The Darkest Song (The Eternal Darkness Duet #1)

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I heard Adam say my name, and I mumbled into my pillow, not wanting to let go of my delicious dream.

“Come on,” he said, gently slapping my butt through the blankets. “I have a fun night planned.”

I released the pillow and rolled onto my back to look up at him, and he chuckled and started for the door.

“I’ll be downstairs," he said, on his way out of the room.

I watched him go, then I threw off the blankets and leapt out of bed. I hurried into the bathroom for a quick, cold bath, and when I reached for a towel, I saw my clothes folded neatly on the shelf. Adam had washed them for me. I dried off quickly and put on my jeans and hoodie. Then I ran Adam’s brush through my hair and headed down. He was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.

“Hey,” I said, as I descended the stairs.

He smiled at me. “Hey."

Damn, he was gorgeous. I wanted to throw myself at him, and lick him and bite him. I cleared my throat. “Thanks for washing my clothes.”

“Of course.” He casually shoved his hands in his pants pockets. “I'm afraid your t-shirt was beyond repair.”

I huffed. “I bet.”

He raised his eyebrows at me. “Hungry?”

“Always.”

“Good. I have a special treat for you tonight.” I looked at him questioningly, and he grinned. “You’ll see.”

He turned and walked down the hall towards the back of the house and I followed him, wondering why we weren’t going outside. I followed him into the kitchen and stopped just inside the room and looked around.

The appliances were super old, and a few of the cabinet doors were missing. There was a boarded up window over the chipped farmhouse sink, and a scratched wood table with two chairs. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.

Adam headed straight to the fridge and took out a tall glass bottle, filled with dark liquid. I instantly knew it was blood. He set the bottle on the table and turned back to grab two glasses from the cupboard.

I watched him, confused. “You have blood in the fridge?”

He set the glasses on the table next to the bottle, then unscrewed the lid. I inhaled sharply when the scent of blood hit me, and rushed to the table with such speed that I banged into it, knocking both glasses over.

“Whoa!” Adam grabbed the bottle, steadying it. He looked at me and chuckled. “Easy.”

My heart was pounding, and my fangs pressed against my lips. With shaking hands, I righted the glasses, and Adam started to pour. He barely filled one glass halfway before I grabbed it and chugged it. I moaned in pleasure as I drank. It was cold, which was weird, but it was good. Adam poured himself a glass and pulled out a chair and sat down before casually taking a sip.

I set my empty glass down and licked my lips, feeling foolish. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He grabbed the bottle and poured some more into my glass. I wanted to snatch it from him and drain it but I forced myself to sit in the other chair and wait.

“Learning to control your hunger takes time,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Years even. You’re doing surprisingly well, actually.”

“I am?” I picked up my glass with shaking hands and took a sip.

He nodded. “When I was a newborn, I had no control. I fed without thinking, like an animal.”

I took another sip, glad that my hands were shaking less now. “How do you have blood in the fridge? Where did it come from? And why did you make me hunt animals when you had this?”

“You had to learn to feed, Sarah, and starting with animals is much safer than starting with humans. Believe me.”

“Oh.” That made sense. I took another sip. “Did you start with animals too?”

He looked down at his glass. “No.”

“Did your sire help you?”

Adam was quiet for so long that I wished I could take back my question. “My sire was a monster,” he finally said. “And she made me a monster too.”

She ? I was blown away. I felt jealous, and angry, like I’d been betrayed somehow, which was ridiculous.

Unaware of my inner turmoil, Adam took a deep breath and drained his glass. He set it down with a clunk and grinned at me. “Ready for your surprise?”

I stared at him with wide eyes, my glass of blood forgotten. I didn't know what to say, so I just nodded.

My mind was still whirling as we stood up from the table. She ? His sire was a woman? I followed Adam out the backdoor and was surprised to see a tangled, overgrown flower garden with a wrought-iron bench in the middle. I glanced at Adam, but he was walking briskly towards a small barn that I hadn’t realized was there. I hurried to catch up to him. He swung open the two large doors to reveal an old blue pickup.

“Ta-da!” he said, grinning at me.

I knew I should say something, but my mind was still stuck on the fact that his sire was a woman. Why did that matter? I’d been with other guys before him. And who's to say he even slept with her? Ugh! Of course he slept with her!

“Um.” I gave him what I hoped was a normal-looking smile. “Are we going somewhere?”

“Yes.” He walked back to where I stood frozen in place. “A little dinner, a little dancing.” He wrapped his arms around me and dipped his head to kiss me.

The touch of his lips wiped all thought from my mind. I moaned and leaned into him, and I could feel him smile against my lips.

He lifted his head and looked down at me. “Ready?”

Fuck yes I’m ready. Take me now, right here on the ground.

“Alright.” He released me and headed for the truck.

Oh.

I walked over to the passenger side and climbed in. Adam turned the key, and the engine roared to life. It was crazy loud for a second, then it quieted.

“Sorry,” he said, ruefully. “Old truck. It came with the house.”

I laughed, and he reached over and took my hand in his before pulling out of the barn. Were we really going to hold hands in the car like a couple of high school kids heading out to the movies? His thumb rubbed across the back of my hand and my heart melted. Hell yeah we were . I slid a little closer to him and he shot me a smile.

He drove towards the woods and I saw a break in the trees I hadn’t noticed before. It was the old, overgrown driveway. Branches and bushes scraped the sides of the truck as we drove down the drive, and after about half a mile we pulled out onto a normal dirt road.

“So, did you say dinner and dancing?” I asked.

“I did.” A smile played on his lips, but his eyes stayed on the road.

“Didn't we just have dinner?”

He glanced at me before looking back at the road. “ That was just an appetizer. A little something to take the edge off.”

“O- kay .” I didn’t know what he had planned, but his hand felt wonderful around mine, and he smelled so damn good, so I decided to just go with it.

A short while later Adam slowed and turned onto another road, although it looked more like a trail than an actual road. As we rounded a corner, I saw a small white car parked on the side of the road and my body tensed.

“It's okay,” he said, squeezing my hand. He pulled up behind the car and turned off the truck.

“What’s going on?” I stared at the car in front of us. Its back window was half covered with stickers.

“This is an old logging road,” he explained, rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand. “There are a few trails that lead up the hill to different spots where people go camping.”

There were people in these woods. My heart began to pound.

“You need to learn to drink from a human,” he continued. My ears started to ring. “Look at me.” Adam took my chin in his hand and gently turned my head towards him.

“I can’t,” I whispered. “I’m not ready.”

“You are ready.” He cupped my cheek with his hand. “You have more control than any newborn I’ve ever seen.”

“How do you know? You’ve only seen me with animals!”

“It doesn't matter. Even with animals, newborns go into a frenzy. They completely lose it and tear the poor creature to pieces.”

I blinked, glad that I hadn’t done that. “But it’s only been three nights. Maybe I should stick with animals a while longer.”

“This is the perfect opportunity. There are only two people camping here tonight and there’s no one else around for miles. If you lose control, there will be no witnesses, and no chance of the authorities finding out. It would probably be weeks before anyone even discovered their bodies.”

“What!" I exclaimed, horrified.

He shook his head. “Sorry, that came out wrong.”

“I don’t want to do this," I told him, but part of me did.

Adam smoothed my hair back from my face. “I’ll be with you the whole time. If anything starts to go wrong, I’ll take over.”

I swallowed. “Don’t let me kill anyone.”

He smiled. “Never.”