Dark Heirloom (First 10 Chapters)

“Do you think this is funny?”

“Kylla…I mean, yes.”

I crossed my arms and glared.

“You are not dead. None of us are.”

“Then how do you explain what happened to me? The way I look, the way you look for that matter?”

Jesu frowned at his hands as though noticing the blue undertones for the first time. He shoved them in his pants pockets and shrugged. “Simple. We’re vampires.”

I scoffed. “Vampires, huh? So we’re undead?”

He smiled and shook his head. “No. We are as alive as any other being.”

I rolled my eyes. “Right. If I’m not dead, then I’d like to go home and get back to my life.”

His smile faded. “I do not think you understand. You cannot go back to America.”

My brow rose. “Back to America? Jesu, where are we, exactly?”

“I think you should sit.” He pulled out one of the wicker chairs.

“I’ll stand.”

He shrugged and sat in the other seat then placed his palms on the table. “Ema.” My name rolled smoothly from his tongue. “We are in Lapland, Finland.”

My stomach sank. “That’s impossible.” I rushed to the tall window and peered out.

Nothing but pine forest stretched all the way to the horizon beneath a night sky. Glimmering snow frosted the treetops. Rainbows of pearly, grayish blues and greens reflected in the moonlight. I definitely wasn’t in Chicago, but that didn’t mean I was out of the country, or even out of the state. Jesu could have lied. “I don’t believe you.”

He bit his lip. “Ema, my brother will not allow you leave the island.”

“Island?” I focused on the horizon. I thought I would have to strain my eyes, but didn’t.

My vision contracted and zoomed in like a camera lens. Beyond the dense forest lay a thin strip of brown followed by a thicker strip of pale blue; a cliff and a body of water. So it was an island.

I sighed. Lake Michigan didn’t have islands. I took a seat in the wicker chair across from Jesu and crossed my arms. “Go on.”

He sucked in a deep breath. “My brother and I are princes of the Neo-Draugrian Clan.

We’re Scandinavian vampires.”

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