JOSS'S POV

"Help!"

My voice barely left my throat, a hoarse, trembling sound that melted into the night air.

My fingertips trailed along the crumbling brick of the alleyway behind the restaurant, the grime and cold biting into my skin. Blood dripped from the corner of my mouth, hot and metallic, trailing down my chin to soak the neckline of my shirt. My legs shook beneath me, bruised and battered, the soles of my feet torn and raw from the gravel. But still, I limped forward, desperate to get help.

From anyone passing by.

This was supposed to be a simple night out. A midnight meal with my brother, Alex. We'd laughed over greasy fries and cheap sodas just two hours ago. I had no idea it would end like this.

“She’s trying to escape!” someone snarled behind me.

Rough hands seized me from the darkness. I was yanked backward, my scream choked off by pain and exhaustion. I twisted and fought, but I was so weak. My limbs felt like lead, and blood loss dulled my every sense. But even with the world spinning, I refused to give up.

"Let me go!" I cried, my voice hoarse and cracking.

The man, no, creature who held me chuckled darkly. His skin was pale like moonlight, and his eyes gleamed red in the dark. A scar curved from his collarbone down across his chest, a twisted reminder of some ancient fight.

He leaned closer. “Still got fire in you, little human? Good. Makes the blood taste better.”

They weren’t men.

They weren’t human.

They were vampires.

I was thrown roughly to the pavement beside Alex.

And that’s when I saw him.

He was on his knees, bloodied and beaten, his head hung low. His shirt was in tatters, and deep gashes ran down his back. His lips were swollen and bleeding, one eye nearly swollen shut. Surrounding him were three shirtless vampires, all with eyes glowing faintly in the dark, circling like wolves scenting the final breath of a dying deer.

“You humans never learns,” one of them said, lazily kicking Alex in the ribs. The sound it made was sickening, a sharp crack followed by Alex’s strangled cry.

I screamed again, struggling against the vampire who held me, but it was useless. My own body was failing me.

“You monsters!” I spat, tears clouding my vision. “He’s done nothing!”

“None of you ever do,” another vampire said with a grin. “You bleed just the same.”

“Please,” I whispered. “He’s my brother. Let him go.”

They laughed. All of them.

Scar the one who’d first spoken, stepped forward and cracked his knuckles. “Humans always beg in the end. It’s almost boring.”

He drew his foot back and slammed it into Alex’s side again. Alex screamed again, and something in me snapped.

With everything I had left, I lunged forward and sank my teeth into the arm that held me. It was like biting stone, but I tasted blood, thick and cold. The vampire roared in pain, his grip loosening just enough.

I twisted free, my hands scrambling for my back pocket. My fingers closed around the cold hilt of the switchblade I always carried. I didn’t think, I just acted.

With a cry, I drove the blade into Scar’s thigh.

He shrieked, staggering back, and the others turned toward me, their eyes blazing.

I rushed to Alex and tried to drag him up. “Come on, we have to run!”

But then a voice cut through the alley like a blade dipped in ice.

"Enough."

Everything stopped.

The air shifted, turning colder. He didn’t shout. He didn’t need to. The vampires around us went still, their expressions turning wary, their postures tense.

From the shadows at the mouth of the alley, a man stepped forward.

No, not a man.

A vampire lord.

He looked totally different.

He was tall, easily over six feet, with a frame that looked carved from obsidian. Muscles rippled beneath a dark coat that flowed like liquid shadow around him. His face was sharp, unnaturally perfect. And his eyes...

Crimson.

They glowed, faintly but unmistakably, and they were fixed entirely on me.

He moved with fluid grace, every step measured. Controlled. Dangerous. The others backed away, lowering their heads slightly in deference.

I froze, unable to move, my breath catching in my throat. There was something about him that made the air feel too thick to breathe. Power radiated from him, ancient, terrible power.

“Don’t h-hurt her!” Alex croaked out, lifting his head. “She was just—”

A swift punch cut him off. I saw his eyes roll back before his body collapsed beside me. My heart seized in my chest.

“No, no, no,” I whispered, reaching for him, but the crimson eyed vampire was already in front of me.

He crouched and plucked the switchblade from my trembling hand as if it were a child’s toy. He looked at it, then at me, and let it fall to the ground with a soft clatter.

The other vampires watched in silence, their fangs barely concealed, their anticipation palpable.

I turned to run again, dragging my wounded feet, but a strong hand caught my arm and yanked me back. One of the vampires leaned close to my neck, his cold breath prickling my skin.

“We’re going to have so much fun with you,” he whispered.

“She’s mine.”

That voice. Smooth as velvet. Cold as frostbite.

The Crimson eyed vampire stepped forward. The others backed off instantly, confusion flickering in their eyes.

Mine?

What the hell did he mean by that?

He stared at me like he already owned me. Like I was some lost trinket he’d been waiting to find.

“I don’t belong to you,” I whispered, my voice shaking.

He tilted his head slightly, amused. “You will.”

“I’d rather die.”

His smirk faded, the amusement slipping into something else darker. “Be careful what you wish for, little human.”

He turned his head and gave a single nod.

One of the vampires stepped forward, walked calmly to Alex’s still body, and lifted his head by the hair.

“No!” I screamed. “Please! Don’t, don’t hurt him!”

The vampire didn’t flinch.

Alex groaned, barely conscious. Then the vampire’s claws extended, long and wicked and slashed across his throat.

Blood sprayed the alley walls.

“ALEX!”

My scream tore through the night, jagged and broken. My knees gave out, but I was held up, forced to watch.

His body convulsed once. Twice.

Then still.

Forever still.

My heart stopped beating.

"You'll join him soon," the vampire lord whispered.

He grabbed my chin and turned my head to face him. His eyes searched mine, not for mercy, but for something else. Something twisted and intimate. I opened my mouth to scream again, to curse him, but his hand swung up and the world went black.