Craving: The Willow Creek Vampires Series Read online

  Craving: A Willow Creek Vampires Novel

  Stephanie Summers

  Craving: The Willow Creek Vampires Series

  by Stephanie Summers

  Craving: The Willow Creek Vampires Series

  Stephanie Summers

  Copyright 2014 by Stephanie Summers

  Smashwords Edition

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and settings are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, names, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION:

  This book is dedicated to my husband, Derek, for all the support and love he has given me over the years. Without him, I would never have had the time to write or to complete this story.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

  Thank you to my mother and sister for being, well, my mother and sister. To my best friend of the last 25 years, Rachael, without you to lean on over the years, I don’t know where I’d be right now. To my children for being such awesome little humans. A special thank you to my beta readers, Beth Mikell and Natasha Annie, and my editor, Genevieve Scholl. The input and suggestions I received from you ladies was beyond helpful, and I’m grateful for that. And last but not least, to my father. Rest in peace, Dad.

  Prologue

  Willow Creek, May 19, 1798

  Screams ricocheted through the still of night. Deep crimson splattered and pooled on the soft, green earth. The echoes of laughter and fun dissipated within seconds. An evening of celebration quickly spiraled into a night of terror.

  Members of the newly established community of Willow Creek gathered in the center of town for food and camaraderie. Shortly after giving thanks to God for the good fortune that had been bestowed upon them, a blood curdling scream erupted from the outskirts of the community.

  Several men ran to the aid of the woman, only to have their throats ripped out in an instant. Pure panic overtook the remaining members as they ran in all directions trying to escape the onslaught. One by one, they fell victim to the evil things lurking in the dark.

  In a strange turn of events, the attackers became the prey. Bones cracked. Flesh ripped. Blood poured as heads rolled. Before their very eyes, one lone man swooped in and took out the rogues, one by one. None of them stood a chance. Covered in blood and eyes lit up with fury, the man addressed the remaining residents.

  “My name is Bastian Florien. I would very much like to speak to whoever is in charge.” His voice boomed with a thick, Eastern European accent through the night. Piercing blue eyes scanned the crowd of terrified humans until one hand reluctantly wavered above the crowd. “Yes, you.” Bastian pointed to the man and motioned him closer. “Come forward. What is your name?”

  “My n-name is Thomas Crowley.”

  “Mr. Crowley, I mean you no harm, but I cannot speak for others of my kind. I am vampire. There is a magic of sorts here that draws vampires, as well as other supernatural creatures, into the borders of your town. I wish to make a bargain with you.”

  “Go on.” Thomas stood tall, trying to remain brave in the face of danger, even though he was terrified.

  “If you choose to stay, I will protect the residents of Willow Creek from otherworldly outsiders, as well as other humans, if necessary. This is a desirable area – rich in resources – you won’t be the only people wishing to settle here.”

  Thomas glanced down at the ground before looking up to meet Bastian’s eyes. “What do you get in return?”

  “In return, I only wish that I, and a few of my kind, may walk freely, not ever having to hide my true nature.”

  “I have heard tales of unspeakable evil that lurks in the dark. Monsters that attack and drain their victims of blood.”

  “Yes, this is true, but you must not only fear the night. Though vampires are weakened in sunlight, you are still vulnerable and far weaker than any of us will ever be. You have witnessed the destruction we are capable of, and more will come. Many more will die until none of your people remain. I have witnessed the total annihilation of four groups of settlers in the last three years. The others would not heed my warnings or enter into any arrangement with me.”

  “If the stories are true, vampires survive on blood, do they not? How will you feed? I cannot and will not agree to vampires running wild and drinking the blood of my family and friends whenever you please.”

  “Then one person will be offered to me and mine so that we can feed exclusively from the offering. They will reside in my home, and I will provide them with food and shelter until their life comes to its natural end.”

  “No. I will not subject my people to such torture. You must feed on the animals of the forest. We will not be sustenance for demons.”

  “I am no demon. I started out human and am still flesh and blood, just like you. Would you yourself agree to eat only corn for the rest of your life when there were plump, juicy turkeys constantly running about? It will be worse to let others of my kind and beyond roam freely. There is a very strong force of power here. One you could not possibly understand. They will never stop coming. You have only been established a short period of time. You have not been around long enough to witness what I have, but I assure you there will be more. What I offer will guarantee the success and survival of this town’s people.”

  “Why would we agree to this when we could just leave? Yes, we have worked tirelessly to establish ourselves here, but it is not worth the lives of our people.”

  Bastian moved closer and looked deep into Thomas’s eyes, lulling him into a light trance. “You will not leave. Where else would you go that could provide you the resources you have found here? You can accept my offer, or I will not stop them next time.”

  Thomas dragged his hands through his dark hair and closed his eyes. “How would you choose the person who would be taken?”

  “I will return tomorrow night to finalize the arrangement and discuss details.” And with that, the vampire was gone.

  Chapter 1

  Willow Creek, May 19, 2010

  Sabine Crowley sat under the weeping willow in the side-yard of her parents’ home. Her dark hair danced gently in the breeze. Brown eyes focused on the pad of paper in front of her as her hand sketched a scene of Paris. Drawing always seemed to calm her when she had some sort of crisis she needed to hash out. This particular crisis was the biggest she’d ever faced, and she knew it was coming for as long as she could remember. Time slipped through her fingers as she hurdled toward a potentially cruel fate, not the one she dreamed of for herself.

  She pondered her future and the two drastically different paths her life could take in exactly three days. If she could manage to get through her birthday without being called or summoned or whatever the hell they liked to call it, she’d be free to do what she wanted, when she wanted. After graduation in a few weeks, she could flee and go anywhere in the world she wanted to go.

  She was an aspiring artist with dreams of exploring the world for inspiration; not some blood bag destined to rot in seclusion while the world outside went on without her. If fate chose her to be the one, she would be confined to a life of slavery, all for the sake of a town she didn’t really care about in the first place.

  “Beanie? Are you out here?” Her mother, Vivi
an, knowingly scanned the yard. Her daughter was nothing if she wasn’t predictable. Anytime Sabine was upset or worried, Vivian could always find her under that willow tree.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Sabine said with contempt in her voice. She avoided her mother like the plague, and couldn’t stand the sight of either of her parents at the moment. If they had waited one more year or gotten pregnant one year earlier, she wouldn’t be in this predicament to begin with. Having her was selfish and thoughtless on their part. It was better to avoid them altogether than to point out their mistake. She had no desire to talk about what was expected of her and how it would affect them if she was chosen.

  She watched her parents over the years treating her sister differently than they did her, and though the differences were subtle, they were still apparent to her. Her parents loved her, without a doubt, but she was only half-heartedly encouraged to do anything that might build a solid foundation for her future. Her parents rarely talked to her about college, and when they did, it was more of a formality to try and make her feel normal. Although she had been interested in sports just briefly a few years earlier, her parents wouldn’t shell out the money for uniforms and transportation. As far as her artwork was concerned, she could barely get any response from them at all other than a “that’s nice.”

  Her younger sister, Shay, on the other hand, was touring college campuses when she was only a freshman in high school. Shay was a star athlete on the track team, and her parents never batted an eye at any expense that arose from her activities. They rode Shay’s ass to get straight A’s so she could have her choice of any college she wanted. As long as Sabine passed, then all was well.

  “May I sit?”

  Sabine sighed heavily, rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms. The sketch pad slid off her lap and to the ground beside her. “Yeah. It’s your yard, and it’s your tree. Do what you want.”

  “Don’t be like that, Beanie.” Vivian took a deep breath and fiddled with a loose strand of her hair as she chose her words. “We need to talk. I don’t think you know the full extent of what your birthday could mean for you, or for all of us for that matter.”

  Sabine peered off in the distance, avoiding eye contact with her mother. “Oh, believe me, I’m aware of what it means for everyone else. And for me? If one of those freaks shows up and tells me I’m the one, then I become virtually non-existent to the world. So long as all the assholes in a town where I’ve pretty much been an outcast for as far back as I can remember get to go on with their lives while I waste away up on that hill in that mansion of horrors, then all is well with the world. Willow Creek Manor, my ass. Sounds like a lovely place, except that it isn’t. Any place swarming with vampires is not a place I want to be.”

  “I know it must be tough.” Vivian reached out to touch Sabine’s shoulder, but she pulled away before her mother’s hand could make contact.

  “No…You don’t know. You were safe from all this.” She threw her hands up in exasperation. “It was never something you ever had to worry about for yourself. You knew you wouldn’t be 18 when they were choosing. Your mother and father had enough sense to know not to have a child at the wrong time.”

  “You know we love you, and we want for you to not be called more than anything in this world. The fact is that it’s a good possibility you will be the one this time. You’ve got too many things working in your favor. You’re a descendant of Thomas Crowley, and, frankly, I think you’re the prettiest one of the contenders.”

  “Contenders? And I’m pretty? You make it sound as if this is something I should want to win…Lucky Me if I do, right?” Her mother’s words irritated the hell out of her. She’d never considered herself hard to look at, but for Vivian to say she’d be picked because of her looks pissed her off more than it probably should.

  “In a way, you are lucky. I know you don’t see it, but you wouldn’t ever have to worry about supporting yourself or whether or not you’ll have a roof over your head or food in your belly.” Vivian glanced at Sabine’s sketch pad with the drawing of Paris on it. “You might even get to go to Paris or somewhere like that sometime if they let you. I know you’d enjoy that.”

  “Yes, Mother. I’ll just love having a roof over my head and not having to worry about paying bills and having the slim possibility of going to Paris while I have my blood painfully sucked out of me by some repulsive monster every night. I will be guaranteed a short and sad life. It’s not like anyone ever really sees the ones that have gone before me. Who knows what the hell goes on up there? And, by the way, I’m glad you’re okay with not having grandchildren from me, because I’m certainly not okay with it. But, I guess as long as track star Shay gets to go on to a normal life, the perfect husband and 2.5 kids with a white picket fence around her house and a brand new minivan in the driveway, you won’t really be missing out on anything. One perfect child out of two ain’t bad, right?”

  “I’m so sorry.” Her mother sobbed, and fat tears streamed down her cheeks. Vivian hung her head, resting it on the palm of her hand. “I was only trying to make it a little better.”

  “Don’t cry, Mother.” As much as Sabine hated to admit it, her mother crying was one of the few things that ever made her feel guilty, no matter the subject. “I know it isn’t what you would choose for me, but I have to sit back and wonder why you even decided to have a child in the first place, knowing what the future held. I never would have had a kid when I knew they’d be 18 during a year they’d be choosing. I would have planned it out better than you did. Abortion, or giving me up, would have been a better choice than becoming a vampire’s concubine.”

  “It wasn’t a choice. You were a surprise.”

  “Surprise? Hello? Ever heard of birth control? Condoms? The pill?”

  Vivian ignored Sabine’s comment and sighed heavily. She watched the anger seethe through her daughter’s body, almost as visible as steam rising off her. “It was one of the happiest days of my life when I found out you were coming. I never would have considered abortion or adoption. I wanted you from the time I was old enough to understand what having a child meant. When I realized you would be in the group to be chosen, I hoped and prayed there would be other kids your age that would be more desirable to them. I know of at least eight others who’ve turned 18 already without being called and I’m terrified it’s going to be you. If I could take you away from here without any consequences, I would.”

  “What would they do, dear Mother? Hunt me down like I’m some kind of animal.” She rolled her eyes and looked away from Vivian, feeling like she already knew the answer to the question.

  “Yes. They would. This is what I wanted to talk to you about. I don’t think you understand the magnitude of this whole thing and how far reaching it is.”

  “Then tell me something I don’t already know.”

  “They’ve kept this town safe for over 200 years. They will never go against the deal they made with our ancestors. Time is nothing to them, and it’s as if this happened seconds ago. To us, it’s an antiquated arrangement that should be updated or modified…or done away with altogether.”

  “What do they get out of all this? I’ve been told all my life that they protect the town from all sorts of nasty creatures out there, which, by the way, I’m not convinced is even true, but what do they gain?”

  “They don’t have to hide.”

  “Yeah, right. I’m calling bullshit. There’s got to be more to it than that. It just doesn’t make any sense. You can’t tell me they haven’t existed amongst humans just fine for thousands of years. And what is it about this Podunk town that draws all these supernatural nasties here anyway?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that, Beanie.”

  She shuddered at the mention of the pet name her parents had given her as a child. It normally didn’t bother her, but it seemed too juvenile for the situation. “Just go away.” She waved her mother off. “I want to be by myself. I might as well get used to it.”

  “Don
’t say that. You know you will still be able to see us, and there is a chance you won’t be the one.”

  “Don’t really think they care if we stay in contact. Like I’ve said before, it’s not like any of the previous ones were ever seen out and about socializing.”

  “You have to stay positive.”

  She nodded. “So I can really feel the agony when it doesn’t turn out how I want it to?”

  Her mother stood and walked away. Sabine eyed her as she walked back into the house. Why would they bother to come after me if I leave? Why would they even care? Wouldn’t they just pick someone else?

  To hell with the consequences. She was getting out. All she had to do was pack a few things in her backpack and head for the bus station. She still had roughly $500 saved from babysitting over the summer. She could easily buy a bus ticket, and she was old enough to get a job wherever she landed. She’d just have to get her GED once she was settled somewhere instead of graduating.

  She slammed the door as she entered the house and ran up the steps to her room. If she made a big enough production, neither her parents nor her sister would bother her, and she’d be able to sneak away without them noticing she was gone.

  She frantically searched through her closet for a few items of clothing she absolutely couldn’t leave home without and threw them all in her backpack. The window eased up quietly. The backpack landed with a soft thud below her, as she climbed through the window and over to a large tree branch. She’d snuck out so many times over the years that it became second nature to her, and her parents never knew she was gone. She always made sure to be home and back in bed before they had a chance to notice.

  *

  London, May 19, 2010

  “Remy?” The door to the large bedroom creaked open as a short, stocky man peered through. A thin stream of light from the hallway illuminated the darkened room.

  He dropped the young lady’s wrist and dabbed at the corners of his mouth with the edge of the black satin sheet. “Yes. What is it, Mason?” He scowled, never wanting to be interrupted during his dinner.