Mistwalker Read Free Page B

this? What is their name?”
    “None of your damn business.” She grabbed hold of Tammy’s arm, determined to all but drag away her friend, but Simone’s long hair ruffled across her arms, and a putrid stench filled her nose. Her stomach rolled. “Oh, God. What is that?”
    “Sire, I cannot wait any longer. Let me drink them now. Once more to replace what I have lost.”
    The other man stood a hair’s breath away from her exposed back—but—had he said.... Drink them? Her skin crawled, chin lifted. She squared her back to the wall, dropping her hands by her sides. How could she protect Tammy? Get her to safety?
    “Listen, we’re not interested. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care. We’re leaving.”
    “I am Juliun Cel Batrin,” the first one announced, his arms behind his back. The wind shuffled through his dark ponytail. He said his name as though the shadows should flee at the very sound of it. “I promise you, in a short while you will know me very well.” He smiled again with that grin of total assurance and confidence. “Do not be scared.”
    Simone grinned back at him, and her hands fisted, opened, fisted. There was no way she was getting to know him. “Forget it. You’re crazy.”
    “There is nowhere else for you to go, love,” he said, softly. “You are here. With me.” He turned with a swift grace and melted into the shadows. “Follow me, both of you.”
    Tammy swayed, placing one foot in front of the other. Her face resembled an ice cube, her blonde head bobbled, cerulean eyes dulled and wide. She ambled along with a disjointed gait.
    “No, don’t. Stop.” Simone gripped a fistful of the black tulle at Tammy’s neck. Her friend’s head snapped back, the tulle fell off, but her body continued on its path. Panic sprung inside Simone, and she dug her fingers into her friend’s arm, desperately trying to claw her back.
    Simone resorted to a hard slap across her friend’s face to wake her up.
    Juliun swivelled and stared at Simone, directly into her eyes. “You are meant to be with me.” His voice warmed the air, deep and irresistible. “I told you. It is destiny. Come.”
    Simone gritted her teeth and struggled to still her friend. “You have no chance!”
    He laughed, and the sound caressed the night. “And, so the battle begins. You are mesmerising, my love. You give me no choice. I insist you come with me now .”
    Power slammed into Simone’s belly. Invisible tendrils wound around her arms, around her mind. She took a deep breath, then another… another . Her knees buckled, wanting to give, begging to move.
    “Yes,” Tammy said, her gaze fixated. “Go with you.”
    “No, we aren’t,” Simone gasped. “Not ever.” Persuasion strengthened, and she moaned. The skin tightened across her cheekbones, her entire body, and a painful sweat broke across her forehead. The fog encroached, overwhelmed. Hot agony stabbed her temples, radiating down the sides of her skull. She clutched at her head, groaning. No.
    “ Yes. Forget resistance, listen to my voice.”
    Silky and insistent, his tone coaxed to fill every part of her mind. Thoughts scrambled. A long, low moan echoed in her ears. Hot tears tracked down her windblown cheeks. The wind came up strong and angry as it sometimes does in the streets of Whitby, and her hair spread in a wild red fan.
    She must obey him, but something, she didn’t know what, kept her motionless.
    “How do you fight me like this?” Juliun asked, darkly. “It is impossible. What are you? No human has ever—”
    A guttural, agonised roar broke out beside him. “Sire, I cannot wait any longer. Let me drink now .”
    The interruption tunnelled through the static drenching her mind, and she pushed Juliun’s voice inside a box, sealed the lid shut and left it at the far back corner of her consciousness.
    Confidence surged through her system. “Don’t touch us. Get back,” she burst out, roughly. GET OUT OF MY HEAD! She bent her knees,