Vampire Apocalypse (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #3) by Jennifer Malone Wright Read Free Book Online Page B

wealthy men took mistresses. I floundered, as did my fellow
friends.
    “ Seeing our hesitation, she
became enraged once again. I felt the magic well up within the
walls as she called upon the power of her descendants to help her.
It was then that foreign words escaped her lips and a curse was
place on all six of us who bore witness.
    “ Suddenly, I felt as if my
body was afire. We crumpled to the ground while Lavrentios cried
out for help, screaming for mercy from his once so doting wife.
Even the handmaidens had fallen to the floor and were writhing in
agony from the pain that seared their bodies from the inside
out.
    “ I do not know how much
time passed in which we were forced to endure the pain. We all
awoke feeling weak, confused … and hungry.
    “ She stood there watching
us and waiting.
    “ My mouth was dry, drier
than it had ever been. I moved my tongue over my teeth, trying to
force saliva to form, and discovered sharp points had developed on
my teeth. They felt as sharp as the edge of a sword.”
    Again, Anthony stopped speaking, but
this time he absently moved his hand to his mouth. His lip lifted
and he touched the tip of one of his fangs as if he were
remembering the first time he felt them.
    “ What happened next?” Drew
tried to direct him back into the story.
    Anthony swallowed and then continued,
“Finally she spoke only one word. ‘Feed!’ she demanded, pointing at
her bound husband.”
    Sadness filled his brown eyes as he
caught my gaze. “You have no idea how it felt. Have you ever been
so hungry that it literally burned in the pit of your stomach? I
felt this hunger in every pore, every cell, and every part of my
being. I looked to my five companions, knowing they felt as I did.
As I set my sight upon them, I saw that none of their eyes were the
deep, rich brown they were before. Each of them had changed from
the original color to the glowing red of demons.
    “ We had become demons.
    “ And with her demand … the
curse was sealed … sealed in blood.
    “ As one, we attacked
Leventrios, who had no possible way to escape. I was beyond
comprehension of any right or wrong as I felt my fangs pierce his
skin, letting his blood flow freely into my own being. We drank
from his veins until there was no life left in him.”
    Anthony looked to the
ceiling before finishing his tale. “And that is how the first six vampires
were created.”
    I switched my gun to the other hand
and rolled my eyes. “This has been an interesting history lesson,
but you haven’t told us about the remaining original lines and how
we find them. That’s what we want to know.” I felt a bit like I was
belittling the emotion of his tale. It was an interesting story and
I was actually surprised that with all of my research on the
history of Hunter’s and vampire lore, that I hadn’t come by any of
that particular information. I wasn’t going to say anything, but I
knew that the information he had just given us would eventually be
help of some kind.
    “ Patience, my
dear.”
    Drew stepped forward. “If you haven’t
noticed, we don’t really have time to sit around telling stories.
The sooner we end this, the sooner we can get society back into
something that can at least function.”
    Anthony shook his head. “It will never
be the same.”
    “ Yes,” Drew agreed, “but if
we get rid of the vampires the rebuilding can begin. People can
stop being so scared.”
    The pain I’d felt from the
entertainment center had finally faded away, so I stood up and
paced a little bit. I still didn’t trust Anthony, but I was tired
of sitting there pointing my gun at him. If he was going to try and
kill us, he had already had plenty of opportunities to do that. I
waved my gun at him on a pass by. “So tell us about the other
vampires and their bloodlines,” and for my own personal curiosity,
“and what happened to Chryssa”
    Drew took over my chair while I paced
and Anthony went on with his story telling. “Chyssa, knew