All Chapters of SWEET BLOOD: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Present Times The past or the future? Life … or death? The words drifted toward her through the darkness. Detached syllables. The rough scrape of a flat, airless voice that reached into the heavy drowse of her mind and forced her to come awake, to listen. To make a choice. Life? Or death? The Nork or the future? Grace groaned against the cold plank floor beneath her cheek, trying to bar the voice after she woke up three hours ago– and the relentless decision it demanded –from her mind. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard these words, this question. Not the first time in the space of some endless hours that she’d peeled one heavy eyelid open in the frigid stillness of her cabin home and found herself looking into the terrible face of a monster. Demons, vampires or whatever it was. "Choose, little one," the creature whispered thinly, the word drawn out in a slow hiss. Grave was lost, she couldn't remember anything, all she knew was the past, the kingdom of Nork. She was su

She glanced away, stung and not a little afraid of what that silence might truly mean. ‘I have to get out of here. I want to go to James.’When she started to swing her legs over the edge of the bed to get up, it wasn’t Lucan or Steven or any of the other huge men who stopped her, but Ella. Grace’s best friend moved to block her, the sober look on her face more effective than any of the brute strength standing ready elsewhere in the room.‘Grace, you have to listen to me now. To all of us. There are things you need to understand … about what happened back in Alaska, and about the things we still need to figure out. Things only you may be able to answer.’Grace shook her head. ‘I know what you’re talking about. The only thing I know is that I was held captive and attacked – bitten and bled, for God’s sake – by something worse than a nightmare. It could be out there still, back in Russia. James needs my help. We were ambushed. I can’t sit here knowing that the monster that terrorized me

‘When was the last time you ran blood work and DNA?’ Lander asked the grave, low-voiced question giving Steve something else to focus on. He pushed back his shirtsleeve to check his watch. ‘I drew the last sample about seven hours ago.’ Lander grunted as he pivoted away from the infirmary door. ‘Run everything again now. If the readings have changed so much as an iota from the last sample, I want to hear about it.’ Gabby’s blond head bobbed. ‘Given what Ella has told us, I’d also like to take some strength and endurance measurements. Any information we can gather from studying Grace could be crucial to figuring out what exactly we’re dealing with here.’ ‘Whatever you need,’ Lander said grimly. ‘Just get it done, and fast. This situation is important, but we also can’t afford to lose momentum on our other missions.’ Steve inclined his head along with the other warriors, knowing as well as any of them that a human in the compound was a complication the Brotherhood didn’t need when t

That night, Grace fell asleep.She was back to Nork.Another punch. So. Much. Pain. Okay, I can pass out now. Of course, that’s when the darkness thinned against another blast of adrenaline, sharpening her wits. I'm back! Yes, I'm back! She smiled to herself.But the pain… It hurts so much!Grace wanted to scream for help, but knew no one here would do anything to help her. Only hurt her further. Plus, physically, she couldn’t scream.As she’d feared, her jaw was broken. Another punch. More pain. No, pain wasn’t an adequate word for what she experienced. Agony, perhaps, but even that seemed too tame a descriptor. Hard fingers wrapped around her biceps and shook her, causing the agony to radiate through the rest of her. “Look at me.”She blinked and opened her eyes. Or eye. One of them was already sealed shut, the upper and lower lid glued together, concealing what felt like a golf ball. She lay on her back, and the leader of the beast loomed over her.The moment he realized she was a

When Grace awoke, she was still in the cave. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed. All she knew was that she’d never felt so rested. She stretched like a contented kitten, warm despite her nakedness, her muscles liquid, and gazed around.Startled by what she saw, she sat up. Enough time had passed for James to clean every speck of blood from the floor and walls. He’d also remove the bodies and subsequent body parts. If not for the lingering taint of evil, this could have been some kind of underground resort.There was no reason for James to have done such a thing. They weren’t going to live here. Weren’t even going to spend the day. Unless he’d hoped to spare her any upset. Her eyes widened. That was exactly why he’d done it, she realised. The sweet, darling man.Hello again, emotional roller coaster. Grace sniffled, her chin trembling.“Don’t cry, sweetheart. Please don’t cry.” James was perched beside her, looking away from her, and holding out a bundle of wrinkled material. An