Bitten Surrender by Rebecca Royce Page B

would happen to Adrienne? He had only fed on her once. As far as he recalled, no human had ever come back after such a small amount.
    Before he knew it, he was running. The lights above his head flickered. What the hell? The castle worked on a generator and a backup system. He’d been involved in the design way back when and approved the new plans when they’d been updated several years ago. They shouldn’t be having any power issues.
    He skidded to a stop. Lying on his back next to the side of the wall lay Jerome. His eyes were closed, his throat sliced, and blood dripped a slow rivulet onto his chest. Hanzi bent over and ignored the call of the crimson to focus on his friend. Taking from Adrienne had satisfied him well. He’d likely not need to feed again anytime soon.
    Hanzi breathed, and his pulse stayed steady. The poor man had had so many life-threatening injuries from vampires during his extra-long life and yet he survived. As always, Hanzi’s heart turned over when he thought of what Jerome endured. The sheer pain the other man had to recover from over and over.
    Jerome’s eyes flew open. He tried to speak but a gurgling sound came out instead. Hanzi ripped off part of his own coat sleeve and pressed it on Jerome’s throat. “Hold pressure there. Don’t try to speak.”
    “Didn’t. Get. To. Her.”
    It took Hanzi less than half a second to understand him, and then, as the other times in his existence when he gave over to the beast, the room turned to a red hue. Hanzi saw everything clearly with a pulsating madness driving him forward.
    If he found her dead, the world would pay for taunting him with her goodness and taking her away. He doubted there was a vampire who could stop him, and many had given it a go. He’d enjoy the blood of such a fight.
    His fangs elongated, and he rushed toward his rooms. The lights flickered again. No matter, in his current state he didn’t need light to see.
    That was when he heard her scream. He stopped his race to their rooms and followed the sound instead. Adrienne was alive. She would remain living. Whoever was frightening her wouldn’t see another sunset.
    He moved faster than a human; his superior speed and strength were part of the curse the witch had forced on them. Still, it felt as though he couldn’t run quickly enough. Adrienne needed him.

Chapter Six
    A drienne stumbled into the grass. Why she thought she would be safer outside was beyond her, but it had seemed the thing to do when she’d been running inside the castle. Too much open space to hide from whatever had pursued her. Inside someone would hear her if she screamed. Outside she was in the middle of nowhere.
    The perfect place to make Adrienne stew for whoever wanted to eat her.
    Face planted in the grass, she made a quick decision. If she was going to die, she had to see who—or what—wanted her. In doing so, should she die and come back a ghost—hell, with the way things were unfolding, haunting seemed downright plausible—she would know who to come back and torment.
    She rolled over. Her hands shook as she stared back at the vampire looming over her in the darkness. Only the moon allowed her to see him and lucky—or maybe the opposite—for her it was full and bright.
    In all her years with vampires, she had never seen one in a true rage before. They stayed calm, aloof, which all made sense now since she understood they were being monitored by Hanzi and the other royals. The man in front of her, fangs elongated, eyes blood red, hands out in front of him as if he was ready to strike, hardly looked human.
    He lunged at her and then stopped. “Flicka?”
    She shook so hard she could hardly hear him over the rattling of her own bones. Everything she’d done to avoid being wed to a vampire....why hadn’t she learned how to kill one?
    “Flicka was my aunt. She’s wed to a vampire. Do you know her?” Maybe if she kept him talking all would be well. The longer they spoke, the better. “She’s