Rise of the Fallen by Donya Lynne Read Free Book Online

voice was a balm, an audible salve
to soothe his soul.
    But then she had grown quiet and sucked in her breath. Micah
touched her mind and realized she had seen his self-mutilation. Shame flooded
him as his long-absent conscience reappeared, chastising him for what he had
done. For some reason, he didn't want this woman seeing the damage he had done
to his own arms.
    And then everything shattered into white heat as fire stung
his shoulder.
    Intense hunger raged like wildfire. Micah couldn't recall
ever needing to feed this badly. In an instant, his eyes flashed open and shot
to the woman tending him. Terror erupted in her expression, but all he could
see, think, feel, smell, and breathe was blood. Glorious, life-giving,
hunger-sating, Heaven-sent blood. With graceless impropriety, Micah yanked her
wrist to his mouth like it was a sandwich and he had gone way too long without
food then bit down with unceremonious impatience.
    When was the last time he had truly fed?
    The woman struggled as he locked his hands around her arm
and lurched upright with her wrist clenched in his mouth. Her blood flowed like
a river of life into his belly, and he moaned in ecstasy even as he fought to
restrain her. He had been too wrapped up in his need to feed to compel her into
submission, and she grappled, squirmed, and struggled against him, gasping and
protesting for him to stop.
    Blood. All he could think about was drinking her
blood. She swung at him with her free arm, kicking and trying to pull away, but
he stayed with her, using one hand to deflect her haphazard punches, turning
his body to avoid her kicks. All the while, his fangs kept her wrist locked in
his mouth and her blood spilling down his throat.
    He finally overpowered her and bent her back and down to the
floor. Crouched like a man kneeling in prayer, his gaze ranged up her arm that
stretched between them, linking her to him like an umbilical cord as she
continued to struggle. His feral gaze locked onto the pools of clover green in
her eyes as his chest and abdomen heaved lustfully. Blood lust. Strong and pure
and all-consuming, it gnawed at him like a jackal on a bone.
    The woman tried to cry out, but he slapped his hand over her
mouth, stifling her scream, taking his fill of her blood as her body finally
stilled beneath his.
    It was only then that Micah realized she was crying. Tears
streamed her cheeks as horrific sobs convulsed her chest. As his senses ebbed
back into him, he gently lifted his hand from her mouth, keeping it close in
case she tried to scream again.
    "Please, please stop. Don't kill me."
    Her fear smelled like sulfur as the words clubbed him. Kill
her? He didn't want to kill her.
    Where was he, anyway?
    Micah's eyes flitted around the room and suddenly it was
clear he wasn't in Kansas, anymore. What was this place? He had never been here
before. Nothing was familiar. How had he gotten here? His eyes darted back to
hers.
    After releasing her wrist with a gasp, Micah fell back like
he had just seen Jesus wagging a judgmental finger at him, and he ass-planted
on her generic beige carpeting.
    "Where am I?" he said.
    The woman trembled in fear, too afraid to move as she
clutched her bleeding wrist to her body. In his confusion, he had forgotten to
release the dose of venom that would heal the bite.
    "Where am I?" Micah's voice rose urgently as he
frowned in dazed confusion.
    "M-My a-apartment." The woman was shivering.
    "What's your name?"
    She paused like she was trying to decide whether or not she
should tell him.
    "Tell me!" He was freaking out.
    The woman jumped. "S-Sam."
    "Why am I here, Sam?"
    The woman frowned at him like his question confused her.
    "Why am I here?!" Why did he have to repeat
everything to get her to answer?
    She flinched. "You were hurt. I helped you. D-don't you
remember?"
    Everything flooded back into Micah's mind with such force he
visibly wobbled as if he was in the ocean and a wave of storm surge had just
rolled over him. He even sucked