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Teaser Chapter
(may contain spoilers--read at your own risk!)

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It was several years ago in mid September when I decided I wanted to become one of them. A vampire. To have almost eternal life and become superior to the humans around me. I was twenty years old. No real direction in life really; I had been unsure of myself.

There was an old, Victorian house that stood on top of a hill surrounded by huge oak trees down the road from my apartment in a small town on the East coast. The house had supposedly been vacant for ten or more years and was falling apart. But I had heard there were beings occupying the home.
Of course, with an old house such as that one, there were the usual ghost stories and tales of flesh-eating monsters that lived in the house, but there was one story that piqued my interest.

A neighbor of mine confided in me once. She had told me that she had seen a man, whom she had described as “beautiful” sitting in the garden in the front yard. It had been on a night with a full moon, and she said the man was speaking with another man. She said the two had seemed to be deep in conversation and then, without warning, the beautiful man had pounced on the other man’s neck and planted his teeth in the poor man’s throat, drinking the blood from his veins.

My neighbor had been terrified, unable to move, when she witnessed this. Until the man looked up into the moonlight and she saw blood dribbling down his chin that is…then she ran as fast as she could and never looked back. She never went near that house again—she changed her route to get to work, adding on six minutes, in order to stay away from the house.

Anyone else might have been terrified to hear such a story, or they wouldn’t believe it; they would have thought my neighbor was crazy. But not me. I had always been intrigued with the myths of vampires; I had believed in them even before her story.

I wanted to know more. Not only that, I wanted to become one.

I went to that huge old house. It had a large, wraparound porch with tall pillars that supported a balcony on the second story. There were so many beautiful windows with black shutters that bordered the outside parts of the house. A gorgeous set of French style doors led the way inside the beautiful house.

I had cautiously climbed the concrete steps to those doors and turned the handle on one of them, hoping it wasn’t locked. It hadn’t been. I went inside, my heart pounding, and saw that the inside of the house had the potential to be beautiful once again, though it was dirty.

Two armchairs and a sofa were covered with white sheets and placed around a cherry wood coffee table in the center of the huge living room. A thick layer of dust lay over the table’s surface.
Looking around from the doorway, I could see that the rest of the house was the same; sheet-covered furniture in every room.

I didn’t get too far that night. I had just begun to climb the stairs to the second floor when a man seemed to appear out of thin air directly in front of me, blocking the steps. It was like magic. One moment I was alone and the next he was there. I had been startled. The breath in my chest abandoned me for a moment. Then I breathed and studied his face. His expression was one of annoyance, yet he seemed curious. His eyes appeared vacant.

He had black eyes, like two glossy pieces of charcoal. His jaw was squared and his features strong. He had smooth, creamy-white skin and his hair was a silky curtain of platinum blonde that fell around his shoulders. He was tall with a medium build. If we stood side by side, I would go to his shoulder.
His soulless eyes had gracefully swept down to lock with mine and he filled the space between us. His long, slender fingers caressed my neck until they fully closed around one side.

I hadn’t been able to move. I know now that he had used his Gift to keep me still, keep me calm. I was not afraid.

He had sniffed my neck, smelling the blood underneath, and then calmly stepped backwards again.
“Human,” he had said matter-of-factly. “What purpose do you have in trespassing and breaking into my home?”

“So…you are a vampire,” I stated, my human face in awe.

He looked at me with suspicion. “That’s unimportant. Your purpose?”

“Oh, it’s very important,” I argued.

He raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve heard about you,” I continued, “You are a vampire. I’ve read all the books, heard the myths and legends! I want to become one of you! Become my sire! Make me your pet!” I had begged pathetically, my eyes wide with pleading innocence.

He scoffed and looked at me in disgust.

“Absolutely not. Leave this place this instant.” He released his mental hold on me and turned to go back up the stairs; his movements were slow and graceful, now that he knew I wasn’t a threat.
I rushed forward and grabbed his arm. Even through the sweater he wore, I could feel his icy, dead flesh.

“Please! I can’t live this mortal life any longer,” I begged in a loud whisper.

He turned on me then, anger appearing in his eyes, and yanked his arm out of my grasp.

“An immortal life is no life to live either!” He shouted. “Now leave this place, girl, or I will throw you out.”
“My name is not ‘Girl.’ It’s Elizabeth Grace, and if you throw me out, I’ll just come back every day of my pathetic life to beg of you the same thing I’m begging now.”

He looked at me, staring deep into my determined eyes. His expression became nearly sympathetic.
“Why would you want this life?” he finally asked, shaking his head. “It’s lonely, frustrating. You battle with yourself more than you do with other vampires that threaten you. You struggle harder than your prey.” He sounded like he was struggling with himself at that very moment.

Pathetic.

“I don’t care!” I cried. “I want it!”

Sadness crept in, and he smiled. “I’m sorry.” He continued up the stairs.
I had been furious. I had wanted to stake him in the heart with a piece of wood to see if that myth was true.

But I was over that feeling in only a second or two, quickly thinking of an alternate plan. It would take longer, but I would get what I wanted.

I remember it so clearly even now. I had pretended to be heartbroken instead of angry, adding a sob for effect. I’ve always been a little dramatic….

“I guess…if you won’t turn me…do you think we could at least be friends? I’m so lonely; I have no one. I just need someone to talk to every now and then.” I sighed woefully and put on a helpless face that no one could turn away from, not even a cold-blooded vampire.

He had felt sorry for me. If he had wanted, he could have gone into my mind and seen that I was lying. But he didn’t. He was too respectful to do that to anyone. At that moment anyway.

He turned back around and stared even harder at me, contemplating my request.

“Very well,” he said hesitantly. I now know that he had been just as desperate and lonely as I had pretended to be that night; he wanted a friend, too. “My name is Terek.”

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Now available as a paperback novel with bonus short story "Dare" (prequel to "Dead Seed").