A World Beneath Our Feet
“Snap out of it. We’re at the blood bank.”
Adrienne’s voice startled Hero out of her trip down memory lane. She shook her head to clear the last remnants of her mother’s screams and the lingering hunger of her past.
“What were you thinking about?” Adrienne asked after she had parked the car and pulled her keys out of the ignition.
Hero shook her head, getting out of the car.
And Adrienne didn’t ask again. That was thing Hero loved about the stoic guard-in-training. She knew the value of silence.
They walked up the steps to the blood bank in companionable silence. They didn’t speak until they were inside.
Adrienne greeted the receptionist. “Hey, Martha. Anything interesting happen while I was away?”
The plump vampire said in reply, “In this place? Yeah, right.”
While Adrienne and Martha traded words, Hero allowed her gaze to wander.
Though it was past three in the morning, there were a surprising number of individuals moving about. At least, it should have been surprising had they been human. Well, some of them were, but the majority was thirsty vamps getting something to drink.
Hero watched in transfixed disgust as a human girl allowed a vamp to cut her with the edge of a razor blade. Hive members weren’t allowed to bite when they fed—their venomous canines could turn humans into vamps. So, they used a variety of sharp instruments to get what they needed.
Unable to look away, Hero watched as the male vamp leaned into the crook of the girl’s neck and lapped up the blood that was welling from the cut. She moaned—in pleasure?
Adrienne asked, smirking, “Hungry?”
Hero turned to her friend and made a face. “Hell no. You know human blood has never done a thing for me. It’s gross.”
“Glad to know, roomie. At least now I don’t have to worry about you trying to suck me dry at night,” Adrienne said in a rare attempt at humor.
She was easing up now that she was almost back in her comfort zone. She was close to the hive and that knowledge relaxed her enough that she was cracking a fang joke.
“Ha. Ha. Not funny. You know I’m going to hunt you down after your initiation bite, right?”
Martha cleared her throat and asked, “Are you two done?”
Adrienne turned back to the receptionist and said, “Yes. If you would just please send us down.”
“Sure thing, honey.”
The two girls walked the short distance between the receptionist’s desk and the elevator. Martha gave them a little wave goodbye before she pressed a button on her desk that closed the elevator doors. The elevator immediately plunged downwards.
While they waited for the doors to open again, Hero asked in a nonchalant voice, “So, where is it?”
Even though Adrienne must have known what Hero was talking about, she still asked, “Where is what?”
YOU ARE READING
The Shadow Champion: a vamp & demon story full of romance and ass kicking
Teen FictionIt's about a snarky girl named Hero Conti who has been living the straight life for the past nine years. But eleven years ago, her adoptive parents and her were kidnapped in the streets of Chicago and subjected to horrors by a sick, twisted vampire...
