Taken (Book #2 of the Vampire Legends) (16 page)

“Benji!” she found herself
yelling out, crying. “Please! Help me!”

And then it all happened in
the flash of an eye. Before Rachel could even process what was happening, there
was a whirl of motion before her, at lightning speed, just like that time when
Benji saved her on the ferris wheel. It was like, she blinked one moment, and
the next, Benji was up on his feet, somehow standing behind her, grabbing the
police officer with one hand, and lifting him high off the ground. In another
flash of an eye, Benji had somehow managed to throw that police officer into
the other one that was approaching with the pepper spray, knocking them both to
the ground like dominos.

And that was when things got
even more confusing. Several more officers were still approaching, but before
they could get near them, this time, there came a flurry of blinding motion
from the sky itself. It all happened so fast and it was hard for Rachel to make
it out in the harsh floodlights of the police vehicles, but she thought she saw
black shapes descending from the sky, and landing directly on the police
officers. She was sure she spotted one of those hideous creatures--she would
never forget its face--landing on a police officer’s chest, reaching over, and
tearing off his head in one motion. It then leaned over and sunk its teeth into
what was left of his torso, screeching as it did so.

That was when the shots
began. Within moments, Rachel heard gunfire all around her, and saw the police
frantically shooting in every direction. Most of them aimed for the sky, to no
avail, but one of them aimed right for Benji.

She called out his name to
warn him, but it was too late. He didn’t see it coming, and she watched in
horror, as the bullet hit him square in the chest.

“Benji!” Rachel cried out.

She expected to see him
collapse, to see blood pouring out of him, to see him die on the spot. But she
was shocked to see that the bullet did not faze him at all. In fact, he merely
reached over, yanked the bullet from his flesh and threw it on the ground, as
if it were an insect.  She looked over and saw the officer staring, open jawed,
in utter shock.

The bullets kept flying, and
the black shapes kept descending. Within moments, it was a blood-fest, with the
police officers being torn to bits. Finally, they realized that they were up
against something that they could not fight, and the officers that remained
tried to flee in a panic.

Several of them ran for a
police vehicle, but as they did, one of those black things landed before it,
picked the car up over its head, and hurled the car across the lawn, as if it
were a toy. It smashed against a huge tree and burst into flames.

The police who remained
started firing wildly in every direction.

And that was when Rachel
felt it.

Rachel felt the pain rip
through her stomach, a pain worse than any she had ever experienced in her
life. It felt as if someone had stabbed her, and in just a moment, she realized
that she couldn’t breath.

She collapsed to her back on
the soft grass and reached down and felt her stomach. She lifted her hand and
saw that it was covered in bright red blood. And that was when she realized she
had just been shot.

As Rachel looked up at the
sky, suddenly Benji’s face came into view. She saw him kneel by her side, and
his face morph into grief and guilt.

“Rachel, can you hear me?”

She did hear him, but only
faintly, and was too weak to respond.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “Rachel?
Can you hear me? I love you! Rachel? Don’t leave me!”

Rachel saw Hunter come into
view grabbing Benji by the chest. “We have to get out of here,” Hunter urged
Benji. “Now!”

Suddenly Rachel saw Benji’s
face transform into a rage, a rage greater than she had ever seen. It was a
look of vengeance.

“NO!” Benji screamed.

He broke into action. He
took two strong leaps and flew into the air, and met several of those black things
in mid air. They charged at him, fangs out, snarling-but Benji was not
deterred. On the contrary, in his state of rage, he seemed even more vicious
then they.

They met in mid-air with a
crash. Benji somehow managed to dodge one of them, to kick one square in the
chest, knocking him to the ground, and then to grab a third one by the
shoulders. He swung this one around, so hard, that he went flying into several
of his fellow coven members, knocking them all to the ground.

Benji was a blur of motion,
and within moments, he had managed to knock out every evil creature that was in
sight.

The next thing Rachel knew,
Benji was back at her side, kneeling beside her, tears streaming down his
cheeks.

“Rachel,” he pleaded, “please,
can you hear me? I need you to live!”

Rachel wanted to respond,
but she was too weak. She couldn’t muster the energy to form the words. She
felt her body going cold, and felt her life draining from her. She couldn’t
believe that she was going to die, so young, and in this place.

She saw Benji and Hunter
turn and look up at the sky, and in the distance, she saw more of those evil
creatures heading their way, this time, led by a beautiful girl with black
hair.

“It’s Violet,” Hunter said
to Benji. “She’s coming with more. And more will follow. You have to get out of
here now! Take Rachel. Take her to safety. Far from here. I’ll stay here and
hold them back. I’ll be a diversion for you.”

“Go!” Hunter screamed.

The next thing that Rachel
knew, she felt herself being picked up in Benji’s strong arms. And then she saw
herself rising, off the ground, and up into the sky, higher and higher.

The cool wind was racing in
her face and hair, as she found herself flying over the castle, over the
grounds, and then over the Hudson River itself. It looked to her as if she were
flying right into the huge orb of the full, glowing moon. She felt herself
growing even weaker, and didn’t know how much longer she could make it.

They descended. They landed
on a small island in the middle of the Hudson River, as Benji gently set her
down on the grass. He knelt beside her, weeping, as he ran his hands through
her hair.

“Rachel,” he pleaded. “Please,
don’t leave me. You’re all I have. You’re all I care about.”

Rachel thought it was weird
he should say that, because he was all that she cared about, too. She really
wanted to be with him, and she wasn’t ready to leave this earth. She
needed
to be with him. He was everything to her. And she would do anything, anything,
to be with him forever. She couldn’t imagine a life without him.

Rachel mustered every last
bit of her strength, forcing herself,
willing
herself, to sit up, just a
little bit. She reached up and grabbed Benji by his shirt.

With her very last bit of
breath, she managed to whisper her last words.

“I love you, Benji. I want
to be with you forever. Don’t let me die. Make me be with you forever. Take me.
TAKE ME!” she urged.

Rachel saw Benji shaking his
head, and could see him struggling with himself.

She slumped back down to the
grass, all of her energy gone, and knew she would not have the strength to say
another word. She felt herself growing colder, stiffer, weaker, lighter-and
then, she felt her world going black. She knew without a doubt that in just
moments she would be dead.

And with her last glimmer of
vision, the last thing she saw was Benji’s fangs protracting, long and narrow,
as he lowered his head and brought them down, right for her neck.

“I love you,” she heard him
say. “And I will forever.”

NOW AVAILABLE!

BITTEN
(BOOK #3 OF THE VAMPIRE LEGENDS)

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HERE TO DOWNLOAD BITTEN ON AMAZON NOW
!

In BITTEN (Book
#3 of the Vampire Legends), Rachel Wood wakes to find herself in an ancient
castle, all alone. She wakes to realize she is now a vampire.

Rachel searches
for answers. She wants to know where she is, how she got there, where Benji is,
and what will become of her. She wants to be human again, to go back home, to
make this all go away.

But it’s too
late.

She meets other
vampires in the castle, makes new friends, and begins to learn what it’s like
to be a vampire. She learns that she has powers she never imagined possible.

But all that is
not enough. She longs for home, for her high school, her friends. And she
escapes.

She heads back
and sees all of her friends, and fights with her parents, and goes back to
school—and tries to settle back into normal life. She even meets up with Rob
again, who still has feelings for her, and who invites her to the big Halloween
ball.

But normal life
is not meant to be for Rachel anymore. She is changing too fast, and she can’t
control what’s happening to her body. She comes to realize she is not the same
person she once was. After her home is ransacked by an evil coven, her parents
kick her out of the house for good, leaving her nowhere to go.

In the
meantime, Violet and her people are coming after Rachel, determined to use her
to find and kill Benji. Benji is searching for the famed Blue Tablet that might
save them all from the coming war. And Rachel, when she learns how in danger
Benji is, realizes she has to be by his side. She will stop at nothing to be
with him—even if that means having to choose between life and death.

BITTEN is book
#3 of the Vampire Legends series (following Book #1, SWORN and Book #2, TAKEN),
and is also a standalone novel.

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HERE TO DOWNLOAD BITTEN ON AMAZON NOW
!

Books by Emma Knight

SWORN (Book #1 of the Vampire Legends)
TAKEN (Book #2 of the Vampire Legends)
BITTEN (Book #3 of the Vampire Legends)
CHOSEN (Book #4 of the Vampire Legends)
AWAKENED (Book #5 of the Vampire Legends)

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here to download more books by Emma Knight on Amazon now
!

Please
visit Emma’s site, where you can join the mailing list, hear the latest news,
see additional images, and find links to stay in touch with Emma on Facebook,
Twitter, Goodreads and elsewhere:

www.emmaknightauthor.com