The Vampire's Release, A Paranormal Romance (Undead in Brown County #4) by S.J. Wright Page A

his forehead.
    Sarah’s blood was on my hands fro m her head wound.  Despite her condition and my love for her fragile human soul, I desperately wanted to latch onto that wound with my relentless mouth and draw every single drop of that precious fluid into myself.   The urge to do it right there, in front of Alex and the growing population of human witnesses, was so distinctly unlike me .
    “Take her,” I growled.   The timbre of my own voice sounded off, as if were coming from someone else—a stranger.
    “Michael?”  It was a little whisper of sound that came from her mouth that ne arly undid me.
    “Damn it, Michael!  What the hell is wrong with you?” Alex demanded sharply.  He pulled her out of my arms.  “Get out of here.  Just meet us in Chicago.  Keep your cell phone on.”
    He moved away quickly, and I saw only a flash of her confused expression before they completely disappeared into the trees at the side of the road.  With the hunger inside me rising, I started after them, only making it a few feet before a voice stopped me cold.
    “Sir, are you okay?”
    I turned and saw a group of three young men approach me.  They seemed too young to even be driving a vehicle.  Their unlined, fresh faces expressed a measure of disbelief and shock that I’ d seen dozens of times throughout my long unnatural life—whenever mortals were witness to the supernatural abilities of the truly undead.  They had, undoubtedly , seen Alex with a delicate human form wrapped in his arms and then watched in awe as he shot out of their field of vision. 
    I recognized the look on their faces and noted that one of them, a young man of some Spanish descent, had his cell phone out.  But instead of holding it to his ear, he was holding it up and away from him.  I had seen the technique before, but didn’t feel a need at the time to think about what it meant .   I was far too hungry to contemplate the risks I was taking.  
    I n the space of a few seconds, I deliberated on their fate.   Then I attacked.
    Sharp t eeth, breathtaking strength in all four limbs, desperati on, speed.  It was all me.  I had spent fifteen minutes in a car with a woman whose blood made me feel like I was finally home , yet at the same time left me incredibly desperate for sustenance . 
    I had been hesitant to attempt t he conversion of humans to serve a specific purpose.  Up until that night on the side of a dark highway in Indiana, I ’d chose n not to take the opportunity.  Or perhaps the thought of doing it no longer filled me with dread.  I wanted to do it right.   Creating my own undead personal protection squad probably should have taken place at a more convenient time.  But it seemed that my life after waking from the caves had become increasingly dangerous, and while Victoria and Jones represented irreplaceable friendship and mutual respect, they were always free to do as they liked.  All these were flimsy excuses at the time, but they raced through my consciousness in an effort to deny what was happening to my long-held belief that essentially, humans were to be regarded with a certain amount of respect. 
    To be completely candid, I was ravenous and the three of them were the closest humans available.   I did take the precaution of luring the three of them into the tree line at the side of the road b efore drinking their blood.   Unfortu nately, more people had stopped along the side of the road and were rapidly making their way not only to the two wrecked vehicles, but also to the place where I was feeding.  
    The Spaniard was whining incessantly by that time, and it was with effort that I forced myself to leave him alive.  The other two were closer to death, but still held several pints each of the blood I needed.  Warm blood.   So I dropped the Spaniard onto the forest floor, grabbed the other two by the back of their shirts and left the scene of the crime.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 14 - Sarah
     
    I don’t