She stumbles to the side and bangs her head into the doorjamb. It knocks her out and she collapses onto the ground, half in my apartment, half in the hall. I focus on a pair of legs behind her, and by the time I recognize who they belong to, it’s too late. I lunge forward and wrap my fingers around Liz’s ankle, but Franklin Smith is faster than I am. He wraps Liz’s hair around his fist and yanks her out of my reach and into the hallway. He flings Liz over his shoulder like she’s a rag doll.
“Come along now,” Franklin says, crooking a finger at me.
“I’m not coming with you.” I crawl backward another foot into my apartment.I’m new to all this, but I know he can’t come in without permission.
“You can come with me or she dies alone.” Franklin jostles Liz’s body.
I hesitate and Franklin rolls his eyes, then looks to his left. “I don’t have time for this. Go in there and get him.”
A wall of a man steps into the doorway and then into the apartment. That means two things. One, he’s human. Two, I’m fucked. I try to scramble backward, but the man is on me in an instant. He pins me to the floor and delivers one solid strike to my face, and then everything goes black.
* * *
My head hurts. Like, really fucking hurts. My entire body hurts, now that I think about it, and I try to stand up, but searing pain like I never thought possible tears through my body and I collapse.
Are you okay? Where are you?I hear Ezra pleading at me with his mind. He’s frantic and he’s scared.
“Ezra,” I whimper, and Ithinkhis name over and over again,Ezra, Ezra, Ezra…
I need to go to him. I try to stand again, but my body is on fire. Every nerve ending feels like it’s being coated in molten lava and my bones threaten to crumble under the stress of holding me together. I scream, because I don’t know what else to do.
The giant asshole human who knocked me out steps into the room. He’s holding a dirty, bloody rag and he looks like he wants to murder me.
“You need to shut up.” He closes the distance between us and shoves the rag into my mouth, then secures it behind my head.
This is ridiculous. I’m a fucking vampire now, and I don’t know much, but I should be able to overpower this meathead, or at least compel him, but Ezra hasn’t shown me how yet. I don’t even know if it’s something I’ll be able to learn. If Ezra will have a chance to teach me…
Fuck that. I move to punch this asshole in my face, but there’s the fire beneath my skin again and I cry out. The gag muffles my shout, which I’m thankful for, because the war cry ends like a whimper. The man laughs at me and smacks my head so hard it slams into the wall.
“You’re chained with silver. Every time you struggle, you only hurt yourself more.”
I curse, but have sense enough to look down. My shirt is gone, and I don’t know when that happened, but my entire body is covered in a criss-cross pattern of silver chain. It’s melting into my skin and there’s blood everywhere.
Please help me, I beg Ezra.
“Is he being as petulant as that useless mate of his?” Franklin appears in the doorway and leans against the frame, casually crossing one leg over the other. He has thick gloves on his hands and he makes a show of wiggling his fingers as he approaches me.
Ezra.
Ezra.
Ezra.
Franklin reaches toward me and flattens a gloved hand against my chest, pressing the chain deeper into my skin. It sizzles. Actually fucking sizzles. I scream, choking on the gag, and everything goes black again.
* * *
When I come to a second time, I’m upright. Standing. I’m still covered in silver chain, but now there’s a collar around my neck. I jerk my head and it doesn’t go anywhere. So, now I’m chained to a wall. Awesome. I can’t look anywhere except straight ahead, and that’s when I realize why I’ve been moved.
Liz is barely six feet away from me, and she’s tied to a chair with rope. She’s a little bit bloody with a big purple goose egg on her forehead from where she hit the door. She’s unconscious, but breathing, her chest heaving with sporadic and unmeasured breaths.
Franklin stands behind her, his fingers curled into her shoulder and he stares at me. “Take it out, Jones,” he says, and the giant dick face, who is apparently named Jones, pulls the rag out of my mouth.
“Who is she?” Franklin asks.
“You know who she is.” My voice is scratchy and my throat aches like I’ve swallowed razor blades.
“I know that.” Franklin rolls his eyes. “What I mean is who is she that she gets to stay human. Why hasn’t that weakling turned her yet?”
