Bred By The Vampire by Emma Rose Page A

remembered an ancient fieldstone building she had played near and around as a child.  Grownups had shunned the area, but it was a popular place for small children to play when she had been in grade school. She felt a desire to return to simpler times so strong that she couldn’t resist its pull.  Glancing at the sun, she was sure she could get there before sunset, her favorite time of day as a child.  Grabbing her purse, she ran for her car.
    The sunset was as gorgeous as she remembered, though she shivered as the late August day turned off cooler than she had expected.  Her nipples poked through the thin fabric of her sundress and she hadn’t thought to bring a sweater. The moon had come up and it seemed suddenly that the chill was more than just a taste of fall coming.  Chloe felt a darkness come over her that had nothing to do with the time of day.  A thin sliver of moon peeked out from behind the clouds and Chloe heard the mournful howl of a wolf close by.  Wolf?  She never remembered any wolves being in this part of Virginia…what the hell was this?
    The pack surrounded her without warning, without a sound.  They were huge, larger than any wolves she had ever seen, and they were sniffing and pawing at the grass.  Chloe was certain that she would die here, the wolves looked hungry.  She looked around for a stick, or some rocks to defend herself with, but there was nothing.  She knew she should be still, any quick motion on her part could provoke the initial attack, and she knew that once it started, it would only end with her grisly and painful death.  Tears of fear, and of anger as well, formed in her eyes.
    The barn!  Looking over her shoulder, she could see it twenty yards away, and she wondered if she could make it before the alpha wolf caught her.  Her purse was in her car, so she couldn’t throw it to distract them, and her shoes were too small.  Grimly, she slowly eased her sundress over her head.  Standing in the clearing in only the half bra and her panties, great goosebumps arose on her skin.  It was a desperate act, but the only one left to her.  Silently she hurled the light dress high above the head of the alpha wolf and the dress opened and fluttered.  All the wolves leaped at it.
    It wasn’t much, but it was all the lead she was going to get.  Dropping her head she ran for the barn reaching the doorway just as the alpha wolf’s powerful jaws closed on her heel. She fell just inside the doorway, sliding in the dirt and dislodging the delicate half bra. Chloe screamed.
    The shadowy form dropped from the rafters and landed beside the alpha wolf.  In absolute silence he lifted the wolf by the throat and held it suspended high his head.  In the pale moonlight streaming through the doorway, Chloe caught a glimpse of her rescuer…and decided that somehow she had passed into the world of the insane, or the incredibly strong man who had dropped from the rafters of a dark, deserted barn was ready for Halloween a month or so early.
    The other wolves were through the door and on them, circling the almost nude woman and the creature that held their leader’s heavy body high in the air.  Their snarls reverberated in the dark recesses of the barn.  The pale man snarled back, a deep, animal sound that gave the advancing wolves pause.  The man opened his mouth and glittering fangs appeared with an audible click.  With a primal roar he lowered the alpha wolf’s dangling body to his mouth and ripped out its throat with his fangs, tossing the lifeless body to the earth in front of them as a last warning.
    The wolves and the body of their leader vanished in an inexplicable puff of foul smelling smoke and she was alone with what she is very much afraid is a vampire, as ridiculous as it sounded.
    “Are you a …?”  her voice trailed off into silence as his beauty struck her full force.  His pale skin was topped with a magnificent head of dark wavy hair, and his eyes were magnetic.  They