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The Endowed
Copyright © 2009 Tianna Xander
ISBN: 978-1-55487-316-6
Cover art by Angela Waters
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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The Endowed
By
Tianna Xander
Dedication
To my readers: Everything about my worlds is written with you in mind. Your letters to me and your impatience for certain characters to get their stories are priceless. Thank you.
Chapter One
Tori watched him walk by. This was the seventh time in three days. “He’s definitely major eye candy.” She sighed wistfully, watching his long-legged stride eat up the sidewalk. He was alone this time, but the absence of his almost constant companion didn’t detract from his good looks or her desire to stare. It merely allowed her to breathe easier without them both hogging up all her oxygen and making her heart race.
Thick, ebony hair brushed his shoulders as he turned to look across the street. She knew the aroma of grilled sausage wasn’t the reason he crossed the road toward the hotdog vendor.
The thought made her shudder because she knew what he was going to do. He was going to feed. Tori felt his hunger. It wasn’t a mere discomfort or a slight grumbling growl. It was something dark, an insidious craving deep inside him that was so intense it almost made her hurt.
She watched as he stopped to talk with the man, leading him to a darkened corner and bending close as if to whisper in the vendor’s ear. A soft breeze tugged at her hair, bringing with it the aroma of cooking sausage and hot dogs. The smell made her want to retch. How could she think of food when he stood so close drinking another’s blood?
How could she want them so much knowing what monsters they were? It didn’t seem to matter what they were or what they did. Nothing stopped her usual reaction whenever they came near.
Desire gripped her, as always, despite his horrible hunger. Tori’s stomach clenched like it always did when he and his buddy were around. She never felt the same with them as she did with the others of their kind and she wasn’t sure why. What made them different? What made her want them both with a longing she couldn’t deny or control?
How did they put up with it night after night—constantly waking to the horrible thirst that wouldn’t go away until they’d quenched it on some poor unsuspecting soul?
Oh, they and their kind may be eye candy, but they paid a horrible price for those tall, dark good looks that never aged. Tori had been watching them, secretly lusting after them for the last twelve years. She didn’t notice the difference at first. They’d just been two more handsome men to her fourteen-year-old eyes.
The day Tori turned sixteen, she’d seen it though. Almost to the very minute of her birth, she’d felt it. Something in her changed, opening her mind to the monsters that roamed these streets. Something drew her toward them as they went out to feed. They’d called to her, to anyone, to come to them and let them feast on human blood.
The first time she felt the call, she was unable to resist. The first time, she’d walked to them both like a zombie, exposing the slender curve of her throat. She stood in the dark shadows of the street, offering herself to them like some ancient pagan sacrifice.
What horrified her was that she’d wanted it, wanted them to bite her neck and take her blood.
The one she watched tonight, with a mixture of fascination, horror and desire, took one look at her and sighed. “You’re too young.” He almost sounded disappointed, even acted as though he didn’t want to let her go. He leaned down and inhaled her scent deeply as she screamed a denial in her mind. Her body had wanted them, yearned for them with a desire that she couldn’t deny. All the while, her mind screamed, No!
“One day you shall nourish me, but not this night.”
It nearly broke her heart when he spoke those fateful words and set her away from him. He then turned toward his companion. It was almost as though they spoke to each other with that once-knowing look between them. Without a backward glance, they walked away, leaving her both relieved and disappointed.
Now, even though Tori knew she was immune, she still felt the pull when he and his friend called to others. She always felt it—that compulsion they used to draw their victims to them to feed, to drink their blood.
Tori closed her eyes, attempting to think of something else. The last thing she needed was to draw his attention and for him to realize she knew what he was, what he wanted, what she would have so willingly given to him and his friend ten years ago. Of all the bad things men could be, his kind was the worst…vampire.
“Watchin’ Mr. Thang again, Tori?” her friend, Gina said as she walked up behind her, slapping a hand to her shoulder.
Tori jumped, then turned to her and frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she denied, busying herself by straightening the magazine stand. Sometimes she hated filling in for Mrs. Rogers when she volunteered for bingo. Tori loved the old sweetheart, but her little stints at the magazine stand left her open to all sorts of undesirables. She glared toward the man in question for a moment, then sniffed and looked away.
Gina referred to both of the men she lusted after as Mr. Thang because they didn’t know either of their names.
“Right,” Gina laughed. “You watch that man and his friend walk by this stand every night you’re here.” She picked up a gossip-rag and made a face. “Bat-monkey? Girl, puhleeze!” She set the paper down and turned toward Tori. “And I’ve seen your eyes doing the hoochie coochie on both of their butts when they walk past the diner, too.” She waggled her eyebrows playfully.
Tori felt the blood rush to her face, heating her cheeks. Gina was right. She watched both of those men more than she should. More than was smart, too, most likely.
Gina tapped her long, blood-red nails on the most current issue of a tabloid. “Why don’t you just ask one of them out and get it over with?” She laughed at Tori’s panicked expression and shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’m going over to Casa del Diablo tonight. I have a lot of excess energy I need to work off.” She danced in place for a minute.