TWISTED FATES BOOK 1: The First Twist

Sammie

OK. So, I definitely must be dreaming because it sounds like I’ve ended up in a vampire drama series and need to wake the fuck up.

Did Jareth just try and tell me that not only is he a vampire, but that Shay and Astrid are what ... witches?

Come. On.

Vampires and witches aren’t real people!

Oh, God! Please don’t tell me my boyfriend is insane. I knew he was too good to be true.

Shit, Shit, Shit!

Is this why my friends are here ... to protect me from my insane boyfriend? Maybe Jareth hit his head and started hallucinating.

I sighed and shook my head.

This seriously cannot be real.

I tried to remain calm. I’ve always heard this to be the best method when handing someone who is, without a doubt, delusional.

“Jareth, baby, you know vampires aren’t real ... right?” I cautiously placed my hand on his and stroked his palm with my thumb. “They don’t exist. Vampires and witches are just made-up monsters from books and stuff.”

“Bloody Hell ...” Jareth muttered. He raised his eyebrow and tilted his head, clenching his chiseled jaw; he glanced over in the direction of my GFs. They were standing alongside some other older woman I had never met before.

Hmmm, odd and creepy...

“It appears that Samantha is having difficulty understanding that I am being completely candid with her concerning the nature of my true disposition. Would either of you lady’s care explicate to Samantha what the situation’s exact gravity is? Ostensibly, it seems, she thinks I’ve completely lost my noggin?”

I turned and faced Shay and Astrid, who were both looking downwards. Astrid seemed anxious as she fiddled with her fingers and chewed her lower lip. Shay finally spoke up first.

“Sammie, girl, you know I love you ... we all do.” She motioned to all the occupants of the bedroom. “You know that, right?”

I slowly nodded.

“Well ... there’s actually some aspects about us that we kind of kept hidden from you. What Jareth said was the truth ... all of it. Astrid and I are witches, and Jareth is really a vampire.” Shay murmured. She looked at me while she held a pleading expression that begged me to understand the transgression of their dishonesty.

Um ... What?!!

I snickered and shook my head in disbelief.

Before I could interject, Astrid chimed in. “Sammie, please understand. We only kept these secrets from you to protect you. I swear. If we told you the truth before, it would have been dangerous for you.”

“Oh, because clearly from what Jareth just told me, I wasn’t in any danger in the first place, right?”

I could feel my anger begin to ascent. I was deceived by the people I entrusted with my heart—the ones who claimed to love me. My eyes scrutinized the inhabitants of the bedroom that stood before me—each of them not even daring to look me in the eye. Save one. The old lady, named Maleyna, I was informed. She looked directly at me, her eyes never leaving my own. I cocked my head at an angle as I studied her intently. She appeared to be an elderly lady, at least in her late 70′s, and her attire looked even older than that. She had the palest grey eyes, almost white, which matched her hair that she had fashioned up in a tight bun. I had no idea who this person was, and yet there was a part of me, deep within the recesses of my subconsciousness, that felt as if I did. Her thin lips formed a slight smile as if she were indeed confirming that my affinity for having met her before was correct.

Suspish.

I leaned back against the plethora of feathery pillows that had been placed behind me and let my hands rub across my face in frustration. This was just too much to handle. I let out an exasperated sigh when something caught my attention. I heard the faint sound of a beating drum coming from Astrid’s direction, where she was standing next to the long-drawn baroque burgundy drapes.

Thump, Thump ...

My acute eyes scrutinized her vicinity for the cause of the thumping sound and found nothing. When I peered back over at Astrid’s face, my eyes trailed downwards along her soft jawline, down her pale, slender neck, and then stopped. My keen senses were now fixated on the continuous source of the thrumming sound I had been hearing. It was the blood flowing through the jugular vein, located on the left side of her neck. I could hear it clear as day, and it was calling me.

Thump, Thump ...

I hadn’t even noticed as my mouth began to salivate.

I was suddenly very hungry. I licked my lips.

No. I realized I was more than hungry.

I WAS RAVENOUS!

As if all my self-control had been dominated by my yearning to satiate the powerful intensity of my hunger, I bounded out of bed and lunged towards Astrid.

With strength and speed more astounding than I had ever witnessed before, Jareth was suddenly in between myself and my impending prey. His strong arms tightly wrapped around my body, refraining me from striking with my now extended fangs that had been snapping with ferocity.

Immediately, Jareth dashed me back over to his bed and held my hands together, not allowing me to break free from his tight hold.

“Shit!” Shay blurted out. “Jareth, what’s wrong with Sammie?”

“She needs to feed NOW!”

“It is imperative that I restrain her. One of you will need to go downstairs and retrieve at least two to three pouches of blood located in the wine cellar as quickly as possible.”

Shay gave Astrid a quick once over, making sure that she wasn’t too shaken after almost becoming my lunch. Astrid responded with a reassuring nod, and after she muttered a few words in some foreign language I’d never heard before, Shay vanished into thin air.

If I weren’t so busy trying not to eat my friends, I’m pretty sure I’d comment about how friggin awesome that was.

But as you can see, I was not quite myself at the moment ...

In an instant, Shay returned with three clear bags containing a deep red viscous fluid in each. My eyes held the bags’ contents to be super disgusting. My hunger, however, felt quite the opposite.

Sustenance!

Shay handed Jareth the pouches and quickly backed away from me. I could see the fear in my friend’s eyes.

Oh, MY GOD! I can’t believe I tried to attack Astrid.

“While she feeds and gets under control, I’m taking Astrid out for a bit so that she can calm down. Maleyna has agreed to stay here and assist you in case you need anything else.” Shay announced.

OK, that makes no sense. How the hell is some 70 plus-year-old woman going to be able to help out? As if.

I suddenly laughed to myself at the absurdity.

“That’s a one hundred and seventy-four-year-old witch, you impertinent child. And do not underestimate what I may or may not be capable of.”

Holy Shit, she totally read my mind.

I was just read for filth by an old witch.

Oh, the Shade of it all!

“Enough of this insufferable badinage, ladies.” Jareth was evidently getting a bit perturbed. “Shay, I’ll have Maleyna contact you once it is safe to return, I promise. Now, Samantha ...Drink.”

He presented me with a pouch that had been rigged with a straw to drink from as he held my hands tightly with his other hand. I looked like I was drinking one of those Capri-Sun pouches with the way it had been set up for me.

Ok, maybe the vampire’s Capri-Sun ... Capri-Blood ... ooh, could that be a thing. I pondered as I continued to drink the pleasantly warm liquid.

Hmmm.

I surmised that I must be feeling a bit more rational since I was starting to crack corny jokes to myself.

Yay me.

After I had consumed my third pouch in silence, I informed Jareth that I was feeling stuffed like a turkey on Thanksgiving. He studied me, and, realizing that I was no longer a threat, he finally released my hands from his firm grasp; but still held onto both of them within the confines of his own.

“I can’t express to you how remorseful I feel about not protecting you, Samantha, and for concealing my true nature from you. All I wanted was to love you and perhaps one day, if you so desired, make you one with me and my kind. But fate was not letting you slip through its fingers without a fight, and I am not one to back down from a fight, Samantha. I could not let fate end your existence.”

He stood up and placed his hand tenderly on my shoulder while cupping my chin in his other hand. He tenderly began stroking my jaw with his thumb.

“I know this whole scenario is overwhelming, and I promise that we will have a serious discussion. I vow to tell you everything you want to know. But for now, my love, you need to rest. Your body is still transitioning, and since you have fed, you need rest in order to heal completely.”

“But- ” I interjected, “I don’t want to. I’m not that tired, and I have so many questions that need answering, Jareth.”

I knew I sounded like an insolent teenager, but I didn’t even care. I wanted to know everything from start to finish about me, Jareth, Shay, Astrid, and even Maleyna.

“Samantha, I promise you will receive those answers, but it is imperative that you let your body recuperate. You need to rest first.”

I shrugged my shoulders and huffed, biting my lower lip. Clearly, this was an argument I was not going to win, and honestly, I was beginning to feel the draw of sleep as my eyelids became impossible to keep open.

I rested my head back against the soft cradling pillows as my heavy eyelids fluttered closed. “Fine,” I whispered, “but Jareth...when I wake up, you got some serious ’splaining to do, mister.”

I heard a slight chuckle at my childishness as the bedroom door was quietly opened then shut before I allowed myself to fall into a deep soothing slumber.

**********************************************************

Jareth

The moment I stepped outside my bedroom, where I had left Samantha to rest, I was met by a pair of pale grey eyes. Maleyna was livid towards me, a surprise to none. I was well prepared to face her ire and indignation at my decision to turn Samantha.

“Jareth – ” I raised my hand to silence her. “Before you begin, Maleyna, I would like to continue this conversation further down the hall so as not to disturb Samantha.”

She nodded in agreement, and we made our way towards the center of the long corridor beside the staircase. I motioned that this location was far enough and could proceed with whatever she had deemed necessary to convey. She shook her head with a grim expression and sighed.

“Jareth ... as you were made well aware, you were tasked to keep Samantha alive until midnight on her 25th birthday. An undertaking you were unable to bring to fruition. I sympathize with your plight Jareth. And I suppose some slight part of me appreciates the basis of why you elected to make such an extreme decision regarding siring Samantha. However, Jareth, your decision was not without consequences.”

“I acknowledge your cautioning witch, but you know as well as I do that I have no trepidations regarding these consequences you speak. The decision to turn Samantha was made without remorse, save me doing so without her consent. Samantha is alive, and that is all that concerns me, Maleyna. So, to hell with fate.” I scoffed as I dismissively waved my hand in the air.

Maleyna’s eyes widened at my brash quip. Her face twisted into one of grave concern as she gently placed her pale age-spotted trembling hand atop mine.

“Jareth, you are a vampire that I hold in high regard, but your words and actions have only infuriated stronger forces than you could possibly conceive. You cheated fate its entitlement to Samantha by siring her. The scales have been tipped, and there is only one way now that can restore balance Jareth... a life for a life.”

My lips curled into a slight sneer as I let out a cold-blooded laugh.

“We shall see about that witch.”