Daughters of Dracula (The Stoker Sisters #1) (6 page)

It seemed only moments had passed when she was violently stirred from sleep. A fist held a tight grip of her hair as it pulled her to her feet.

“Get up, you slut.” The growl accompanied the enraged gesture.

The sound of footsteps outside the cave caught the man’s attention and he quickly dropped her, letting her hit the stone floor with a painful thud. His footsteps echoed in the cave as he rushed out.

Alexis crawled to the entrance and was shocked by what she faced. Harold Bennett, the town baker, had plunged a wooden stake deep within
Ashwin’s
chest.

Without thinking, without even knowing what she was truly doing, Alexis took a solid grip of her skirts and sprinted towards Harold. She heard the wild cries of a mad woman and only realized it was her own voice once she’d tackled Harold to the ground and knelt over him.

His eyes widened with confusion, fear then anger. Harold tried to shake her off. But her movements were fast, her instinct strangely sharpened and in tuned to his every motion. With the hunger of a beast and her teeth now prominent in her mouth she lunged forward and sank her fangs into the tender skin of his whiskered neck.

He let out a cry, fearful, panicked and almost feminine in quality. But it barely seeped into Alexis’ consciousness. Her thoughts were consumed by her act. Both bewildered and intrigued, she let his warm blood trickle down her throat and was strangely aroused by the sensations that filled her.

When sated, she rose and looked around her. Only a puddle of blood remained where
Ashwin
had lain dying. Perhaps he’d gone inside, she thought.

The moment she turned and faced Sadie’s horrified expression she felt the full weight of what she’d done. She should feel guilty, or at least ashamed, but she felt invigorated and alive. She brought her fingers to the corners of her mouth and was fascinated by the sight of blood. With a knowing grin, she glanced at her sister and licked her fingertips. “Tis not as bad as it seems,” she said as her smile broadened.

Sadie’s heart sank, as she took in Harold’s body. She approached him, reached out a hand to touch him, but his arm shot up to grab a hold of her throat. With fluid animal reflexes, Sadie didn’t think, she didn’t flinch as she sank her teeth into his neck, succumbing to her first initial thirst as a vampire.

Chapter 5

Dublin, Ireland - Present Day – Nearly 300 years later

“Thank you for the book recommendation,” the young man said in a lilting Irish brogue. He smiled, wanting to carry on a conversation, any conversation with the pretty blonde girl standing behind the register. With hair the color of flaxen silk, bright blue aquamarine eyes and naturally pink rose petal lips, Sadie Stoker was the type of girl that had no problem attracting men. She never had difficulties in this area, not when she was a girl of seventeen in Dorset, England.
Especially not since she became a vampire nearly three hundred years ago.

The young man leaned in close to the register. “Do you think…” he began, “that you’d like to have a cup of coffee with me…when you have a break? If you take breaks,” he added quickly.

Sadie smiled. The young man was cute in a scruffy Harry Potter way, but she wasn’t interested. “Sorry,” she said. “I don’t drink coffee.”

“Tea then?”
Harry Potter asked again.

The door flew opened and a current of wind and alluring power swept into the small bookstore. Loose paper shuffled around, and books fell off the shelf with the strength of the entrance.

“
Gahhh
, for goodness sakes, Harry Potter,” cried a familiar feminine throaty voice, “get a hint.
 
She doesn’t want to go out with you!” Appearing from a corner, Alexis Stoker walked seductively up to the young man, grabbed his face and pulled it close to her face as though she wanted to kiss him. “How about going for a real woman?” As the young man closed his eyes, ready for a kiss, Alexis bared her fangs pulling back his hair and was about to sink them into the customer’s throat when Sadie, pushed Alexis away from him. “

“You stay away from him,” Sadie said, while the stunned Harry Potter look-alike stood still.

“Boo!” Alexis jumped, ready to sink her teeth into him again. This time the young man had the sense to run. Alexis struggled against Sadie, fury transforming her beautiful flawless face into an unrecognizable beast. Finally she stopped struggling and turned to Sadie. “You know what you’ve just done? Three days! Three days without feeding on someone. I’m starving!” She walked back and forth on the creaking wooden floor like a panther. “Those darn hunters kept me on the run for three days. They’re going after us.
Every single vampire in Dublin.”

“Your brazen display just now sure doesn’t help. Harry Potter’s probably running out there yelling ‘vampire’ and alerting everyone, including the hunters, where we are. Have you always been this reckless? In broad daylight, right here in the open?”

“No,” Alexis sidled over.
“And yes, dear sister.
Unlike you, I’ve embraced my vampire nature. Oh, I have had more discretion where I feed, but sometimes a girl just can’t help indulging, you know, especially with a cute prey. You have to strike when it’s good.”

Sadie sighed.
Same old Alexis.
The last hundred years when they parted after one embarrassing incidence after another, Alexis was just as reckless a vampire as always.

“We don’t have much time,” Alexis grew serious. “The hunters are really here, and they’ve followed me throughout Dublin.” Alexis looked slightly guilty. “Ah, let’s just say, I left a real mess earlier, and didn’t bother to clean up.” She tossed her long black wavy hair, flowing in the latest fashion. “They’re not too happy to say the least, and they’re tracing down, destroying any vampire in sight.”

With that warning, Alexis had returned to Sadie’s life and in her typical dramatic fashion, managed to destroy the calm and peace Sadie had tried so hard to maintain as a vampire.

“Good to see you, too,” Sadie said bitterly, unable to contain her sarcasm.
“After a hundred years or so.
What have you been up to? I haven’t received a single letter, a single note, not even a single email from you. And now you show up here with a vicious group of hunters following you? You always seem to attract trouble, don’t you, dear sister? What did you do to attract the hunters’ attention? Kill a bunch of people?”

“I did what every vampire do, feed from people. No one is as good as you, Sadie. Even being turned into a vampire didn’t affect Miss Goody-Two-Shoes! You are so self-righteous, little sister.
So very pure.
A hundred years didn’t change that.” Alexis glanced at Sadie’s long black cardigan, plain white t-shirt, jeans, and black boots. “At least you’re dressed for this decade.”

“I wouldn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to myself,” Sadie said. “Blending into the human world has kept my existence free of hunters.”

“Free of other vampires even,” Alexis said. “You are like a monk amongst vampires, Sadie…cloistered in your own vampire existence.”

“Just because I’m a vampire doesn’t mean I have to associate with them,” Sadie said. “I’m not interested in joining a coven or being part of a vampire gang.”

“There’s one vampire who you wouldn’t mind ‘associating’ with,” Alexis purred.

Sadie looked down. Alexis’ sudden return brought back vivid and pain-filled memories of Lord
Ashwin
, who had turned both sisters but left them, abandoned them, staked before the sisters knew they had turned. She’d been drawn in by his deep blue eyes and gentle manner, while Alexis had been enamored with his dark hair and dangerous streak. Lord
Ashwin
had been staked by a hunter.

Just the thought of hunters sent chills down Sadie’s spine. Her initiation into the vampire world had been marred by the death of her maker by a hunter creating an early fear of hunters.

Sadie’s current life in Ireland had been stable and calm for quite a while. She loved her work at the local bookstore and had all but forgotten the dark past she shared with her elder sister. She felt almost human, working in this bookstore, assimilating into human society, not drawing attention to herself so she wouldn’t be found out by the hunters.

If there was one thing they’d come to share over the years it was their hatred for these hunters. The means they used made many vampires look docile and peaceful in comparison. They were not above using innocents to lure them, killing them in the process.

As if the mere thought of hunters would conjure them, the door to the bookstore crashed open, and humans wearing dusters, carrying crossbows fitted with wooden stakes piled into the room.

Sadie and Alexis had escaped with vampire speed through the window on the second floor of the bookstore, shifting into birds – Sadie a hawk and Alexis a raven.

They had no choice but to leave. Though Ireland had become their beloved home, Alexis and Sadie needed to elude these hunters and start life anew. So they chose a place as far away as they thought from Dublin -
Summerlin
, California, a place vampires wouldn’t care for because of its constant sunny climate and beach environment. Vampires were supposedly afraid of the sun and running water, but somehow Alexis and Sadie had never been affected by either.

They figured that was only a myth, like Dracula was a myth.

Summerlin
, California - Present Day

Sadie was filled with nervous energy that only heightened as she approached the registration office of
Summerlin
High School. She had never attended public school before, and thought it would be a good guise to blend into the community. Quick glances at the other students left her wondering where she’d fit in. Although she had been around nearly three-hundred years, she looked very much like a seventeen-year-old.

Putting on a fidgeting smile, it was finally her turn to register.

“Name,” the clerk asked.

“Sadie Stoker.”

“Address.”

“312a Brine Crescent.”

“Parent’s name.”

“They’re deceased.”

The clerk glanced up at her.
“Guardian?”

Sadie flustered, wondering if this would be a problem.
“My sister, Alexis.”

A few more standard questions and Sadie
was
registered and would be starting classes in a few days. Excited, she grabbed her backpack off the counter and turned to rush out. Her progress was quickly halted and her breath snatched from her lungs as she ran into a young man rushing to get out.

The blow shook her, causing her to lose her bag. Her instant reaction had her reaching to catch it before it struck the ground, but the young man was equally quick. Sadie felt a quick rush of heat envelope her as her fingers brushed against his.

His movements had been so fast, almost inhuman and she instinctively became wary. Her suspicious glance took in his piercing blue eyes, smiling and filled with mischief. His full lips were set in a lopsided grin, adding to mischief his eyes betrayed. Sadie had seen many handsome young men through the years, but this one, this human young man made her vampire heart jumped. He was tall wearing a light blue t-shirt that outlined his broad shoulders, a chest built like a
gladiator’s,
and a trim waist that tapered down into baggy black jeans. He was dressed like a laid-back surfer boy, but Sadie sensed
an intensity
beyond the normal high school student. What was it about him that made her suddenly think about Dorset, her home back in England? She found herself staring at him. He was masculine, manly – he even had a silver stud in his ear, tiny and not ostentatious, which suited Sadie just fine. His smile was the most beautiful thing about him, though. It was slow, sweet, and angelic.