13. Millie

13

MILLIE

I don't know where I'm going, but I run down the halls, trying to hold my breath as tears run down my face. I keep going, turning into hall after hall, taking guesses and hoping that God is on my side today. My bare feet hit the black floors as I try to stop myself from tripping over my own erratic pace.

I go down some stairs that seem to lead closer to an exit. I see massive stained-glass red doors. A small smile of hope slants my face when I see the sun is still out, shining through the Victorian windows.

It's almost nighttime. Just an hour or so, and the moon will rise.

I still hear Kallum's snarls in the distance. He's going to kill me if he gets a hold of me again. More snarls come from behind me, but they differ from Hayden's little brother. And they're close. Kallum's screams of agony must have alerted everyone, and now they're after me.

I don't look back. I'm either too scared or too focused on what's before me to waste one more second in this cathedral. I make it down the stairs just as more footsteps thud right behind me.

Oh no !

From what I can tell, it's just one pair of feet.

Dammit, Kallum must have caught up. Of course, he did. He's a vampire with speed. It's a part of their abilities.

Curse their abilities. It isn't fucking fair.

It'll slow me down if I check behind me. One wrong move, and I'll be snapped in half. I've seen what they're capable of doing. I'm like five feet away from the door. My entire body jolts with each stomp like I'm in a race—a race for my life.

I'm right here. One more step, and I'm at the exit. All my dreams of escaping are finally a reality. I'm so focused on getting out that I forget to blink.

It's real . I'm going to get out. The sun will give me an advantage to run. I have to try.

I lunge forward, grasp the black metal lever with the same design as Hayden's ring, and pull on it.

A ray of sunlight shines through the cathedral like a ray of hope, a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean, like a lifejacket. I smile with relief. Seeing the sun again after being in darkness the past few days feels so good. Something so simple never felt so grand.

I step out onto the pavement outside just as my hair gets pulled back, and I scream from an unexpected maneuver. I'm forced back into the Cathedral surrounded by red stained glass.

A large familiar hand slams the door shut, and my back gets pushed up against the doors.

"Ahh!" I bellow.

Red rays from the stained glass shine on him, but it's not doing any damage to the vampire before me.

How? It's the sunlight…

Shit. Maybe I got it all wrong…if they can be in the sun, then nature's hopeful alliance is useless now. I need to think of another plan, but first, I need to survive the man I loathe.

Hayden .

My shamefully handsome captor is dressed in an all-black suit, looking at me like he's won a prize. I hate him.

A wicked curve of his lips turns, his sharp teeth shine, and I can see my pale reflection against them. He's in full-blown vampire mode.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going, Millie?" He questions me like I'm his property. Like he owns me. His prisoner .

He has me caged in with his big arms, and I'm frozen…but that doesn't last too long as my fight-or-flight senses kick in, and adrenaline is still vividly present with the way my chest is heaving.

"Home!" I slap him across the face hard.

He snickers like he loves it. He pins his hardened gaze back onto me slowly. His fixation doesn't waver. He tilts his head closer to mine, and a long lock of hair drops across his forehead.

I wince as he presses his hand around my throat, curling his hand all around. He squeezes my neck hard, taking my breath away. My eyes widen with my impending doom, and I quickly thrash against him. I'm slapping, hitting, doing anything and everything to get out of his chokehold.

" This is your home now, Millie… until you die." He growls, a monstrous sound painting the way he speaks. "You think you'll make it to Texas like this?" He takes hold of my top, letting it fall off my shoulder like it did for Kallum, exposing my scar. He licks his sharpened teeth as his red eyes flash with anger. "You're miles away from Texas—a week of traveling at most if you somehow get a car. You're in Montana. Far away from the South. You won't make it one mile before another immortal takes you for their own." He scowls at me like I'm a petulant child, but there's a change in his tone. It's almost like a warning rooted in worry.

There's no way he cares about me like that. He can't possibly be protective of me in that way. There's no way a heartless monster like him would feel an emotion like worry.

"I'd rather take my chances out there than spend another night with creatures like you," I sputter through his grip. Black surrounds the edges of my vision, and I know I'm going to pass out if he keeps holding me like this. I claw at him, scratching off his skin, knowing in the end, it'll heal back in a few seconds.

"You're hurting me, Hayden. Please. Let me go. I think—" I choke up as his grip tightens even further, shadows looming more and more, surrounding me like I'm going to fall back into a black cloud of quicksand. "I c-can't b-breathe!" Pressure fills my skull, and my feet leave the ground.

He smirks villainously. Hayden closes whatever distance there once was between us, and his icy breath is on my neck.

"That's the point." Cruel and sinister paints his tone. "But you like it. There's a pulse in between your thighs, baby girl."

Darkness paints each syllable, eliciting shivers to run up and down my body, hairs at the back of my neck rising from the unknown. I can barely hear anything anymore. My hearing is muffled as I lose circulation to my brain. My heart is beating so fast that it's the only thing that's crystal clear in my ears. My feet touch the ground again as he lowers me.

"Please!" My begging voice is low as tears fall down my cheeks onto his hands.

I want to go back to my room now if that's the only option I have left. I don't want to die just yet.

"There's that word again. Please ," he coos wickedly, a vein protruding from his neck.

Cigarettes, alcohol, and masculinity waft into my nose. His scent is so easy to get lost in. I wonder if it's part of a vampire thing or just a Hayden thing.

He loosens his grip, and I choke. I'm coughing hard, and my lungs get back to work. I'm desperate for air, and he stands there smiling beautifully and darkly.

I raise my hand to slap him again, but he catches it quickly. He kisses my knuckles, his eyes dilating large with each peck, while I flare my nostrils.

His fingers dip inside my underwear, causing goosebumps and my soft flesh to flush as he trails down until he's right where he wants to be. I clench my thighs together, trying to stop him even though I'm dripping. He pushes my legs apart as I fight. He invades my space, and a dark part of me grows excited.

It's the adrenaline. It's the adrenaline . I repeat in my head, forcing myself to believe it.

What the hell is wrong with me?

He pinches my throbbing clit, sending an electrocution to ripple through me. I flinch from the messed up salacity.

" You're. Mine ." He dips two fingers inside me, both sliding in with ease into my welcoming pussy.

I hate him ! I mentally scold my body like we're different people because it feels that way right now. It's wrong to feel two ways about him.

"I almost killed my own brother for climbing into your bed. Do you understand that?" He continues to thrust his fingers in and out of me as I listen to his cruel words.

"If you want to fuck your way out of here, you're begging the wrong Drago, little Bambi." He loosens his grip on my neck further, freeing me. I suck in a deep breath of air like I was drowning. Stars twinkle and glisten through my blurred, watery vision.

Then, something foreign happens.

Sharpness. Pain. An unforgiving stabbing sensation trickles into my neck. Dull and hard. My eyes widen with the dark realization.

He bit me.

He's biting me !

Hayden sinks his teeth into my neck, causing me to enter a fight-or-flight response.

"No! Stop!" I shout, but only a loud growl vibrates against my skin.

I'm going to die. Or worse. I'm going to become one of them. I need to get him off me. He's going to turn me into a vampire!

I'd rather die than live the life of a monster. I won't become something I fear.

I scream at the top of my lungs, doing everything I can to push him off me. My blood-curdling screams of desperation echo off the walls as I continue to fight him off my neck.

Hayden grips the back of my hair harder with lustrous need as he continues to drink from me. He pulls my body closer and closer until I can feel his massive concrete cock against my hips. He's hard, and by the outline that presses against me, he's fucking huge.

As seconds go by, I can feel another sensation burn through me.

Lust, madness, and need ignite like wildfire between my thighs. It roots from where he's biting me. Like I'm being injected with a potion at the same he takes from me. My nipples harden, and Hayden grips my naked breast with the palm of his hand that was once around my throat. He squeezes it, and my hard nipple grazes the rough callouses of his palm.

He sucks and sucks at the base of my neck, his bite slowly moves in deeper, and I'm scared he's going to bite my entire throat out.

He circles my clit with his thumb over and over again. Heat swirls inside my core, and what's worse is that I'm aching for more.

Damn him .

He continues to work my body through deep grunts and thrusts of his fingers. My own release is tipping over the edge. My mouth falls open, and I moan, staring up at the red-stained glass and painted murals on the ceiling.

"So needy, so fucking needy, and just for me, my little Bambi?"

I close my eyes, frustrated with the way my body deceives me.

"No," I mutter through another shameful moan.

"No? But you drip for me." He's condescending with pure satisfaction.

He pushes the finger he had in my pussy into my mouth, making me taste the evidence loud and clear. I narrow my eyes at him while he smiles with blood all over his chin and lips. My blood .

"My little Bambi is a liar. This pretty mouth of yours betrays you, but your body tells the inevitable, inexorable truth." He tightens his fistful of my hair more like he's sending me a message. "Before you die, I'll use you the way I please. I'll know every single way to make you scream with my name on your lips, and it'll hurt, but don't worry. You'll love it. You love the pain like I do?"

I tense up as he goes back to work on my insides. One finger slides back into my opening and one at the back of my rim. He's finger fucking both holes while using his palm to rub on my clit.

Thrusting in and out, driving me into an ocean of orgasmic immoral pleasure.

No one has ever touched my ass like that before. Cole, well…that Thanksgiving day was amazing, but the demon in front of me snaps me out of those memories.

The build to my undoing climax grows stronger, and my will to fight him grows weaker. He's winning, and I'm not mad about it. He's hypnotizing me with euphoria. The way he talks, the way he looks at me like he sees my naked tormented soul. How he smells and feels, it's like I enter his world , and my own dissolves.

"Come all over my hand. I want to see if you can take it before the fun really begins," He demands as he plants a kiss on my bleeding flesh. "We're just getting started, Millie."

I tense up just as I push him away. I find my strength after my body escapes the state of shock.

"Never." I push against his chest until short, loud whimpers cry from my quivering, cold lips. They slip into the air repeatedly until finally, he lets me go.

He inhales sharply as he stares at my half-naked chest, and I attend to my open neck wound, hoping it'll stop the pain miraculously.

His bite burns.

I stare at the crimson wound, black and red twirling together and seeping down my skin onto my collarbones.

Not letting me continue to look at what he's done, Hayden grabs my face. His fingers dig into the hollows of my cheeks, forcing my mouth to open.

I'm in shock again. I never do well looking at blood. I grow nauseous in disbelief. I can't move or breathe while my face turns green. I'm so fucking scared and, at the same, the most turned-on I've ever felt.

What did he do to me ?

Fear and lust hit me like a train, bulldozing my morals and common sense.

He licks my neck as his grip on my face strengthens. His tongue warms me up like a bonfire, crackling every single vulnerable part of me. It's not warm like fireflies. It's hot, like the devil's lair in flames. Enigma and euphoric intertwine together and fuel my growing addiction to have his body on mine.

His thumb brushes my bottom lip back and forth sensually. I don't know why, but I let him. I stopped fighting for a small blip in time.

I think I'm falling into a hole I can't seem to claw myself out of.

"No one has ever tasted as divine as you." I suck in a breath as tears fall down once more. "I'm afraid I'm the one that's fucked. I'm the one that's ruined," his deep voice whispers as he kisses my neck, getting ready to go back for more. His red eyes glow like I've never seen before. Beneath all of those monstrous features, he's still the most handsome man I've ever seen.

"Am I going to become like you now? A vampire? A monster ?" I whimper, my spirit dreading the answer.

"It's not as simple as that, Millie. Unfortunately, you're still human, and you're still my prisoner." He grins.

Oh, thank the Lord. I feel the weight fall off my shoulders, knowing I'm still mortal and I've avoided a life-altering transition.

From my peripheral, a group of his vampire staff gathers, watching us at a distance like they're ready to jump in for a slice of me.

I watch my crimson dark blood drip from his beautiful soft lips down to his shadowed beard that coats his sharp jaw. The feeling of my own blood outside of my body snaps me out of the trance Hayden placed me in. My senses kick in once again, and I'm fighting. My chest rises and falls with a new idea. It's cliché, but I'm hoping it'll work. He's a man, after all.

Throwing my shin forward, it connects with his balls.

Hayden immediately doubles over, an exhale of unforeseen chaos hits him, and he fully surrenders to his injury. He palms the floor as he grunts ferociously, an inhumane-like sound that's louder and more deep than Kallum's earlier unleashes.

I don't get a chance to soak in his well-deserved pain and my revenge. I open the heavy doors just as more vampires swarm the area, but for the first time, I'm able to outrun them into the light. Blood still falls down my neck as I jump into the Earth's sunset.

Hayden reacts quickly, escaping the raw sunlight from outside. He moves out of the way and disappears back into the shadows of his Cathedral, and I run further away as if my life depends on it.

I was right about two things.

One, if you kick a vampire in the balls, he will stop sucking your blood. Two , the sun is a weakness for them . The comics and movies were right.

The bottom of my feet touch gravel and rocks, making me stumble as I run, but the pain is not enough to stop me. At this point, nothing will. I have a chance as long as the sun stays above the ground.

"Millie!" Hayden shouts at me in a monstrous, inhumane growl. He sounds like a beast from hell. I dare to give him one more look over my shoulder as I run towards a bridge. I don't owe him anything after kidnapping and touching me… even though I loved every second of his hand wrapped around my neck and his fingers thrusting inside me . And drawing my blood.

Nothing .

"Millie!" he shouts again, demanding I return to him. Desperation laces his tone as his voice transforms into a creature-like roar. I don't know why I do it, but I give in to his clamor commands. Each shout louder than the one before. There's vexation mixed with sorrow in his tone.

I glance over my shoulder again before I turn a corner, which will make me lose sight of the enormous stained glass cathedral. I'm still running with burning lungs and blood dripping when I see that he's standing there with his shoulders slumped and pained, narrowed red eyes. He's hiding behind a line of shade, like a starting or finish line on a race track, not daring to step over it. He keeps himself behind the shadows of the Cathedral. A black tear falls down his cheek, making me question my sanity. I blink increasingly as the warm, dry summer air kisses my skin, making my hair blow in the wind.

I'm convinced I'm seeing things because there's no way in hell I just made a heartless monster cry. I turn back around and focus on getting away. Freedom to walk outside never felt like paradise before.