INSTINCT (The Elite Book 1) Read online

  Sybil plates up two dishes of pasta. She knows I won’t eat it, but she gives it to me anyway. It’s not that I can’t eat it but rather I just don’t want to. There are very few things that the humans eat or drink that us Vampires enjoy.

  In fact, there may only be one; alcohol.

  The rest is all pretty much tasteless. Some meats taste better than others, the richer the better, but nothing tastes as good as blood.

  I toy with the food on my plate as Sybil leaves the room. I know I should say something to Farah but I haven’t got any idea what I can possibly say to her. I can’t change the facts.

  “Will you hurt me?” she asks again and the emotion I hear in her voice, gives me cause to turn towards her.

  I hate it. That sound. That pain.

  “Farah, I can’t promise I won’t.”

  “You’re not going to let me leave, are you?”

  I don’t deny the truth in her words.

  “Do you want to?” I ask instead.

  “No.”

  I breathe out heavily, relieved by that one tiny little word. I might kill her, I will almost certainly hurt her, but she will not leave.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Farah

  Foolish! Stupid! Idiot girl!

  I should tell him that I want to leave. But no. I just sit here, eating my bloody dinner. When I’m finally finished, feeling sick to my stomach, I push away from the breakfast bar, the bar stool screeching against the stone floor.

  Everette frowns.

  “Where are you going?”

  It’s almost as if he’s scared that I might actually leave. Not that I’d have much chance of leaving anyway. He’d obviously catch me.

  “I need to go to the bathroom,” I mumble back.

  “Oh,” he replies. “I’ll show you the way.”

  He stands to his feet, taking my hand and leading me from the room.

  “Would you let me go if I wanted to?” I ask him before I can stop myself.

  He pauses, considering the question.

  “Probably not,” he answers. “I’d like to tell you that I would but I don’t think I can.”

  Nodding my head, I’m hardly surprised. It’s not like I expect to survive this visit to his house.

  “Do you intend to keep me here?” I ask another question. “Locked in here?”

  “Is there somewhere you would like to go?”

  “Work?”

  “You don’t need to work anymore, Farah.”

  “I like working.”

  His eyes are thoughtful as he looks down at me.

  “You can come and go as you please,” he says between gritted teeth, “so long as you come back.”

  I don’t know what to say to that except, “you’d find me anyway.”

  “Yes, Farah, I would.” It goes unsaid that he’d be angry and that I’d be punished but the message is received all the same.

  “Will you kill me?”

  “Not today,” he answers almost sarcastically, “but if we have to continue this conversation much longer that might change.”

  “So, I can work?”

  “Yes, Farah, you can do whatever you like,” he replies irritably, “within reason.”

  Everette

  It’s a huge concession, one I can’t explain. I have no idea what I gain from letting her come and go as she pleases. Probably nothing. Except her willingness.

  Logically, I know that she’s actually safer outside of these walls than she is within them, especially now that I’ve bitten her. I’ve claimed her as my prey and so no other Vampire would dare to try and take her.

  But that does nothing to ease my disquiet.

  Farah is unexpectedly demanding as she tells me that she needs me to take her home to pick up some clothes. A quip about keeping her in a perpetual state of undress is on the tip of my tongue, but something about Farah’s facial expression tells me she won’t appreciate it.

  What’s more surprising than her demand is that I don’t seem to mind as I lead her down the hall towards the front door. It doesn’t bother me at all that I’m about to play bloody chauffeur for a human.

  I even catch myself opening her door for her, playing the part of a fucking gentleman.

  This isn’t quite what I had planned when I decided to bite her, I hadn’t been planning to move her into my house or to fuck her. Nothing I’m doing makes sense anymore.

  “Do I have to stay at your house?” she asks.

  I don’t really have an answer for her. I’ve not really thought this through. Last night, I acted on impulse, reacting more to the jealous, possessiveness that I’d felt.

  “I’d like you to,” I admit.

  “Okay,” she agrees.

  My fingers tighten on the steering wheel. I should tell her to get out of the car and then drive away, leaving her to live her life freely, without fear.

  But I won’t do that.

  I’m too selfish, too in-human…

  My craving for her blood will eventually kill her, of that I’m certain and yet there is no way in hell that I’ll let her go, not when I can enjoy the taste of her blood every day, relish in her body over and over again.

  Pulling up in front of her apartment block, I turn to face her. My words are not comforting, they’re not intended to be.

  “I may kill you, Farah. I’m sorry,” I rub my hand over my face, “I’m sorry but I can’t go back now.”

  I’m not sure why I’m apologising when I don’t regret any of it. I knew from the very first time I smelt her blood that I would be her downfall.

  “I’ve tasted your blood,” I say softly. “I’ll never forget it. I’ll always crave it.”

  With those words, I climb out of the car and move faster than her eyes can see to her side of the car so I can open the door for her too. She doesn’t let me see her surprise. But I hear the way her heart races in response.

  Taking her hand, I lead her into the apartment to collect her things, so that I can reintroduce her to the world that she thinks she knows.

  I’ll show her everything and relish in her completely and when I’m done, I’ll either kill her or change her.

  That will all depend on whether or not I still desire her. Something tells me, I will always crave her.

  To Be Continued in CRAVING!

  Hanleigh’s Books

  Hanleigh’s London Saga

  The Rules Series

  Broken Rules

  Enforced Rules

  Revised Rules

  A Secret Melody

  The Rules Series Boxset

  The History Series

  Repeating History

  Deleting History

  Forging History

  A History In Paris

  The History Series Boxset

  The Intimacy Series

  Damaged Intimacy

  Entangled Intimacy

  Forceful Intimacy

  Call Me Doctor

  The Fate Series

  A Bleak December

  Inescapable Fate

  Inexplicable Fate

  Irreversible Fate

  Lust & Lyrics Contemporary Reverse Harem

  His, His Or His?

  Kumari’s Kitsune – A Reverse Harem

  Cursed by the Crown

  Tainted by Prophecy

  The Elite

  INSTINCT

  Organised Crime

  Flip A Coin