Chapter 3

My heart pounded so hard in my chest that it felt like I was about to blackout. My eyes widened and I watched the CEO in horror. A lady was in the bathroom with him and she was dressed in a uniform, which led me to believe that she was working for the hotel; maybe as a help.

Bradley was sucking on the neck of the young lady so nonchalantly that if I wasn’t scared out of my mind right now, I would have thrown up. He removed his mouth from the girl’s neck and she dropped to the floor with a thud.

“Please…please,” I began to sob, afraid that he was going to hurt me. The CEO made a move that caused me to scream so loud that my throat hurt. I tried to flee away but he was right behind me before I could even blink.

“Lisa, I can explain.” He blocked the exit. “Give me a chance to explain, please.”

I glanced at the girl on the floor and noticed that she was breathing. She was alive! But that still did not change the fact that I was caged in the bathroom with whatever Bradley was!

“Please don’t kill me,” My lips quivered and tears rolled down my cheeks. “I swear I would do whatever you want me to. I would even forget what I just saw!”

He chuckled and then ran his hands through his hair. “Take a look at that girl, she’s alive. I didn’t do anything to her, I only drank her blood.”

What did he just say? Did he think telling me that would make things better? If anything, it made it worse! My palms were sweating and my breath was heavy.

“You what? What are you…?” My voice broke and was filled with immense fear.

“I’m the last one.” He took a step closer to me but I flinched. He frowned slightly, “I’m not going to hurt you, Lisa. Stop acting like I’m a monster.”

This felt like a nightmare that I could not wake up from. I never believed in the supernatural but considering what I was witnessing, I was becoming a true believer. As the CEO spoke, I could see his sharp fangs poking out. 

He was a vampire. And this meant that I had sex with a vampire!

More tears flowed from my eyes and I tried to catch my breath. I was now hyperventilating. 

“The girl is just a bit drowsy from losing blood, but I assure you that she is fine.” He straightened his suit and took a step closer to me, causing me to take one back. I was now very close to the bathtub. 

“What do you mean by the last one?” 

“I shouldn’t tell you what I’m about to tell you but I will because you’re my soulmate.” He smirked. “And clearly because you have seen too much.” His voice was now playful.

“I’m not your soulmate,” I laughed dryly. I took my eyes off him for a quick second and grabbed a toothbrush from the sink to use as a weapon. I knew that it was stupid and would not even be able to fight against Bradley even if I had a sword.

“I have been alive for centuries and yet still have not found my true mate; someone that I would mark as my own, as my partner for eternity. I come from a family of vampires but they are all dead now. For all I know, I’m the last and only vampire in the city.” He explained, and I clutched the toothbrush as if it could save me.

“No one knows my identity, I have hidden it so well. My success is well-known throughout the country and my company is the fastest-growing yet.” He continued.

“I have always wanted to open a nightclub because it was my brother’s dream and he never got to fulfill it. So after my birthday, I finally decided that it was time to. I wanted it to be the best so I approached the best Architecture company in the city: Powerhouse Designs. And that led me to you…” He closed the door of the bathroom and sat behind it.

“Bradley, I’m really sorry about your family and everything but I don’t want to be here right now. And I am most definitely not your soulmate. I was about to get married soon and the only thing that stopped me was–” 

“Fate. Fate was what stopped you.” He cut me off before I could continue, and I scoffed in response. “And I can’t let you go, Lisa. If my memory serves me right, and I know that it does, then I believe that I bit you last night on the neck.”

I inhaled sharply as I vividly remembered what he was talking about. Holy crap, he was right. He bit me! 

I blinked rapidly as tears continued to flow from my eyes. “What are you trying to say? Am I now a vampi–”

“Vampire?” He cut me off again. “Not quite yet.” He sighed loudly, and then stood to his feet. 

“But I thought…” I tried to end my sentence but a loud ringing sounded in my ear for a second, bringing pain along with it. 

“In my entire existence on this sorrowful place you humans call earth, I have never turned anyone into my kind before. And I did not plan to. But you, Lisa Morgan, you have beguiled me.” He took a step closer to me, and when I tried to step back again, I almost fell into the bathtub.

“I am begging you to understand that I did not target you. I did not even know I was going to sleep with you until I saw how…until I saw how innocent and pure you looked when you entered the hotel room.” Bradley continued. 

The girl on the floor seemed to be coming to her senses, almost as if she was weaning off a strong drug. She groaned and tried to stand up but failed. 

When I tried to help her, the CEO stopped me. “Don’t. Let her be. She would be fine, she just needs to sleep it off.”

“What the hell did I get myself into?” I tugged at my hair in frustration. Why was life picking a fight with me? Just after getting my heart broken, I had now slept with a vampire. A freaking vampire! Something that I did not believe in till now.

The girl on the floor dozed off into unconsciousness and her body slumped on the floor.

“I have had a lot of women; I would be honest with you, but never had it crossed my mind that any of them was the one.” Bradley takes a step back, causing me to feel a bit better that he was not too close to me.

“But Lisa, when I made love to you last night, it was like magic. Then when I bit you, instead of you passing out from the pain, you…you enjoyed it.” He continued while a small smile played on his lips.

“Let me go or I am going to scream,” I threatened him, but he only chuckled deeply. 

“You enjoyed a bite that would knock people out in seconds. Then it clicked to me…you’re mine. You’re my soulmate. I can’t believe that I actually thought that I was going to be alone for the rest of my time on this miserable earth.” He rubbed his hand over his clean-shaven face in a quick motion.

“You’re a psychopath if you think that’s true.”

“No, I’m not, and you know that too.” He walked back to the door and opened it. He then picked up my phone that I dropped from the ground and placed it in his pocket. “Here’s the thing, Lisa. You have two choices, and I am not going to deprive you of making any one of them”

My throat was dry and adrenaline rushed in my veins. “Bradley, let me go, or I will scream.” 

“Scream. Go ahead, Lisa. Scream at the very top of your lungs. Hell, I would even scream with you if you want!” He shouted and waved his arms in the air to show his point: that no one is going to come to my aid.

I sniffled and then wiped my face with the back of my hand. “What do you want?” My voice was hoarse.

“I want you to make a choice: To live or to die.”

“I want to live,” I replied to him, my voice breaking at the same time.

“Okay, good! But I need to give you the specifics first. If you want to live, you would have to feed on my blood and become like me: a vampire. But if you don’t want this, all you would have to do is resist the strong thirst for blood that would soon come upon you, and slowly die from the bite on your neck. Because it won’t heal until you drink my blood.”

“Sh*t!” I swore loudly as I threw the toothbrush at the CEO angrily. “You’re a selfish prick! You damn well know that I don’t want to die!” The tears had stopped flowing from my eyes. 

He grabbed the toothbrush easily and dropped it next to him. “I’m glad to see that fear has now turned into anger.”

“You have no idea how you have messed up my life!” I began to cry again. 

“No, Lisa. From the looks of it. What I have done for you is give you a unique opportunity and chance to turn your life around. Drink my blood and you would have the chance to get back at your fiance that cheated on you.”

“You would have the chance to avenge all who have wronged you. And you could do it all at my side.” He added and then extended his hand.

I could feel the thirst that he talked about. It was growing steadily. I could feel my body crying for something to satisfy its thirst; not for water, but for blood. 

“Please wake up…please wake up…please wake up,” I repeated as I closed my eyes tightly. I had to be dreaming. I really wanted it all to just be a bad dream that I could wake up from. But sadly it was not, because when I opened my eyes, Bradley still had his hand held out to me; inviting me to become what he was.