Fatal Cravings: Immortal Keeper Vampire Paranormal Romance Series, Daniella Starre [classic books for 11 year olds .TXT] 📗

“Mom?” I hated that I sounded like a little girl, but I was terrified to hear that cold voice again.

There was nothing there.

“Mom!”

“Annabel. Sorry.” Mom could hardly talk. She had clearly been crying, and she let out a sob.

“Mom, what is it?” I asked. Hope died. For some reason, when I heard Mom’s voice, I thought the first call might’ve been a prank, but no. For Mom to be calling this distraught…

“It’s your sister. It’s Amber… We just… We found her…”

“Mom.”

“She’s dead.”

"Dead? How?" I asked, even though it was a terrible question.

“Honey, she was drained.”

Drained of blood. A vampire.

Of course it had been a vampire.

It had been Viktor, or else he had some lackey do handle it.

“Mom, I need you to listen to me,” I said desperately. “You and Dad both need to go to the police station and stay there.”

“What? Why? I mean, we’re waiting for them to arrive—”

“No. You two go—”

“That would mean leaving Amber—”

“You have to,” I said desperately. “If you don’t… Do you want me to bury all three of you?”

“What is going on?” Mom cried. “Do you know why this happened?”

"Mom, just please, listen to me," I begged.

Mom said nothing.

“I love you,” I murmured.

“I love you too,” Mom said, her voice cracking.

I disconnected the call.

What a nightmare my life had become, and all because I fought against a vampire. I didn’t think I had a chance to get away from Magnus. All I wanted was to try and survive for one minute longer, one more minute.

But who wanted to stand around and be a blood bag? To be drained of their blood?

Despite my fear, I fought back, and I reached down to my right heel. The heel concealed the folded-up knife I had used to kill Magnus, the knife I purchased for myself when I had a full belly after I hacked into a bank account and gave my parents’ a boost.

I was living on my own, and I had no one to look after me but me.

No one attacked me, though. For the most part, I had been innocent and naïve despite being a hacker.

But that all changed when Magnus found me.

My parents, would they be targeted next? I don’t see why they wouldn’t be.

Maybe… Maybe if I do marry Maxwell, maybe the offer of protection would extend to them.

But I still didn’t know why Maxwell would want this, why he would do this for me. I didn’t know enough about him. Yes, I knew he lived in Prague in 1763 and in Spain a decade later, but I didn’t know his psyche, his thoughts…

His soul.

His cravings.

Were they as fatal as my own?

At this point, his motivation didn’t really matter. I needed him like I never had before. Not even five minutes ago did I need him like I did not.

My chest ached. Amber. Poor Amber. Her hair was the same as mine, but she always kept it cut in a short pixie style. We were five years apart, but we looked like twins. She always had a smile on her face… a smile I would never see anymore.

Her husband, Pierre, had to be devastated. He was a surgeon, which meant he was far older than her twenty years. In fact, they had met because she was in med school. Yes, med school. She had been accepted into med school younger than most because once I made enough money, she had a tutor that I hired. She graduated from high school at fifteen and managed to fly through a fast track BS program to get through to med school in three years. Amber had been insanely smart and talented. Yes, she had been hoping to get pregnant, even though she still had more schooling yet, but I never doubted her for a second. She would’ve made an excellent open-heart surgeon.

She had met Pierre during one of her rotations. At least I thought that was the case. Something like that. Their chemistry had been off the charts, and while Mom and Dad had some reservations because of the age dynamics and the power and authority figure Pierre was compared to Amber, I had no issue with it. I knew what it was like to fall for an older man.

The difference was—Pierre was human and completely and utterly devoted to Amber, whereas Maxwell was a vampire, and I had no notion what his motivations were, what he thought of me.

If he was using me.

Trying to use the wedding as bait to lure out Viktor.

Would Maxwell be willing to hand me over to his rival, to his enemy, so that they could bury the hatchet?

Amber deserved to have a better sister than me.

The last time I’d seen her had been for Thanksgiving. She wanted to host, and I brought along an apple pie. I’d baked it already the day before, so it only needed to be warmed up. It always tasted better the second day.

But Amber forgot, and we got caught up talking, and the pie burned, and we just laughed and laughed about it. It didn’t matter. We had no dessert as a result, but we didn’t care. We had all been there—our parents, Pierre, Aunt Petunia too.

She was a hoot, Aunt Petunia. She said things you shouldn't really say out loud. She claimed she was too much for any one man, which used to make Amber wonder if that meant she wanted two or more guys. Our aunt's fashion sense was a bit all over the places, florals with stripes, vertical and horizontal stripes, all of the big fashion no-nos, but she didn't care. She did what she wanted.

Would she be in danger, too, as a result of my actions?

I left the house, left Amber behind, so I could protect her, so I could fill her belly and then to get her even more new clothes, to get her an education that eventually paved the way for her to meet the love of her life.

And I