so potently I could hardly feel anything else.

His laughter rang out, bouncing off the canopy around us. "Clever little mouse, aren't you."

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, willing myself to calm so my pulse would slow. I needed to be able to think rationally, and I couldn't do that with the amount of cortisol currently flooding my system.

"You may have left a chaotic trail of breadcrumbs to throw me off, but it won't last for long," he called out. "I will find you. Eventually. And you'll be all the sweeter when I do."

I let out a long, slow breath, careful not to make too much noise as I did. He was right. My blood would only distract him for so long. I couldn't wait it out. If I had any chance of beating this psychotic game, I had to strike while his senses were blurred.

With as much stealth as I could manage, I slowly slid up the back of the tree to a standing position, gripping the arrow tightly. I honed in on my auditory senses, listening for his every movement. He was closing in on my second spot.

How many places had I smeared my blood? I couldn't even remember anymore. I didn't want to wait for him to come to me. It was time to face him, but on my terms.

I flicked my gaze to the ground at my feet and quickly scanned the area until I found a decent sized pebble. I quietly bent over to pick it up, then tossed it just on the other side of the tree I leaned up against.

In a flash of motion so swift it caused the shrubs to rustle in the breeze it caused, the vampire was suddenly there.

"Where are you, you little bitch?" the vampire barked.

With the arrow raised in attack position, I swung around the tree as fast and forcefully as I could. His back was to me, and the tip of my arrow was coming down over his neck. My heart jumped with expectation as pre-emptive victory sang in my chest.

But far faster than I could ever hope to move, he spun around to face me, and his porcelain white hand was suddenly clutching my wrist.

"Ah, there you are," he purred, a slow grin spreading his dark pink lips for a long moment as he held me there.

The next thing I knew, he had me pinned against the trunk of the tree, his teeth latched onto my neck. I tried to scratch him and pry at him, but his ironclad grip had both my arms completely immobilized. I bucked and squirmed, but his body was pressing so close against mine that there was no give anywhere. I couldn't even slip my leg out from under his.

I was completely trapped, and completely at his mercy.

I shrieked in frustration as my every attempt to even budge proved futile. My grunts quickly turned into cries of desperation as tears blurred my vision. There was no escape. No one was going to come for me.

My senses began to dull, my vision closing in as my awareness ebbed further and further away from me. My pulse slowed against its will, making my limbs feel heavy and sluggish. I knew, somewhere in the haze of my fading consciousness, that he was draining me.

I had lost. This was game over.