Love Bites (Book one)

*Yasmin* I laid on my side, my eyes open but unwilling to move. It was not that I was so comfortable that I could imagine spending the rest of my life in this bed, even though the bed was much more comfortable than my own. It was the fact that the man that lay behind me, one arm draped over my naked side, was the last person I wanted to speak to. I never thought that my death would be worse than my life, not until I had the misfortune to meet Antonio. I was out in a club, trying to put off going back to my home where I would witness my fathers barbarism towards my mother again, or cower away as his anger turned towards me with a fist to the face. Our eyes met across the packed dance floor, his shocking blue eyes in stark contrast to his pale skin and black hair that I could tell every girl there was buying for his attention. But, his attention was settled on me. If I had known then what he was, I would have resisted the pull that I felt for him, I would have run the other way and gritted my teeth through another onslaught of names and punches that awaited me at home. I didn’t even think that vampires were real, ignoring the signs as his cold touch grazed my skin. I gave into my fascination for the beautiful man too easily. I was not the type of girl for one night stands or even sleeping with someone on the third date, I was boring, and careful, but not that night. I allowed myself to be seduced, so easily saying yes to going back to his place and that was where my human life ended. I would never grow old, I would never get married or experience the joy of childbirth. That night was the only night I willingly went to Antonio’s bed, but he had enjoyed using his power over me to have his way whenever he wanted. As my sire, my maker, he had the power to command my mind and my body, and I hated every second. It helped that Antonio was a Televey, making his hold over me that much stronger. There were three types of vampires, each having one special ability tied to the type of vampire they were. Televey’s were telepaths or had some type of mental ability. Antonio had the power of persuasion, manipulating minds to do what he wanted. He was the leader of our small nest, consisting of ten vampires who were all Televey’s or Sedvey’s, like me. Sedvey’s usually had defensive abilities, but their name came from the fact that they were usually the most beautiful of the vampire kind. My ability was to temporarily use the abilities of other vampires, but I had to come into physical contact with them first. The third type of vampire, that I knew Antonio desperately wanted to created but seemed unable to where Physveys. Physvey’s had physical, attack abilities and were much larger and stronger than the other vampire races. I think that Antonio wanted to create a Physvey for protection, given that he often made enemies with the other makers. He was a weasel of a man, nothing like the Antonio I had met in the club that night, nothing like the man I had carelessly decided to go home with. There was a knock at the door, Anotonio groaning slightly as his arm left me and he grumbled. “Come in.” The door opened and in walked Elissa, a Televey who could make any man crave her, any man, except Antonio. Elissa had been Antonio’s favorite before I was created ten years ago and she hated the way I seemed to slip into her spot by his side. If only she knew that I was as displeased by Antonio’s attraction to me as she was, maybe we could have worked together to get her back in his favour, but as it was, she would not even speak to me. “What is it?” Antonio growled, showing his displeasure at being interrupted. “Sire.” She bowed respectfully, the top of her breasts peeking out over the top of her tight dress. “I have a message for you from Dimitri.” I felt Antonio stiffen slightly next to me before he got out of bed, ignoring the way Elissa’s eyes ate up his naked form as he grabbed the letter from her hands. I took this as my queue, quickly getting out of bed and pulling on my jeans and tshirt in a bid to get out of there before Antonio could stop me. I headed for the door, my shoes clasped in my hand trying to get out of there as fast as I could when I felt Antonio’s pull, making me stop in my motions and stay where I stood a few steps away from him and Elissa. Elissa’s dark eyes burned into the side of my head, but I just ignored her, waiting for Antonio to release me from his hold. “Humm.” he pondered, rubbing the slight stubble on his chin. His eyes then moved to me, a smirk spreading on his face. “It seems Dimitri has one of the master vampire creations coming to visit and he wants one vampire from each nest in his district to fight for his entertainment.” I saw the glint in Elissa’s eyes, knowing that she used to be his choice fighter given that she could convince even a Physvey to not attack her with her charm. “Yasmin.” He announced, Elissa’s smile turning into a sneer. “Yes sire.” I sighed, hating that I could not call him what I wanted to. Bastard. “You will accompany me to the meeting and act as my proxy in the ring.” He smiled, looking like the smarmy bastard I knew he was. “Sire!” Elissa protested. “I have never failed you…” “Yes, I am aware.” Antonio replied, showing his disinterest in talking to her with the drawl of his voice. “But you are old news. Dimitri and his vampires know of you and your abilities, meaning it is more likely that they have found a way to counteract them.” He stepped closer to me, running his hand through my hair before grasping it firmly and tilting my head backwards to meet his gaze. “Yasmin, on the other hand.” He almost whispered, inches away from my face while his free hand stroked down my cheek. “She has an ability I have never seen before, especially for a Sedvey.” He smiled widely, making my stomach sink. “Yes sire.” I found myself agreeing, even though inside I was not only disgusted by Antonio’s act, but also afraid of fighting against a fellow vampire. Even though I had practiced my ability with the others in our nest, I had never used them to attack anyone, and it always took me a while to be able to master an ability I had never encountered before. Antonio smiled, letting go of my hair and stepping back slightly. “We leave at nightfall tomorrow. I will see that you have a suitable outfit for the occasion.” I nodded my head, feeling his hold on me loosen enough so that I could leave the room. I quickly exited feeling like I could breathe again now that I was away from him. I headed downstairs, feeling my hunger increase along with my anger. My anger at my lot in death. Why couldn’t I have a maker who cared for me, more than just taking advantage of my body and ability? Why couldn’t vampires be like they were on TV and in films, dark and mysterious, but never down right sadistic. I knew why Antonio was so desperate to impress the master vampire's creation. He wanted Dimitri’s position, he wanted to run this district. He often fantasized about his thirst for power while he had be performing his perverse s****l acts, his meer imaginings seeming to bring him even more pleasure than the humiliation he put me through. I was unsure if Antonio could sense my reluctance to share his bed, my disgust at even the thought of his touch, but if he did, then that seemed to get him off. The conversation in the kitchen instantly stopped as I walked in, no one wanted to say the wrong thing in fear that I would feed it back to Antonio. Could no one see the suffering I was undergoing? Considering five of the six in the room were Televey’s I doubted they were that oblivious. I honestly believed that they were just as sick as he was, enjoying my misery. There was only one person who was kind to me, and I still did not trust them one hundred percent, Doyal. Doyal was a Sedvey, like me. He was a beautiful man, even more attractive than Antonio. He said we had to stick together, but there was something about the way his eyes glistened when he smiled that told me not to open up to him about how I really felt, being trapped here. I walked over to the fridge, grabbing one of the blood bags that we had stolen from the blood bank a few nights ago. Antonio used it as a stop gap for his vampires, so that the humans would not become too suspicious by the mysterious animal bites happening too often. I, however, lived on the stuff. Maybe it was a desperate bid to hold on to what sliver of humanity I could, trying to keep myself from feeling like Antonio had won in changing me into the monster he wanted me to be. Even the night I had turned, Antonio had fed me his own blood to complete the transition, while he fed on mine often as part of his depravity. I hated how much my body enjoyed the pain, not sure if it was my own or the suggestion put in my mind by Antonio. Hell, the only feeling I knew was my own was my anger and so I clung to it like a baby to its safety blanket. I took my blood bag out of the kitchen, deciding I did not want to eat in public. I walked back up the stairs, past Antonio’s room where I could still hear him arguing with Elissa, his tone becoming dangerous. I am sure that Elissa tried to push his buttons in hope of getting the response she wanted, but he never did. Why wouldn’t she learn? More importantly, why did she want to be with the sicko when she knew what he was about to do to her? I closed my door, hoping that it would be enough to drown out the sound. As I brought my blood bag to my lips, I heard the first cry of pain come from Elissa in the next room. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the sound as flashes of my human life passed before my eyes. Elissa reminded me of my mother in some ways, wanting the love of an abusive man, a man who deserved no one, a man who should be alone and rot in hell for his sins. The more I fed, the more the images came, the more I needed to feed to keep control. If I could, I would stake Antonio in his sleep, watching with a smile on my face as he shrivelled up into the worthless husk of a man he was. Doyal told me that it was painful to kill your maker, severing the bond like the ultimate act of betrayal. But right then, I thought about how worth it the pain would be to put a stop to him. I didn’t even like Elissa, but no one deserved to go through pain like that. I clasped my hands over my ears, wishing for it to end. The door to my room opened and Doyal walked in, shaking his head at my distress as more of Elissa’s screams filled my room. He closed the door, walking over and sitting beside me on my hard bed, pulling my hands away from my ear. “Do you not think it fitting that she go through the same pain you do?” He smiled, that glint in his eyes that always unsettled me. “No one deserves what he is putting her through.” I gritted out another scream coming through the wall so loud that it was as if she was right here in the room beside me. “Why does he not just command her to leave?” Doyal’s smile widened. “That would be taking it easy on her. She needs to learn her place, she needs to know that he no longer wants her, now that he has you.” I shivered at Doyal’s words, the thought of spending eternity, or as long as it took for Antonio to make a more fascinating vampire, filling me with dread. “So, I heard you are accompanying our maker to one of Dimitri’s parties.” I sighed. “He wants me to fight, but I don’t know if I will be able to.” I smiled slightly. “Maybe I will lose and he will be so disappointed he will leave me be.” Doyal shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that, Yasmin.” I looked at him, noticing that smile gone but the twinkle was still there. “It is a fight to the death. You lose, you won’t be around for Antonio to play with.” I thought for a second, just one second, that that would be better. That my life, or death, coming to an end would be better than what I had now. But then, the sound of Elissa’s cries started up again. No, I would not let the sick fucker win, not like that. Doyal seemed to pick up on my new found determination, the smile on his face growing once more. I just had to hope, that whoever I was against, was stupid enough to lay a hand on me.