Chosen by the Vamprie, Book One

Chapter Ten

The dance...the seduction, Eira's words raced through my mind. You think it'll be you doing the seducing. But you're all wrong...you're all so very wrong.

A low, terrifying growl came from the shadows at my right. I closed my eyes as my heart slammed against my ribs. Movement followed, so subtle you could miss it.

But I didn't. I knew the inches between us...and instinctively who it was. "Cassian," I whispered and opened my eyes.

"You understand what you have to do?" the Vampire whispered from the shadows.

I closed my eyes, refusing to answer...refusing to see.

Sinful.

Deadly.

The words raced through my mind as his icy breath spilled down the hollow of my neck, making me tremble.

He was close...too close.

I couldn't turn my head, couldn't look into the shadows.

I already knew what I'd find.

Cold, stony, moonlight-kissed skin, and intense eyes that seemed to stare into my soul. But it was his mouth that captivated me, white fangs peeking from blood-red lips, which curled back from his teeth as he snarled. The sight didn't scare me like it used to.

More young men strolled through the door and looked around. But it was an awkward-looking guy who held my attention. It wasn't because I was attracted to him...I looked at him the same way as the fanged beasts looked at me, like a conquest, something to be claimed.

The thought hit me like a slap.

"I can't do this," I whispered.

"Can and will," Cassian commanded. "You know what happens if you don't. Pass this test, Asena. Pass it or else."

The Vampire's voice seemed to echo through my head, like he spoke directly to me. I flinched at the sound. My heart pounded.

"Open your eyes, Asena. Look at him."

I was helpless to defy him, drowning in a sea of desire. But hate swirled around me, and inside me, like a tornado filled with the terror of my past. I allowed that hate to consume me, battling the flames of unwanted desire that both disgusted me and intrigued me in equal parts.

Still, I obeyed...and opened my eyes.

"Tell me how you'll walk toward him. How you'll give him a hint of a smile," the monster in the dark murmured. "How you'll brush past him just enough for him to be ensnared by the scent of your perfume...and how when he turns toward you, you'll do the same and smile, that sweet, innocent, seductive smile. How you'll step backwards, drawing him closer and closer and you'll angle your body so his gaze will be drawn by the swell of your breasts. How you'll lead him into the darkness and press your spine against the wall, pretending he's the one who trapped you, when it'll be the other way around. How you'll lean close and whisper into his ear, just so he can look into the low neckline of your gown. How you'll make the poor sap blush with the whisper of your desire, how his body will harden and quake and that look of hunger will consume him."

I turned toward the darkness, where the monsters of my nightmares watched me from the shadows. "Please don't make me do this. I can't."

"You will if you want to be chosen. That is what you want, don't you? The alternative..."

I knew what the alternative was. I'd found her shackled like an animal, with fang marks all over her body.

Eira came back to me. The way she'd licked her lips and arched her back. The way she'd been terrorized by these beasts and yet she craved more.