The Blood Bargain Read Free

better than going back upstairs. That’ s when they came.
    There was a quick knock on the front door; I had about jumped out of my seat. With guns drawn, one of the men answered it. When the door had opened, he sort of stood to the side at attention, like he was a door stop.
    In the doorway were three figures straight out of a Vogue magazine. Two men and a woman. As one they entered the hall and the air temperature had seemed to drop.
    The woman was blond, almost six feet tall and built lean like she owned the catwalk. Her blue eyes were haunting, her makeup heavy across her lids to increase the effect. She wore a little black dress and six inch red pumps. Not exactly the outfit I would pick for the end of the world. Her pale hair slicked back and pulled into a high pony tail which flipped as she walked.
    The men were equally spellbinding. One who was a cliché; long black hair, and a face that belonged on a romance book cover. His body was the only thing that broke the mold. He wasn ’ t lean and frail like most
    vampires are portrayed. He was a brick house that had been wrapped in an Armani suit. A suit that I could only assume was completely custom; his arms were easily wider than my waist. He towered over the female so I could only guess at his height.
    The third one was smaller than the other two, probably only five ten or so. I didn.t get a good look at him as he was hanging back from the others.
    I may have, had my Dad not shielded me immediately and started barking orders. He then rushed me back up those oak suburban stairs faster than you could say marmalade.
    Even so, I knew what had happened by morning. Everyone did. They were not human. What had entered the hall that night were creatures commonly known as Vampires.
    And they had offered an arrangement, one that most would examine from a thousand different angles and perspectives, one that many would outright refuse. It was an arrangement that despite these facts the adults in our group readily accepted. Hell, I heard it took the adults less than an hour to unanimously agree to the terms.
    When the sun set the Vampires would protect our band of survivors, in exchange we would offer ourselves up to them for sustenance. Their leader, Caius, vowed no humans would die from the feedings, they did not require exorbitant amounts.
    That first night those undead creeps cleared an eight mile perimeter, undoubtedly saving us from being completely overrun.
    That was ten years ago.
    Now, we have the colony. No longer called Milo, Iowa. Or even Iowa after the Indians who once roamed this land, it’ s now just Junction ; g iven our strategic location at the center of the land mass.
    What's so strategic about it? After the wall went up we discovered a very important fact.
    We were not the only ones. The vampires had made their deal everywhere they found the living.
    Their new feudal era had begun.
     

 
    Chapter 2
     
     
     
     
     
    “Anybody home?” I called out, kicking my boots off by the door. I had set my bow on the porch outside moments earlier; I ’ d learned my lesson with bringing it in the house when it was dirty.
    My home sweet home was a four bed two bath Victorian near the center of town. It had endured the chaos in style. The original stain glass windows were intact and the walls unmarred by blood splashes and bullets.
    Zoe popped her head around the corner of the kitchen and put a finger to her lips, her nice way of telling me to shut it.
    My Dad and I shared this house with the Russell family; Zoe, her husband Mark, their three year old twins Max and Tyler, and her sister Candice. Seven people in a home was not uncommon; helped with protection in the beginning and heating in the winter. Honestly, now it was more a side effect of the lack of real estate in the area. Funny thing was nobody minded.
    “So rry!” I whispered. “Hope I didn’ t wake the boys.”
    “Well I don’t hear any wailing, think we.re okay. How was your day Liv ?”
    “I had to put