Eternal War Rising to the South: The Beynok Vampire Series by Erika Bradshaw

slowly before me. I yelled, “I’m trained to kill your kind. I’m not supposed to have feelings for you. Your feelings invaded me and took over my better judgment. That will never happen again.” I was pacing in front of him. “You know that, don’t you, never again?”
    “Yes, I know what you are, along with everything else about you and your kind.” His voice carried an accent, but it wasn’t thick enough to place. “I need to start a fire. The night is getting cold, too cold for you. The night will make it hard for you to make it back to your home, so you need to stay here until morning.”
    I stood there while he collected wood for a fire. I had no desire or energy to help. My mind was tired as I watched the moonlight reflect off the current of the creek as it moved downstream. I wished this was a large fast rolling river instead of a slow trickling creek. I could jump in and let it pull me along, taking me wherever it wanted, away from all this confusion. I came out here to get away from Vladimir and my life, to have time to myself to better understand how and what I am feeling, but I seemed to have found another dead-end filled with questions and riddles and definitely something unpredictable.
    I had to stay. I knew if I tried to run he’d stop me. Besides, I thought if I stayed, maybe I could find out a little bit more about this vampire and what he wanted from me.
    I heard a crackling sound and turned to see Sorin sitting by the fire. It looked warm, and I suddenly realized I was cold. I guessed it was time for me to pretend to be nice and figure out why I was dreaming about him. To try to kill him was an objective as well.
    “It’s the best option for me to stay here tonight…with you,” I said hatefully, trying to push the sound of regret out my voice. “Who knows what else is out there in the woods between here and my house? I guess I’m safer with you than with what could be out there. If you were going to kill me, you would have done so already, unless you like to play with your food before you eat.” He looked up and smiled big enough that I could see the full indentions of his perfectly placed dimples, both of them this time. I thought, I have to stop thinking about him this way. He’s a damn vampire.
    “Glad you see it that way. Why don’t you sit down next to me and warm up by the fire?” He motioned to the ground next to him, but I sat on the opposite side of the fire, trying to stay as far away from him as I could … as I should. The light from the fire confirmed that his dark hair was almost exactly the same color as mine and that his eyes were amethyst-colored, which was so unusual for a vampire. Most vampires have black eyes all of the time. His had been black earlier during his fang show when he was upset with me. The light also helped me figure out how old he looked, visually of course. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, but since he was a vampire, who could tell?
    He peered over the fire at me and cautiously said, “I’m not going to answer the questions I know you have. It’s best that you remember on your own if you choose to let yourself.” He paused as if he were thinking of how to say what he wanted to say next. “Being here with me has already unlocked your memories. It’s your choice from this point.” I thought, How dare he act as though he knows what I’m thinking? There is that word again, choice. I do have many questions but I will figure them out on my own.
    “I don’t have any questions for you,” I said hatefully, “but I wish you’d leave if you aren’t going to kill me.” I sure hoped he didn’t want to kill me, but why wouldn’t he want to kill me? Vampires usually had no remorse for others. I wanted to seem as if I had no interest in him at all, even though I wanted to know how he knew me, why was he sitting there with me rather than sucking the life out of my throat, and most importantly, why he looked at me as he did. It seemed as if he