Chapter One Part Two

The lights dimmed. Breath came, short and sharp. The darkness beckoned. Pressure constricted her mind. The stone tiles shifted below her feet. Reaching out, her fingers grasped at air. Her last thought was that she was falling, then the darkness swallowed her.

“Jessica,” a gentle pressure smothered her hand. It was warm. “You collapsed.” She could feel the rich timber of his voice resonating deep inside her body.Struggling to focus on the face hovering above her, her body fell limp. Floating in a dark sea, safe, suspended in a gentle heat.

“I mean you no harm.” He spoke directly to her mind, his eyes flashing momentarily darker. They settled to a rich brown colour as he watched her face.

Ridiculous her mind screamed as she struggled to make her legs function. Panic raced through her. Wave after wave of dark energy washed over her, leaving soft tendrils of power coiling through her mind. She was lost. Only the hardness of his chest seemed to anchor her thoughts; the fabric of his shirt a flimsy barrier between her and the muscles tensed with the effort of holding her. The way his arms wrapped themselves around her like living marble; carved and angular and radiating with reassuring heat.

"No." She sprang away from him, collapsing to her knees.

“Alexander.” Ryland’s voice broke through her panic. She turned towards the Priest’s voice but her head swam and she clutched her hands against her skull. “Stand away from her.” The words were spoken quietly but the command was clear. The thing moved away and she sat gasping for breath.

“I’m sorry Jessica,” Ryland knelt so his eyes were level with hers. His face creased with worry, he held a hand out to help her stand. “Alex can’t resist his impulses to protect.”

“Is that what you call it,” she breathed, “protecting?" You’re a fool Joshua. Since when did a halfbreed ever take orders from a human?”

“Since we have a mutual interest,” the vampire took a step towards her. “You really should learn to control the rate that you absorb energy Jessica.” He gave her a dark look. Pain seared through her mind.

“See,” he said  his eyes tightening.

“Call it self preservation,” she said trying to stand. The touch of the creature’s sight needled across her body. She resisted the urge to pull her long coat more tightly around her. Staggering to her feet she moved to rest her palms against the smooth stone of the wall. The coldness helped. She could feel her mind clearing and her strength returning.

“Shall we,” she said to Ryland as she straightened her shoulders and headed for the vestry door. She didn’t need to look to feel the vampire move. “Without your companion.”

“Jessica,” the Priest protested.

“I think you will find that I call the shots,” the Vampire said striding past her. Energy surged and cracked in the disturbed air. She caught her breath in an attempt to contain the pain that blinded her for a moment.  He turned to glare at her. “You have already made a spectacle of yourself, and" in a tone that implied something infinitely worse "you have drawn attention to me.”

“Really. To think a human drawing attention to a vampire.”

The vampire’s eyes narrowed “My name is Alex.” 

“Oh, that’s right. Vampire sensibility. Ok halfbreed then.” The vampire sprang at her, stopping a breath from her face.

“Just Alex,” he hissed.

The power of him slammed into her chest, knocking the air from her lungs.

“Alex, please,” Ryland said rushing to Jess’ elbow. “Jess is very receptive to your kind.”

The vampire straightened. A slow smile formed on his lips.  “Obviously,” he said, inclining his head to appraise her.


Anger and humiliation burnt inside her. "Don't flatter yourself. I am just out of practise,"

The vampires eyebrow curved into his hair.

"Perhaps,"

"What's that supposed to mean."

He shrugged, "just that."

"Come sit down," Ryland said guiding her with her elbow toward the vestry door.