The Wicked Woods Read online

  That made Briony look around the room again. Had this been someone’s home? Had they invited the vampires into it, seduced by the promise of eternal youth, or by simpler things like money or pleasure? From the sounds of it, whatever they had wanted, they had found death instead. Briony couldn’t help feeling sorry for them, whoever they were.

  “Where are we, anyway?”

  “Plotting your escape already?” Pietre asked. His hands moved to rest lightly on Briony’s shoulders. “Perhaps you would like a map, a knife, and a running start?”

  Briony forced herself to stay calm. “It might be an idea.”

  “Oh, I think I am going to like having you as my guest,” the master vampire said. “As for where we are, let us simply say that you are deep enough in the woods that your screams will not be heard, and far enough from help that we could hunt you down before you got to it, were you to attempt an escape.”

  Briony could believe that. There were no sounds of traffic nearby, not even in the distance. Wherever they were, she was a long way from help.

  “Nothing to say?” Pietre asked. “Or are you simply trying to be brave like your great aunt?”

  “Leave Aunt Sophie out of this.”

  Pietre moved back round into view, crouching before Briony. “Why should I? Tell me, is she still as sympathetic to my kind as she used to be? I know she kills mostly werewolves.”

  Briony couldn’t help laughing then. Just the thought that Aunt Sophie would ever sympathize with creatures like this was ludicrous. She laughed, and laughed, right up to the point where Pietre's fingers tightened around her throat.

  “You do not like the thought? I assure you that it is true. I know from personal experience. Why, when we were both much younger, Sophie sympathized with me very much. Very much.”

  He let go of Briony then, and she gasped for breath. No, she wouldn’t believe it. Aunt Sophie would never have… not with a monster like this.

  “You can’t bring yourself to believe it, can you?” Pietre said it gently, as though he hadn’t just been choking her. “I understand, I really do. Yet my Sophie was very much in love with me, and I with her, truth be told. At least up until the day when she tried to drive a stake into me. Apparently, forever didn’t appeal to her. Perhaps it will now.”

  Briony looked at him, so earnest as he crouched there, so deadly and so evil. She couldn’t really imagine Aunt Sophie ever falling in love with something like this, though it certainly fit with some of the things she had said. Briony could certainly imagine her trying to kill him, though. Another thought came to her.

  “Kidnapping me is just about Aunt Sophie, isn’t it?”

  “Kidnapping you?” Pietre laughed that nasty little laugh of his. “Oh, I have done far more than that to get her attention. Picking off her family, harrying the town. This is just the last act. Maybe finally, dear Sophie will come to me as she was always meant to. Begging. Of course, after her little rejection of me I vowed to kill her, so it won’t make a great deal of difference, but she will come to me.”

  This was all down to that one moment? All of it? Her family’s deaths? The attacks? All the misery that had seemed to surround Briony like a cloud? It had all been focused on Aunt Sophie? There seemed to be only one thing to say to that.

  “You do realize that this makes you look like a total stalker, don’t you? I mean, okay, it wasn’t exactly a great break up, but don’t you think all this is a bit… obsessive?”

  That was the wrong thing to say, it seemed. With the sound of splintering wood, Briony found herself hauled from the chair and dragged, literally dragged, across the hall to the room where Fallon and Kevin were being held. They were awake by now, but still tied and gagged. Pietre tossed her to her knees before them.

  “You think this is some joke? We will see how funny you find it, human. Now, you are going to help me to bring your great aunt here, doing whatever it takes to bring her to me.”

  Briony shook her head. “I will not. There’s nothing that you can do that will make me betray her like that.”

  Pietre smiled, or at least, he peeled his lips back to reveal his fangs. “I was hoping you would say that. It occurs to me that, with two prisoners here, I have one more than I really need to keep you obedient.”

  It took a moment for the threat to sink in. Briony looked up at him, horrified. “No, you wouldn’t-”

  “Of course I would.” The master vampire seemed to be enjoying it. “I would even enjoy it. And it would simplify things for you, of course.” He moved to kneel beside her, wrapping an arm around Briony’s waist and whispering in her ear. “Poor little thing, with two handsome brothers wanting her. Such a difficult choice to make. My heart goes out to you. Now, which one should I kill, Briony? Choose.”

  “No, please,” Briony began. Pietre put a finger on her lips.

  “Too late for that. It is time to choose now. No? Then I will. The werewolf first, I think.”

  He rose, standing behind Kevin and bunching his hand into the werewolf’s hair to yank his throat into a taut line. His fangs came down, and Kevin gasped in pain. Even Fallon struggled against his bonds, trying desperately to get to his brother. The worst part, the very worst, was that Pietre kept his gaze on Briony the whole time that he was drinking.

  “Please,” Briony begged. She could feel the tears starting to fall. “I will do anything you want. Anything.”

  Pietre pulled away from Kevin, letting the young man fall limp in his chair. Briony could see the rise and fall of his chest. He was still breathing. That was something, at least. Pietre pulled her to her feet, forcing Briony from the room and slamming the door behind them. The last view Briony had was of Fallon looking forlornly over at his brother.

  “You know,” Pietre said, guiding Briony to one of the armchairs in the other room, “you are a very lucky young woman.”

  “Lucky. Right.”

  Pietre's eyes narrowed. “Lucky indeed. After all, it would be so easy to drink your blood instead of just your boyfriends’. To teach you obedience. But you are lucky enough that your family has become popular in my nest here, and news that you have been hurt would not go down well.”

  As shocked as she was by everything else, it took a moment for that to get through to Briony. “My family?”

  Pietre smirked. “Oh, you didn’t know? Vampires one and all now. I think that will hurt Sophie more than almost anything. Perhaps, in time, I will turn you too. Yes, that might be fun. For now though…”

  He rose and left before Briony could respond. Though in truth she didn’t know how to respond. Elation at the news that the members of her family weren’t dead mixed with fury at what had been done to them, then despair at the thought of what might be to come. Briony lay on the armchair and cried unashamedly as the door slammed, leaving her utterly alone.

  *****

  Wicked Woods continues in

  Book 2 of Wicked Woods

  Shimmer

  November 2010

  From Top Author for Young Adults

  Kailin Gow

  Shimmer (Wicked Woods, #2)

  In the small charming resort town known as Wicked, MA, lies an age-old secret. Newcomer Briony Patterson, who has recently lost her parents and younger brother, will soon find out what it is...

  From Top Author for Young Adults

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  BITTER FROST

  All her life, Breena had always dreamed about fairies as though she lived amongst them… beautiful fairies living amongst mortals and living in Feyland. In her dreams, he was always there – the breathtakingly handsome but dangerous Winter Prince, Kian, who is her intended. Then she sees Kian, who seems intent on finding her and carrying her off to Feyland. If she is his intended, why does he seem to hate her and want her dead? And her best friend Logan has suddenly become protective. Things are getting strange…

  From Top Author for Young Adults

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  The Stoker Sisters

  Two sisters... Born during t
he time of Jane Austen... Set to marry for advancement, but escaped their fates by becoming vampires. Now vampires in the 21st century, hunted by a sect of rogue hunters, the sisters meet a mysterious boy who holds the key to their destinies.

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