The Hunters Saga #3: The Hawthorn Pearl

Chapter 1: In the Afterlife

A/N: Hey, everyone, Wattpad and beyond! Welcome to the third and FINAL installment of The Hunters Trilogy! Are you excited?! :D Any new readers, I'd advise that you go read The Blood Diamond (#1) and The Wolfsbane Rubies (#2) before starting this book ;) Don't want to miss all of the excitement, right? Anyway... hope you all enjoy the first chapter of The Hawthorn Pearl! Thanks for reading ;D

Chapter 1: In the Afterlife

   Death isn't exactly an easy concept to cope with, I tell you now. It's complicated, complex. A really big surprise and an unrelenting burden in some cases.

   Take me for example.

   My name is Antoinette Drake, and I'm dead. No, I mean in the literal sense, silly! My senses still work, if at a much higher level now; a more developed one. My body has no use for organs and bodily fluids - other than the blood of others, and I guess my situation will need some getting used to. All conscious thought had been wiped from me, taken. It was almost as if I no longer had a brain or a conscience.

   It's really weirder than it sounds, trust me.

   I bet you're wondering how I died; how I became the one thing I'd loathed all of my human life: a vampire. For the life of me, I can't seem to remember much. Waking up to a human neighbor - pulsating with blood, might I add - surely was the worst possible turn of events, the object to which jogged my clouded memories.

   The boy in my arms whimpered as I continued to feed. Over all of my senses washed the instinct to drink and sustain. Drink and sustain. A primal thought processing that I was now just experiencing. I felt detached as blood entered my willing mouth and ran its hot course down my aching throat. The heat of it soothed the aching sensation that had warned me of my instincts.

   The body pressed against mine had gone limp, but he was still alive, according to the consistent blood flow that came from the wounds I'd created. I sucked on the opening hungrily, drenched in scarlet, pulling it wider and wider. The boy made a sound of dull pain, but I ignored him completely.

   Since my over-sensitized awareness was drowned out by the need for blood, I never heard nor felt the other vampire. I only remember feeling the room drop a few degrees, if vaguely through the overpowering bloodlust.

   It was still enough.

   Something growled loudly, and distantly, my actions ceased for a hesitant moment. I wasn't alone.

   "Antoinette!" The voice rang through me with clarity, and my eyes widened. I detached myself from the human and glanced upward at the visitor.

   "Antoinette," the vampire hissed, staring into my eyes. My shoulders tensed as the other vampire neared. He was tall, lanky but not too much so. His midnight black hair fell messily into his dark, soulful eyes. It was like seeing him for the first time, and the memories flooded my being as I recalled my past. My human life.

   In that second, I knew where I was, who I was, who he was.

   Henri Sinclair.

   I pushed the human to the carpet and gave Henri a small, somewhat relieved smile. "Henri."

   "Toni," he pressed, making no further movement toward me. The sudden urge to close the distance between us was so overwhelming that I started to crawl toward my new sire. "You did this, Henri," I giggled with slight hysteria, barring my fangs. "Y-you turned me into a monster, didn't you? Why?"