Read Online The Vampires' Birthright by Aiden James - Free Book Online

frigid sunlight while facing something thrashing around in a shadowed open pavilion.
    Streams of crimson stained the snow around a ravaged corpse. Limbs had been torn from the torso and been strewn haphazardly about, some beneath the pavilion’s roof, an arm and leg partially in the sunlight. The head was still attached and the woman’s long hair spread above her. Her eyes were open, but the light was gone from them, she was obviously, mercifully, dead.
    A man clothed only in the gore of his victim crouched over the woman’s body. No, not a man, a hungry demon disguised as a man. He shoved fistfuls of bloody flesh into a jaw that opened on a hinge more akin to a serpent’s than a human’s.
    At first, the monster didn’t see me, but when he did, he snarled, baring a maw full of fangs. The vampire, for it could clearly have been nothing else, might have passed for a brother of Xuanxang. The biggest difference was the eyes, not only in their gleaming red color, but also the wild, lunatic stare as he turned to shield the mangled torso of his victim with his own body.
    The vampire fixed his gaze upon me with a predatory glare and bared his teeth further in challenge, as if I had any intention of taking the prize of his meal. I felt like a Yellowstone tourist who had stumbled upon a grizzly bear killing a deer for its cubs.
    We stood, eyes locked on each other for what felt like minutes, but in reality must have only been ten or fifteen seconds. I broke the gaze first, turning to look over my shoulder. As soon as I did, he dropped the woman’s torso and roared at me. I stumbled, nearly falling to the ground. The children shrieked in terror, hugging each other. The vampire charged me, crossing the shaded ground in a few bounding steps. As soon as he broke from under the shelter of the pavilion and into the sunlight, he howled in pain and shrunk back. Smoke rose from the seared flesh on his naked and bloodstained body.
    That gave me hope. Maybe I could rescue the kids and get us all back inside the palace safely. What happened next obliterated that notion completely, and opened my eyes as to how little I truly understood about the new world to which I belonged.
    The vampire mutated. His powerful muscles expanded while sharp fins tore through his back and a pair of black horns grew from each side of his head. His skin split and peeled away, revealing the gray scales I had glimpsed earlier. At that time, I had been too far away to distinguish the intricate snake-like patterns along the creature’s arms, legs, and the tail that dropped toward the ground from this monster’s backside. Now that I was closer there for half a second I was struck by the stupid thought of how much the pattern looked like that of a mundane lizard, like some kind of skink. Then I had a chilling realization.
    I was so fucked.
    My feet felt like lead, as if frozen to the icy ground. But in the few moments before this thing finished its transformation, something inside me came to life. I know it must sound ridiculous, but I heard a voice call to me, with both clarity and power. Power enough to snap me from the mesmerism that had taken hold.
    Run, now Mommy!
    Wherever it came from, it was enough. Everything became a blur, yet at the same time, I felt as though I were moving in slow motion. I knew that I couldn’t save the children, but then again, this thing wasn’t after them at the moment and I hoped they would escape on their own. I ran as fast as I could, praying my God-given athleticism was enough to save me. I sprinted back to the main palace. As I slammed through the door, I wondered for a second why there were no daytime guards protecting the building. Even across the world, there never seems to be a cop when you need one. I didn’t wait to close the door behind me, I just ran. I had no intention of stopping or looking over my shoulder until I reached my room.
    I heard the screams of more terrified children, this time from within the palace―no