Obsessed. Morgan Rice

realized then that there was a word for what she was doing: stalking. It was what pack animals did in the wild as they approached their prey. A thrill of anticipation ran through her as she watched her mother’s expression change from frustrated to fearful.

      “I’m not going to the Sandersons’ party,” Vivian said again, “or the Johnsons’, or the Gilbertons’, or the Smythes’. I’m not going to another party ever again.”

      The look in her mother’s eye was something Vivian never wanted to forget.

      “What’s gotten into you?” she said, this time a nervous tremble in her voice.

      Vivian stepped closer. She licked her lips and cracked her neck.

      Her mother stepped back, horrified.

      “Vivian…” she began.

      But she did not get a chance to finish.

      Vivian pounced, teeth bared, hands outstretched. She grabbed her mother, wrenched her head back, and sank her teeth into her neck. Her Prada sunglasses flew to the ground and she trampled them beneath her feet.

      Vivian’s heart beat faster as the sharp metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. And as her mother fell limp in her arms, Vivian felt an overwhelming sense of triumph.

      She let go and her mother’s lifeless body crumpled to the ground, nothing but a heap of twisted limbs and designer clothes. Her dead eyes stared directly at Vivian, unseeing. Vivian stared back down and licked the blood from her lips.

      “Goodbye, Mother,” she said.

      She turned and ran across the shadowy garden, running faster and faster, and the next thing she knew she was flying, up into the night air, over their immaculate estate, and into the cold, cold night. She would find the man who did this to her – and she would tear him limb from limb.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      A full moon was glowing above Kyle, making the trees that lined Vivian’s suburban street look like skeleton silhouettes. He licked the dried blood off his lips, savoring his delicious kill, recalling Vivian’s expression of fear and terror. It sustained him. She would, he resolved, be the first of many, the first victim in the vampire army he was about to build.

      The high school. That would be next. He had a burning desire to find the girl who’d turned him – Scarlet. Perhaps she would be there – or someone would who knew where she was.

      If not, it was just as well – there would be an endless supply of young kids to turn. Ever since feasting on Vivian, he’d gotten quite the taste for teenagers, and he liked the idea of an obedient little army following him around. More than that, he liked the idea of wreaking havoc on this town – and on the world.

      Kyle began jogging along the sidewalk, then he stopped short and laughed to himself. He remembered he was a vampire now, with the strength and skill beyond anything a human could dream of – and most importantly, the ability to fly. It was the one thing he hadn’t fully tried yet. And now he wanted to feel it all, and to feel it fully. He wanted to soar into the sky and look down at those insignificant ants going about their dull little lives beneath him. He wanted to swoop at them and hunt them down like an eagle picking off its prey.

      He grinned to himself as he took two big steps and took to the air.

      It was exhilarating. Wind rushed past him, tousling his hair as he flew higher and higher into the sky. Beneath him, he could see the small town lights twinkling. He thought of all the people in their homes, ignorant to the hell he was about to unleash. He laughed to himself, picturing the chaos he would soon create. Nothing would give him more joy than to ruin each and every one of their lives.

      Soon Kyle saw the high school in the distance, far below. The police had set up a blockade around a large area of the neighborhood, including every road that led to the school. Each route was lined with police cars.

      Idiots, Kyle thought as he flew straight over them unnoticed.

      They were being willfully ignorant. Clearly, the idea of a vampire killer on the loose was too much for their little brains to handle, so they’d downgraded him in their minds to just a run-of-the-mill killer. They had no idea.

      As Kyle neared the entrance to the school, he could see bits of police tape flapping in the wind from where those two men had tried to gun him down. He could see his own blood on the concrete. He clenched his fists and thought about how no one could stop him. He was immortal now. Cars, bullets, nothing could stop him.

      He decided then to take the back entrance. He swooped over the athletics field, where football practice was taking place under the glare of the floodlights, and set himself down in the shadows. Using his super keen eyesight, he honed in on the two police cars parked just slightly around the corner, thinking themselves out of sight. Perhaps, Kyle thought with a smile, they were out of sight for a human. But not a vampire.

      The place was in disarray. Smashed glass and litter were all over the pavement. He wondered how on earth they’d managed to convince any of the kids to stay at school. It was that willful ignorance again, he decided.

      He paced toward the closed gym doors, considering it to be his best route into the school. Here, he noted, there was also extra security. Kyle could see they’d stationed a big burly guy by the doors, bigger even than he was. He was the sort of security guard who’d be better placed at a rough downtown nightclub than a high school. Kyle just smiled to himself, relishing the challenge of taking the man on.

      He sauntered up to the security guard confidently, noting the way the man’s hand slid down to his waist. Kyle guessed he would be reaching either for a gun or a walkie-talkie to radio for backup. Neither fazed Kyle. Guns couldn’t kill him and even a hundred police officers would do no more than slow him down.

      “You’ve got some nerve coming back here,” the security man said as Kyle strolled up to him. “You’re a wanted man. Every cop and security personnel in the city has got your picture. The whole city is on the lookout for you.”

      Kyle smirked and spread his arms wide.

      “And yet, here I am,” he replied.

      The security man tried not to let his worry show on his face, but Kyle could see straight through it.

      “What do you want?” he asked, his voice tremulous.

      Kyle nodded his head toward the gym doors. He could hear the pounding beat of music coming from inside and could imagine all the cheerleaders inside in mid-practice. He wanted to turn each and every one of them.

      Kyle walked up to the security guard and grabbed him round the neck, lifting him clean off the ground. Even though he was bigger and taller than Kyle, Kyle’s strength was greater. The man felt barely heavier than a child.

      “I want to make an army,” Kyle whispered in the man’s ear.

      The man let out a strangled wail and kicked. Kyle bent his head low and bit the security guard’s neck. The man tried to cry but Kyle’s grip around his neck was too tight. He could make no sound as his blood drained from him.

      Kyle dropped the man to his feet, knowing that he had created his second vampire. When he woke, reborn, he’d be in his army.

      Soldier number two.

      Kyle threw open the gym doors and loud pop music burst out along with the smell of sweat and the cheers of the girls in practice.

      “Hey!” a girl shouted from the bleachers. “You can’t be in here.”

      She was wearing the same cheerleader outfit as the rest of the girls. She stormed over to Kyle and stopped in front of him, peering up with a frown.

      “Get out of here!” she demanded.

      Kyle ignored her demands.

      “Do you know Scarlet Paine?” he said.

      She grimaced. “That freak? I know of her.”

      Behind the girl, the other cheerleaders turned to watch what was going on.

      “Where is she?” Kyle asked.

      The