Changeling by Steve Feasey Read Free Book Online Page B

into life as it ascended from a lower floor.
    Lucien stared at Trey with those odd, frightening eyes for what seemed like an age, before finally nodding the smallest of nods.
    ‘I’m a vampire, Trey. A night-stalker. Undead. A nether-creature.’
    Trey’s peripheral vision had all but gone completely now, replaced by a grey curtain that obscured everything not directly in front of him in a thick fog. He tried to speak, but no words would come. His knees buckled slightly, and the effect was enough to make him stagger forward a step, just as the lift door behind him announced its arrival with a soft pinging sound. He reached out to grab a hold of something that wasn’t there, his hands closing around nothing but the air in front of him, and he collapsed into the thick shagpile carpet.
    Lucien called for Tom as he knelt down next to Trey.
    ‘What’s happened?’ the Irishman asked as he hurried across the room to help.
    ‘He’s fainted,’ Lucien said.
    ‘Fainted?’
    ‘He collapsed. I think a combination of the lack of food coupled with the realization that you have run away with a vampire would cause most people to pass out.’ He looked up at Tom and sighed. ‘I had wished to explain all of this to him in a more . . . controlled manner. I think that we should move Trey to his room so that he will be more comfortable.’
    He stood up and effortlessly lifted Trey’s unconscious body in his arms. He followed Tom across the room and through the furthest door on the left, where they gently placed Trey on a bed, exchanging concerned looks as they stood back from the prone figure.
    Tom quietly pulled closed the door behind them and turned to look over at his vampire boss. ‘Do you think he will be all right?’ he asked.
    Lucien shook his head and cast his eyes towards the door. ‘I sincerely hope so, Tom, because young Mr Laporte is going to need every ounce of strength to survive what lies ahead of him in the next few days and weeks.’

5
    Trey opened his eyes. He took in the details of the strange ceiling overhead and remembered where he was. He slowly turned his head and stopped, the breath catching in his throat when he saw the girl sitting in the chair next to his bed. She was looking down and reading the book held in her lap.
    Even though she was sitting, it was clear that she was tall, with long black hair that hung down her back in a ponytail. She was dressed in a grey-striped top under a shiny black waistcoat, with a short grey skirt and black leggings. Her make-up was in a ‘goth’ style, and, while it had not been applied too harshly, Trey thought that it seemed to spoil the soft lines of her heart-shaped face. It was clear to him that, despite the make-up, she was painfully pretty: maybe even beautiful. He guessed she was about sixteen years old.
    As if aware of his scrutiny for the first time, she folded the corner of the page that she was on and closed the book before lifting her face to look at him. She examined his face for a moment before revealing her perfect teeth in a broad smile.
    ‘You must be Trey,’ she said casually. ‘My father has told me an awful lot about you.’
    ‘Well, that’s a whole lot more than he’s told me,’ he replied, immediately regretting the petulant tone in his voice. He knew from the intensity of her eyes that she must be Lucien’s daughter.
    There was a pause, during which she nodded thoughtfully. ‘This must all seem like the weirdest day of your life at the moment, huh?’ she said. ‘Running away from that care home with some guy that you’ve never met before – that’s pretty hardcore. Then you find out that this guy is a vampire . . .’ She puffed out her cheeks. ‘You must feel that your entire universe has been turned on its head right now.’ She nodded her head again and smiled at him in a way that Trey assumed was a look of admiration. He held her eyes and tried to look braver than he really felt.
    If only you knew, he thought.
    His heart had