Copyright© 2025 Jennifer Ann Schlag
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Chapter 10
Bonus Scene
What if Damien ran after Annabel after she saw his fangs?
Annabel desperately tried to get free of Chris’s hold on her. If only she could see Damien again. See his fangs. This night meant everything to her. She had many questions regarding the deformity, if it were in fact a deformity. Is he secretly a vampire? That thought immediately crossed her mind upon seeing them. Are they aching for my throat? He had been close to doing something back there. She had to find out what.
As if hearing her questions, Damien appeared outside. Annabel and Chris had only got a few feet across the driveway when they were forced to stop. Damien’s presence had that uncanny ability to make anyone stop what they were doing.
Annabel noticed a hunger in his eyes. The same hunger she saw while in the dining room, while in his arms. Was he after her blood? Like a proper vampire? Something that was myth. Part of her was exhilarated by imagining his pearl-like daggers piercing her smooth flesh, feeling his tongue afterwards caressing the ravaged area.
“I can only imagine what you are thinking about me,” Damien said, cooly.
She rolled her eyes. If only he knew what she was thinking. She saw how hard it was for him to remain calm. She started towards him.
“Stay there, Annabel.”
“Anna, you should listen to him. He is not…”
“Not what?” She stood aside, away from both gentlemen. “What are you both not telling me? Do I need to make up my own theories here?”
“I don’t know how to explain what you saw back there. And I…” Damien looked over his shoulder at the front door, “…I don’t have much time before something terrible happens inside there.”
“Like what?” She was determined to not leave unsatisfied. She’d take any answer that wasn’t ambiguous.
“I have a condition.”
“That’s an understatement,” Chris said.
Damien took his time moving closer to her. “It’s not something I want you to see again.” His fangs hadn’t retracted. The aroma of those people inside, the thrill of feeding off of them, his fangs refused to remain clean tonight. No matter how much he tried to be better than his brothers. No matter how much he tried to fight the bloodlust. His curse.
“Damien, let me see those fangs of yours, up close, again.”
“No. Don’t you understand? I barely held it together inside while holding you. I can’t let you see me like this.” He started to turn for the house. She grabbed him. “Annabel, please don’t make me regret meeting you. I… I like you. I really like you.”
“Take a walk with me over there.” She pointed to where the hidden path headed down to the lake.
“Not a good idea,” Damien said.
“If you go anywhere with him, Anna, I can’t save you.”
“Chris, you can wait here for me.” Annabel pulled Damien along.
Damien was stunned. How did she not go running into the woods screaming her head off? She saw his fangs and was intrigued. Or was she that cultured that his appearance barely struck her curiosity. He went along, desperate to be near her for as long as he could manage it. She had no idea the kind of strength he needed to conjure up to stay close to her and not attack.
Once by the path, she held onto him tighter. And he didn’t flinch. He didn’t try to pull away. “Do I bring you pain?”
“No. Not exactly.” He lied. She did bring on pain, both of the sexual and nonsexual nature.
“Show me the fangs.”
He pulled his upper lip to the side and exposed the tiny daggers of doom.
“What do you feel when they come down?”
“Pain. Regret. Hunger.”
“For blood. Like a vampire out of a movie.”
“I am not a vampire.”
“Then what are you?”
“I don’t know how to explain to you what I am, why I am the way I am. It’s heartbreaking enough to know that you will hate me tomorrow, if you don’t already hate me now.”
She sighed heavily. “I don’t hate you. I am mad at you. I am mad that you wouldn’t let me dance with your brother properly. I might say it’s just sibling rivalry, but I am not a toy. I am a woman that you both clearly desire. Was I meant to choose one of you tonight?”
He felt the bloodlust calming down, only by a bit. Enough to be near her. “I did not know that you were the one Sebastian desired. I only knew he liked a girl. He craves you. I don’t know if it’s genuine attraction. I only know what I feel.”
“What do you feel, Damien?” She was being playful, but careful. She was drawn to his mystery. She had to know everything about him. “And what happens now that you know your brother desires me?”
He stepped in closer. His fingers ran up and down her arms. “My heart is beating so fast. It almost drowns out the need to feed. I can hear my inner voice telling me it’s a bad idea to fall for you. Yet, I think I have no control over it. Either I will fall hard for you or I will…” He didn’t want to think it. He would never feed from her. He would never use her to satisfy needs that he swore to keep bottled up. He refused to become like his brothers, or his father.
“You would hurt me?” His touch was warm and intoxicating. She had a hard time deciding which brother was more charming. Sebastian did have a way with words, made sweeter by that smile of his. Damien had both and more.
“Never. If I ever hurt you, I will ask for the Divine to take my life.” He took a step back. How much had he fallen for her already? To say something like that.
“Is this like an identity you take on to get girls?” She would have been slightly impressed if it were true. Most men thought themselves godly, but how many would go the extra distance to convince a woman they were. She wanted a simple answer.
He had to laugh. Another genuine laugh she managed to pull out of him. He had fallen hard. “No. I don’t think I’ve ever taken on an identity that wasn’t already my own to win a girl’s affection.”
She looked back at Chris who was patiently waiting for her. He was a true friend that wouldn’t abandon her—at least not again. He had left for a few months after their graduation day, then he returned. And then he left again when she went to Ireland. But he didn’t actually abandon her; she abandoned him, she abandoned everyone. And now she had Damien come into her life with the same fear of abandoning him. Why? Because he wasn’t readily telling her everything about him? Chris was keeping things a secret too. It overwhelmed her. All of it.
“I am keeping you from your party, Damien. I am sorry. I will see you later.”
Damien tried to use his tongue to hide his fangs and give her a smile at the same time. A kind, sweet, loving smile. “I promise I will explain everything to you, one day. If you care to know me longer than a day.”
She went in to hug him. He flinched. “Sorry. We don’t have to hug.” He pulled her to him, hard against his chest. “Or we can.” She felt herself snuggling against him.
“Goodnight, Annabel.” He raced towards his front door.
“Oh, you have it bad,” Chris said behind her.
“He is so weird.” She turned to her friend. “You sure you don’t wanna tell me anything about him?”
“It might be better if I don’t. Come on. It’s freezing.”
She giggled. “I bet your sister and my dad are having a good time in front of a warm fireplace.”
“Hah, I know what you mean. Don’t bet on that. Your dad is notoriously celibate.”
“Jesus. I don’t wanna hear that. I am sorry I said what I said.”
Damien watched from the window as Annabel and Chris left his property. He wanted to have warm and beautiful moments with her. But first, he had to deal with the arrival of Hell’s messengers, his brothers, and the Sinclair sisters. All of which he detested, though his brothers were more tolerable.
Night First and its sequel Illuminated Darkness are both available on Amazon.