Starving, and with her spirit not entirely broken but definitely beaten, she’d given in and begged to be let out. She promised never to refuse to dance again, and her parents finally set her free.
She’d never forget the expression on her instructor’s face when her parents brought her back to class the next day. Miss Dodd looked like she was staring at a ghost before she schooled her face into the calm façade she always wore during class.
Charlie was by far the most talented dancer in her class, but it was apparent she was only going through the motions and hated being there. What her parents refused to understand was that without a passion for ballet, she would never be the dancer they wanted. Never be the prima ballerina her father’s mother had been.
Miss Dodd told them this once. She’d only been trying to help her and meant well, but it made things much worse for Charlie. Her parents became convinced they could instill the passion in Charlie, and if not, they could install a barre in their basement, and her mother wouldteachCharlie to love ballet no matter what it took.
After that, Charlie found no reprieve from ballet as she went to classes five days a week but was forced to dance six days a week. At home, no teacher was calling an end to the lesson; there was only her mother pushing her onward. Charlie often danced an hour before her homeschooling and two hours afterward on the weekdays.
Sometimes, she endured seven hours of ballet on Saturdays. Sunday, which used to be her least favorite day of the week, quickly became her favorite as even God took Sunday off, which meant she could too. Her family spent five hours at church every Sunday, but at least she didn’t have to dance.
Sorry, Mom and Dad, no Nutcracker ballet for this girl.But then, they stopped expecting anything from her years ago.
The vamp turned on Charlie with his fangs bared and his eyes a blistering red color. Charlie smiled at him when he charged.
Jack kept one eye on the behemoth stalking him and the other on the woman as she danced out of the way of the vamp she fought. He didn’t think he’d ever seen such grace in someone before, not even a purebred vampire, but for all he knew, she could be a pureblood.
She spun out of the vamp’s way, and when he passed her, she planted her foot in his back before shoving him forward. The vampire staggered forward and indented the dirt wall with his face. The woman used the opportunity to leap on his back and drive her stake into his heart.
When the massive Savage raced at Jack, he adjusted the grip on his stake and braced his legs apart. He didn’t move until the last second, and when the giant swung his arms forward, Jack threw himself on the ground. The vamp’s sausage-sized fingers skimmed his back but didn’t grasp his shirt. Jack came up on the other side of the vamp and discovered the woman kneeling with her knife in hand.
“Duck,” she said.
Jack went down as a whistle sliced the air. A breeze ruffled his hair before a guttural grunt sounded behind him. Jack turned to find the knife embedded in the Savage’s throat. The beast clawed at the blade before he focused on Jack and fury blazed to life in his red eyes before the vamp charged him again.
Jack didn’t throw himself to the ground this time but smashed his hand into the knife handle, shoving it further into the vamp’s throat. The knife embedded so deeply that if it had been a normal-sized vamp, the blade would have come out the other side, but this monster had a neck the size of Jack’s thigh. The blade slowed him as his eyes bulged out of his head, and he started making sounds like a duck choking on a golf ball when he came back at Jack.
The beast seized Jack’s arms and lifted him off the ground at the same time Jack used his forehead to batter the vamp’s face. The Savage’s eye socket shattered beneath the blow, and his right eye bulged out completely. The vamp’s hands tightened, and he started pulling on Jack’s arms like he was a wishbone.
Lifting his legs, Jack wedged them onto the Savage’s thighs and shoved back while the vamp continued trying to tear off his arms. No matter how hard he pushed, he couldn’t break free of the bastard’s hold. His shoulder joints screamed a protest as his arms were pulled further away from his body.
Realizing this wasn’t working, Jack lowered his legs and threw himself forward. Something tore in his shoulder, but he was able to hit the Savage and throw him off balance. They staggered into the dirt wall.
The Savage’s grip on him loosened enough that Jack jerked his right arm free, and lifting the stake, he plunged it into the vamp’s chest. When the Savage continued to batter the side of Jack’s face, he had the unsettling notion the flesh and bone of this monster were so thick the stake hadn’t pierced the heart.
But then the Savage’s movements became more sluggish, and his gurgled, choking sounds decreased. The hand gripping his other arm eased, and jerking himself free of the slackening hold, Jack dropped to the ground.
Staggering back, the vamp clawed at the stake protruding from his chest as his eyes rolled. Then, the beast slumped against the wall and fell to the ground.
Chapter Four
Charlie stalkedacross the pit and bent to pull the knife from the Savage’s throat. She felt Jack’s eyes burning into her as she yanked it free and wiped the blood on her jeans. Searching the vamp for weapons, she found two stakes tucked into his waistband. This bastard had relied on his size and strength to destroy his enemies; in the end, it got him killed.
When she finished searching him, she stripped his clothes. No one would be able to wear anything that fit this guy, but they could use his clothes for blankets or something else. They never left any resources behind after a kill if they could help it. She rolled his clothes into a ball and used his belt to bind it.
Turning to the second vamp, she found Jack already stripping weapons from the body. He pocketed two stakes and a small crossbow that caused her hand to fall to her knife. It wouldn’t kill him, but she could hit him with it and slow him down as she had with the massive vampire.
One of the many things she’d learned since arriving on this island was that she had an extraordinary talent for throwing knives. It didn’t matter if her target possessed the speed of a vampire, ninety-nine out of a hundred times, she was going to hit it. Mal taught her how, but the student quickly surpassed the teacher in the skill.
“What do you plan to do with those?” she asked as she shifted her grip on the knife.
Jack glanced at her over his shoulder. When she shifted subtly, he knew she’d switched her grip on the knife and was prepared to launch it at him if she deemed it necessary. After watching her with these vamps, he had no doubt she could hit him with it.
“I plan to use them to help me survive,” he said. “Are you going to throw that knife?”
“Are you going to give me a reason to throw it?”
“No.”
