Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,87

the tears from my eyes, I peered harder at the two forms until my eyes could make sense of what I was seeing.

Gabriel.

A strange whimper of relief passed from my lips and Gabriel snapped his head in my direction. The brief distraction had given Dominic an opening to wrap his forearm around Gabriel’s neck and then body slam him into the ground. Dominic scrambled backward, putting some distance between the two as his biting laughter rang out around us.

“Fancy seeing you out here, brother,” panted Dominic as he wiped my blood from the corner of his mouth. “Let me guess. You were out hunting your dinner?”

Gabriel slowly lifted himself from the ground and then straightened to his full height. His sharp, lethal gaze never moving from Dominic.

“Give it up, brother. You’re not strong enough to stop me and certainly not with a diet of rabbit blood,” he mocked, looking at him with a mixture of amusement and disgust.

Gabriel kicked off the ground and charged him, bowling him down as though he were made entirely of straw. Dominic flew backward and landed on his ass, though he quickly jumped up and regained his footing. The look of shock in Dominic’s eyes was priceless, though it quickly faded away as he narrowed his eyes at his brother and then grinned.

“You’ve been feeding off humans,” said Dominic, and it wasn’t a question. His gaze swung to me and I immediately recoiled against the tree. “Or perhaps something more than human,” he added, facing his brother again.

The accusation on Dominic’s face was as clear as the guilt that was splattered all over Gabriel’s face.

“Oh, how far you have fallen.”

“Not as far as you, Dominic.”

“Perhaps,” he agreed easily, as though it had no effect on him whatsoever. “But I think you will come to find that it’s a far greater drop from the top, dear brother.”

“Save the sermon for someone else, Dominic. You’ve gone too far this time,” gritted Dominic as he reached into the back of his jacket and took a small step toward my attacker. My heart leapt up into my throat because I knew exactly what he was doing. He was closing his fingers around the handle of his stake and preparing to turn it on his brother. “You’re not going to get away with this anymore.”

“And who’s going to stop me?” asked Dominic, his eyes trailing Gabriel’s every movement. “You?”

“Yes, Dominic. Me.”

“Perhaps,” he said and then laughed again. “But, not today, brother,” he said and then threw what looked like a handful of dirt into Gabriel’s face.

Caught off guard, Gabriel’s hands rushed to clear the dirt from his eyes as Dominic spun on his heel and bolted into the shadowed brushwood, melting into the blackness as though he had never been there in the first place.

Cursing, Gabriel kicked off the ground and tried to go after him, but then halted at the sound of my petrified cry. The last thing I wanted was to be left alone in the woods; not with Dominic or god knows what else lurking around in the shadows, waiting for another opportunity to strike.

Gabriel turned his head and looked down at me, his jaw tensing as he studied me. It took me a moment to realize he was gazing at the smeared blood dripping all over my neck and upper body.

A different, but equally terrifying level of fear returned as I watched him stare at me as though remembering the taste of my blood. As though contemplating whether he might finish the job or not.

Wondering if anyone would hear my cries if he did…

I choked down a whimper and tucked my legs against my body, knowing I would not be able to withstand another feeding. And certainly not from Gabriel who still had zero control over his bloodlust. Gabriel’s head snapped in a different direction, as though hearing something in the distance, and then he sprang, disappearing into the same thick brush his brother had faded into.

The noisy sounds of insect mating calls filled up my head as my focus drifted from the bordering trees to my semi-nude, blood-soaked body. I was alone and hurt and scared out of my damn mind.

Patting my pockets and sides, I searched for my phone to call for help only to realize I had left it in my car—along with my purse and keys and jacket and weapon. How very prepared of me.

I sat there for a moment, weak and shell-shocked, wondering how the hell I had gotten myself into