Morgan Rice - Craved

Caitlin watched, wide-eyed, in awe. Inspired by him, she raised her elbow and brought it back, elbowing the man holding her hard in the solo plexus. He keeled over, and she reached around, grabbed a bottle and smashed it hard across his face. He collapsed to his knees and she kicked him hard in the gut several times.

The boy circled the room, knocking out everyone except for Caleb and Sam and Caitlin and Polly. Within a moment, the floor was littered with bodies. She wondered who this boy was? How he had this strength? And why he was helping them?

The boy rushed over and helped Caleb and Sam to their feet. The two of them looked at him, dazed, not understanding what had happened.

“Thank you,” Caitlin said, stepping forward. “You saved our lives. Who are you?”

“Sage. Where is she?”

Caitlin wondered how he knew about Scarlet. Had he come here looking for her?

The boy didn’t wait for a response. He searched the room, then his eyes locked on the door behind the bar.

He rushed it, and Caitlin and the others rushed it, too, right behind him.

Without pausing, Sage kicked the door down, and it went flying off its hinges.

Caitlin stopped in her tracks, horrified: she could not believe what she saw.

Although Scarlet struggled, she could not overpower the man. He had carried her into this back room, turned on the cheap fluorescent light, and had thrown her across the room; she’d landed hard on the firm, cheap couch, banging her head on the wood frame. She lay there, shaking, trying to get her bearings. As she sat up, he backhanded her hard across the face, knocking her down.

The man walked across the room, turning on another lamp on the far side.

“I want to be able to see you when I do this,” he snarled. “Looks like it’s my lucky night.”

Scarlet lay there, burning with the injustice of the world. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair.

She started to experience a new sensation. An anger rose up through her, a deep, primal anger at the world. It overwhelmed her, took over her, rose up through her veins. Up until now, she had tried so hard to hold back her urge not to hurt anyone. Not to feed on anyone. It was so against her nature.

But as this disgusting man, this awful predator, walked towards her, looming so large, Scarlet could not hold back any longer. The primal rage rose up through her – and this time, she let it rise. A tremendous heat prickled in her veins, raised her hairs, made them stand on end, from her toes up to her head.

She breathed harder, and heavier, and slowly, she felt her fangs protrude. She felt transformed. No longer was she afraid of her anger. Of her desire. Now she was ready to embrace it. Now, finally, she was ready to embrace who she was. Ready to feed. Ready to destroy.

As the man came closer, now just a few feet away, Scarlet suddenly jumped to her feet. She stood there opposite him, and as she did, she let out a unearthly, horrific snarl. It was the anguished cry of a wild beast, caged for centuries, finally let loose. Her chains had finally been unbound.

Despite the man’s huge height and strength and breadth, despite his scars, despite his being the meanest man she’d ever met, he stopped cold in his tracks at the sight of her. And in his eyes, she could see, for the first time, real terror. He was panic stricken. In a state of total shock.

But it was too late for him now. Any ounce of compassion within her had left long ago. This was the new Scarlet. Now, it was her against the world.

Scarlet lunged for the man, leaned her head back, and plunged her fangs deep into his throat.

They sank deeper and deeper, hitting his vein.

He shrieked, as he collapsed to his knees.

She drank.

She drank and drank and drank, as the man collapsed to the ground beneath her. She pinned him down, like an animal, on top of him, and as she did, she sucked out every last ounce of his blood.

She felt her body infusing with a new kind of energy, a boundless, limitless power. For the first time, her craving felt relieved. She felt restored, rejuvenated, satisfied in a way that she hadn’t been able to be satisfied since this all began. Finally, she felt whole.

At that moment, the door burst open.

She turned, startled, and lifted her bloody fangs.

Through her bloody, red haze, dimly, she saw figures she recognized. She saw five people, standing there, looking down at her – and somewhere, deep in her consciousness, she remembered them. Her parents. Her aunt and uncle. Sage.

But that was all hazy, a distant memory now. Now, they were just figures in a haze. Figures she barely knew.

For Scarlet had transformed. She was no longer a teenager. No longer a human.

She was now a vampire. A full-fledged vampire, ready to feed on the world.

And without another moment’s hesitation, she turned, and burst through the back window.

She burst out into the full, moonlit night, roaring as she did, bounding off into the universe, ready to go anywhere, far from here.

And willing to stop at nothing until she found her next kill.

FATED

(Book #11 in the Vampire Journals)

In FATED, 16 year old Scarlet Paine struggles to understand what’s happening to her, as she wakes and realizes she’s becoming a vampire. Alienated from her parents and her friends, the only person she has left to turn to is Sage, the mysterious boy who has quickly become the love of her life. Yet Sage, whose house she finds boarded up, is nowhere to be found.

Scarlet, alone in the world, with nowhere left to turn, seeks out her friends and tries to reconcile with them. All seems to be patched up when they invite her to join them on a trip to an abandoned island in the Hudson – but as things get out of hand and Scarlet’s true powers are revealed, who her friends and enemies are becomes more confusing than ever.

Blake, still interested in her, tries to make amends. He seems sincere, and Scarlet is confused as she has to grapple with whether to be with Blake or to wait for Sage, who is nowhere to be found.

When Scarlet finally finds Sage, they have the most romantic time of her life; yet it is tinged with tragedy, as Sage is dying, with but a few days left to live.

Kyle, meanwhile, turned into the only other vampire left in the world, is on a murderous rampage, seeking Scarlet; Caitlin and Caleb consult with Aiden, and they each embark on different missions – Caleb to stop and kill Kyle, and Caitlin, to the famed Yale University library, to research the ancient relic rumored to both cure and kill vampires for all time.

It is a race against time, and it may be too late. Scarlet is changing rapidly, barely able to control what she’s becoming, and Sage is dying with each passing moment. As the book culminates in an action-packed, shocking twist, Scarlet will be left with a monumental choice – one that will change the world forever. Will Scarlet make the ultimate sacrifice to save Sage’s life? Will she risk everything she has for love?