First Bite (Darkwood Manor Series)

  First Bite

  Khelsey Jackson

  Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing

  First Bite

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Text Copyright © 2013 Khelsey Jackson

  All rights reserved

  Published by

  Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC.

  Algonquin, IL 60102

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  Edited by:

  S.J. Davis

  For Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing

  Cover Design by:

  Khelsey Jackson

  Formatting by:

  Jason G. Anderson for Polgarus Studio

  Chapter One

  Boarding School

  I groan as the blood runs down my throat. My mom couldn't get the blood for almost two weeks now, I am starving.

  “Victoria don’t drink it all now, save some for later,” my mom says, and I roll my eyes. I already drank a full bag, and now I am on my second.

  Pulling the bag away from my lips I frown at her. “Mom, I know but I am so hungry.” I know I sound whinny, but I can't help it.

  “Are you ready to go?” She asks ignoring my sarcasm.

  Starting at a new school today isn’t something I’m looking forward too, much less the boarding school my mom chose. My mother is a doctor and she thinks boarding school will be the best fit for me. She plans on coming every weekend to visit and to bring me blood. You see I am a vampire; I don’t sparkle or drink animal blood. My mother told me once after watching a TV show about vampires that drinking animal blood would kill me, but I don’t drink directly from a human. I never have, and never want to. I still have nightmares from the only time I witnessed my father feeding from a human.

  “Almost,” I answer remembering the question my mother asked.

  She sighs, and shakes her head. “Victoria we are already late, please hurry.” I nod and walk away towards my bedroom. I need to add a few things in my bag, like my MP3 player. Music helps me with my cravings, and since I will be with only a little bit of blood I will need my MP3 player.

  I take one final look at my room and sigh. The bright pink walls have my favorite band's posters plastered all over, and pictures of me and my best friend. Feeling tears threatening to break free, I won't be coming back here until Thanksgiving, and that is only for two days. I grab my small pink with black polka dot bag and walk out of my room, the rest of my bags are already in the car.

  Walking back into the living room, I smile. Nathan is standing there next to the black suede couch; his sandy blonde hair in a ponytail. He is my best friend, and I hate having to leave him. He has been the only one I have trusted to tell about what I am. When his deep sea blue eyes meet mine; we smile at each other.

  “Mom can I have five minutes, please?” I beg her, and she gives me the look that tells me she isn’t happy.

  After she leaves I run to him and he catches me. His strong arms wrap around me and I snuggle into him taking in his familiar scent of sandalwood and roses. Nathan would be the perfect guy for me if he was only into girls. “I am going to miss you so much Tori.” I squeeze him tighter.

  “I don’t want to go, I should be here,” I say, and he tightens his arms around me.

  We haven’t been apart ever. When I went on vacations, he went with me. “I'll come visit, and we can talk all the time on the phone, plus there is Skype.” I know he's right, but I know him better than he thinks.

  I slightly pull away and look up at him. Nathan is trying to hold his tears back. I bring my hand to his cheek. “You better come and visit.” I say, and tap his cheek. “What if I meet someone? I will so need someone to dish with.”

  Nathan laughs, and shakes his head. “Darling no one says dish anymore.” I roll my eyes. “I better hear from you every night, or I will come up there and find you.”

  “I know you will.” Nathan is about six feet tall, his chiseled face looks like something Michelangelo would paint or sculpt. He keeps his sandy blonde hair long and it’s always styled; I always tell him he is the brother I never had.

  “Now about you meeting someone, I think you should just worry about school.” Now it's my turn to laugh, Nathan doesn’t like me to date. He tells me I have bad taste in guys; I tell him I don’t taste them. The last guy I dated was his brother and he broke my heart. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you; you are the best thing in my life.”

  My tears are now dangerously close to falling; I quickly close my eyes to keep them back. When I cry I cry blood, my mother told me it's because I mostly drink blood. “Nathan, I wish you were coming with me. It would make everything so much easier.” he pulls me closer to him, and lays his head on top of mine.

  “I know I wish I was coming.” I love being short, for this reason. He can hold me and shield me, even if I can fight off mostly anything. It's nice to be the one protected. Nathan moves away from me when the front door opens. “Call me when you get there.” I nod in response as he takes out a tissue from his pocket and wipes away the wet sticky blood from my face.

  “I love you Nathan,” I say, and he grins.

  “I know.” His grin widens, and I slap him on his chest. “Ouch.” He rubs his chest.

  “We need to get going.” I glance over Nathan’s shoulder to my traitorous mother. This is all her fault that I have to leave. “I will meet you two outside.”

  Nathan smiles down at me, and shakes his head. “Be nice to your mother, she only wants what's best for you,” he says sweetly and I know he’s right, but I don’t have to like it. Nathan reaches around me to grab my bag that I dropped on the floor when I leapt on him. “Let's go Vamptoria.”

  I look at him and raise my eyebrow at him. “Vamptoria?” I have to bite my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing.

  Nathan laughs and nods. “Yeah I thought of it on the way here. I kind of like it.” He puts his arm around my shoulder, and we walk towards the door.

  It's bright outside, and close to one hundred degrees. Most of the myths about vampires say we can't go in the sun. That is true and false. I can't be outside in the sun for long periods of time, but I don’t melt or turn to dust. I simply get weak and tired.

  After Nathan puts my last bag in the trunk he turns towards me. “I love you Victoria, please don’t forget me.” He looks as if he might start crying, I launch myself at him again, and he holds me tight against him.

  “Oh Nathan, I could never forget you, you are my best friend in the whole world.” I look up at him, and smile.

  “Good, I don’t know what my life would be like if I didn’t have you.” He kisses my forehead, and then walks me to the passenger door. No one, besides me, knows about Nathan. He told me he’s gay, and I told him my secret…that I’m a vampire. Of course he didn’t believe me, so I showed him my fangs. He thought they were fake and tried to grab one, but I moved away from him as fast as I could. I have never been that close to a human, and I was terrified I would bite his finger off. That was last year, and I thought I would lose him as a friend but we got closer instead.

  “I'm going to miss your beautiful face, Victoria.” I shake my head, and smile.
“You better not forget to call me.”

  I wink at him. “Oh I won't.” He shuts the car door, and places his hand on the glass.

  I turn around and watch him grow smaller as we drive away, and I turn up the radio so I don’t have to talk to my mom. There isn’t too much more to talk about, ever since my father left two years ago we have grown farther and farther apart. I was always closer with my dad, and he thought living off of blood bags was unnatural. He wanted to take me out and “hunt”. I didn’t want to, and my mother freaked out. I woke up the next morning and he was gone.

  I close my eyes and listen to the girl on the radio sing about a break up. At least it takes my mind off of my dad.

  I open my eyes when I feel the car turn off. The first thing I see is a huge dark brick mansion, with eighteen small windows and one large window on the bottom level of the mansion. Woods are on every side of the mansion I could see. There are green vines growing up the walls, and I look at my mom.

  “This is it?” I ask even though I know the answer.

  “Yes and you will grow to love it,” she says as she gets out of the car, I sigh and do the same. When I walk to the trunk there are a few people talking to my mom, but my eyes go to a boy. He has jet black hair, and bright green eyes. Those beautiful eyes are surrounded by thick black eyelashes. He looks up at me and smiles, and I quickly look away from his captivating green eyes.

  My heart feels like it may beat out of my chest.

  “This is my daughter Victoria Eden.” My mother turns to me and narrows her eyes for a second.

  I take a deep breath, and regret it. It’s like I can taste his sweet but tangy scent in the back of my throat. I look back up and meet his green eyes. He smells amazing, like the finest chocolate in the world. “Hi,” I whisper, and he grins.

  “Hello, Victoria. I am Jason Kaye.” He offers me his hand, and I back away from him. I can feel my heart racing, and my blood feels like its boiling. What the hell is going on? I glance at my mother and her eyes get large.

  “I am so sorry that my daughter is being rude,” my mother says, as she moves between us. I wonder if she knows I have an urge, because I haven’t been getting my fill of blood. My blood lust has become increasingly harder to control, and this seems to be one of those times. Drinking him dry, while feeling his last breath of life is all I can picture.

  As I am stuck in my inner turmoil, a man walks up.

  “Hello Victoria. I am Mr. Martin. I’m the dean here. Welcome to Darkwood,” he says and motions towards the mansion. “Grab her bags and put them in her room,” Mr. Martin says as I grab the one bag I don’t want them to touch.

  “Thank you Mr. Martin. I am happy to be here,” I lie and smile at him.

  “I’m happy you’re here.” He smiles and nods at my mother. “I’ll let you say your good byes,” he says, and walks away.

  After they are alone my mom turns to me, and narrows her eyes. “Try and stay away from Jason. I saw you lose control of your blood lust when you caught his scent,” she says, and pinches the bridge of her nose. “When you get to your room, and you know for sure you’re alone, drink a bag so it’ll help with the cravings.”

  I try not to breathe knowing his scent is still lingering. “Mom, what’s going on?”

  “His blood is calling to you.” she answers, and I close my eyes. I don’t want to cry, and have to explain why I cry blood. “I need to go. I’ll call you when I can.” She leans in and kisses my cheek, and I wrap my arms around her.

  I haven’t hugged her like this since I was a child. “I'm scared,” I whisper to her.

  She holds me tighter to her, and runs her hand down my back. “I know, but you are strong enough to stay away from him. I love you my sweet daughter.”

  “I love you too mom,” I say, and she moves away from me.

  Watching her drive away, I realize I have never felt so alone. I turn around and stare at the mansion. It's beautiful in a creepy way. I walk up to the front door and open it. Mr. Martin is waiting for me.

  “Ah there you are,” he says, and pushes his thick, gold glasses up his thin nose. His brown hair is slicked back showing an older but handsome face; well defined cheekbones, and a dimple in his chin catch my eye. He looks to be about my mom’s age. “I have to tell you the rules of Darkwood. First of all, no boys allowed in your room. That is something I will not put up with. You have to be in your room with lights off by ten, and classes start at eight A.M. Three strikes, and then you will be asked to leave. Do you understand?”

  I nod, and he smiles. “I understand.”

  “Great follow me to your room,” he says, and as I walk in, I stop and stare.

  The walls are painted a deep red, and it reminds me of the blood bags I am holding. The trimming on the door and window frames are an eggshell white. There is a large painting on the wall above the fire place of a bright green woodland landscape. This place may look scary outside, but it is breath taking inside.

  “Victoria?” I look up at Mr. Martin and he smiles. “Follow me,” he says again. I nod.

  We walk up the stairs and I see all of the girls staring at me.

  “OMG, she has pink hair,” one of them whispers, and I raise my eyebrow. I have really good hearing.

  “She is a freak,” another one says, and I want to punch them in their pretty faces. I step on the last step, and Mr. Martin stops in front of the group of girls.

  “Girls, this is your new neighbor.” He pauses and looks over his shoulder. “Victoria Eden.” I look at the girls that were just talking bad about me.

  I don’t say anything. If they only knew what I could do to them, they would be nicer to me.

  “Hello ladies.” His smell wraps around me and I have to close my eyes, and when I do I imagine walking up to him and using my glamour on him. I can see myself pulling him into my bedroom, and sucking his sweet smelling blood until there is none left.

  I gasp and open my eyes, and the girls are glaring at me.

  “I can show Victoria her room,” Jason offers, and I was about to say something, until Mr. Martin nods.

  “Okay, then I need you to come down stairs,” Mr. Martin says, and turns to me. “It was nice to meet you Victoria. I will see you later,” he says as he walks down the stairs. I feel four sets of eyes on me.

  “Victoria, let me show you to your room,” Jason says and smiles at me.

  When I walk past the girls, I don’t miss their glares. Jason walks me to the end of the hallway, to the last door on the right. My bags are sitting in the middle of the floor.

  “I take it this is my room,” I say, and he smirks at me.

  “Yeah,” he says as he looks me up and down. “I like your pink hair…it's different.”

  I look down to hide my smile, and when his scent grows stronger I look back at him. Since he is closer to me, his scent is overwhelming my bloodlust. All I can think about is biting him, or kissing his sweet red lips. “Thanks. I like to be different, plus it pisses my mom off.”

  Jason laughs and I groan. I can almost taste him in the back of my throat. “I like different,” he says, and I wish I could melt into a puddle at his feet.

  My ringtone goes off, and I want to jump with joy. “Sorry I need to see who this is. Thank you for being so nice to me Jason.” I wave my phone in front of his face, and he grins at me.

  “Okay I will see you later, Victoria Eden.” Jason winks, then turns back around and walks down the hallway out of sight.

  I glance at my phone and smile when I see Nathan's name. “I thought I was supposed to call you?” I say when I answer the phone.

  “Well you were taking too long. How is my Vamptoria doing?” I laugh as I open my door.

  “You know I don’t know if I like that nickname.” I say and close my door, I have a feeling those girls would listen in on my phone call.

  “How about Vamtoira?” Nathan says, and I shake my head.

  “You know normal people would think of Tori or Vicky.” When I hear Nathan's laugh,
I feel a little better. “I wish you were here,” I say, and I feel my heart aching for him. He stops laughing.

  “Honey, what's wrong? Are you okay?” his soft loving voice asks me. I walk over to my new bright lime green bed, close my eyes and shiver. I can still taste Jason in the back of my throat. I picture Jason’s bright green eyes, and I want to drain him. Maybe my cravings will stop then.

  “No, I have an urge to kill someone,” I say, and pray he will understand. When I first told Nathan that I was a vamp, he asked me if I drink animal blood like that TV show vampire. I told him EW, and no, I drink human blood out of bags.

  “Honey you always want to kill someone,” he says, and I know he is smiling.

  “No. I want to drain him, and take every last drop of his sweet tangy blood,” I say and lay back on the bed. I glance at my phone to see if Nathan is still there, and he is. “Nathan I don’t know what to do.”

  “What are you going to do?” he asks calmly.

  “I need you. You’re my rock that holds me down when it's windy.” I have never craved a human before, but I have had blood lust. Sometimes my mother wouldn’t be able to get us blood for a few weeks and I thought I was going to die. If vampires go too long without blood, we become weak and easy prey.

  “Honey you know I would be there if I could. Go drink a bag and sleep. You'll feel better in the morning.” I sigh. I know he is probably right. I sit up and glance at my special dark blue bag with white stars.

  “Okay, I miss you already. Good night,” I say and get out of bed to get my special bag. My bag was made for me, it will keep all of the blood bags cold for me. I would normally warm them up, but I don’t want to warm them downstairs.

  “I miss you too, sweet dreams,” Nathan says and hangs up.

  I bring a whole bag, and get ready for bed. I hope that I have sweet dreams, and nothing to do with ravaging a green eyed boy.

  Chapter Two