Chapter 2

Maddie shakes me awake and when I glare up at her furiously, she is wearing an expression of utter panic.

“What?” I ask as I sit up in bed quickly.

“You have to see this.” Maddie insists and drags me downstairs to the living room where the television is playing a special broadcast. I feel all the color drain from my face as I see Fynn and Gaius from the club last night addressing the public as humanities new leaders.

“What’s going on Maddie?” I ask her in confusion.

“The world’s governments have fallen to vampires and werewolves.” Maddie replies, her tone registering her shock. “Gaius said that him and Fynn are now co-rulers along with a thirty-member council. Humans are now slaves to them and have no rights at all. Anyone who refuses to submit to them will be automatically put to death. Humans are no longer allowed to own property of any kind. Everything will be divided up amongst the new superior species.”

“Where is Uncle Lincoln?” I ask as I look out the window anxiously.

“He was already gone when I came downstairs.” Maddie tells me with terror reflected in her green eyes.

As I turn my attention back to the television, I catch Gaius informing everyone that all humans will be rounded up and given to either a vampire or werewolf master.

“Why did they let us go last night Maddie?” I whisper. “What did they mean that we were like them?”

“I thought they meant they were psychic like us.” Maddie whispers back as she hugs me tightly.

Maddie and I huddle together on the sofa and continue to watch our new leaders explain what our lives will be like under their regime. Uncle Lincoln never returns home and after dinner time has come and gone with no word from him, we both fear the worst.

It is nearly midnight when our front door suddenly slams open with brutal force and our house is swarming with men in military gear. Maddie and I have not moved from the sofa all day and scream in fright as we are forced from our home and into a waiting black SUV.

I huddle next to Maddie as she keeps her arms around me protectively and glares at our captors threateningly. The men ignore us as we leave the city of New Orleans behind and I recognize the plantations of River Road passing by the windows.

Soon the SUV is pulling up to a gated property. With a word from the driver we enter a spacious plantation that looks as if royalty lives here as we make our way up the moonlit driveway.

Maddie gently pulls me from the vehicle when it stops in front of a palatial stone mansion. The men escort us inside the marble interior and into a tropical atrium filled with plants, fountains, and birds of all types.

Fynn and Gaius are sitting at a patio table in the center of the airy room and look up with smiles at our entrance.

“Where is our uncle Lincoln?” Maddie demands hotly as she pushes me behind her.

“He is being held with the rest of the humans.” Gaius states smoothly, unruffled by Maddie’s fury. “He will be sent to live with his new owners soon.”

Fynn rises to his feet at the same time that Gaius does and the pair of them approach us slowly with heated expressions. It suddenly occurs to me that I am still in my short cotton nightgown that I wore to bed the previous night.

Maddie begins to back up slowly keeping me behind her defensively as she endeavors to keep herself between me and them. Gaius moves so quickly that he has Maddie in his embrace without me even seeing it. Fynn steers me away from my sister before I can attempt to save her from Gaius’ attack.

“Maddie!” I scream as I fight to get away from Fynn’s grip.

“Let me go!” Maddie hisses at Gaius as she hits at him futilely. “Max!”

I watch helplessly as Gaius wraps his arms around my twin, effectively stopping her struggles, before he sinks his fangs into her throat. My vision coming to reality in front of me.

“No!” I wail my anguish as I am forced to watch the vampire guzzling my twin’s blood greedily and Maddie becomes limp. No matter how I struggle, Fynn holds me back easily.

“Maddie!” I am sobbing uncontrollably as I feel my mental connection with her dissolving. Gaius lifts his head, his expression euphoric, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth into his beard. Maddie is gray and looks dead but I can still feel her in my head so I know she still lives.

Fynn picks me up and swings me over his shoulder before striding from the room.

No matter how hard I pound on his back and scream and wail he doesn’t slow down or stop as he carries me up the stairs.

I connect with Maddie and I feel her ravenous hunger as I sense her drinking blood from Gaius. Is he turning her into a vampire? Am I going to lose my twin? The more Maddie drinks and the stronger she gets I feel her passion begin to rise. Stunned and frightened I back out of her thoughts and concentrate on the man in front of me.

He has set me on my feet inside a bedroom suite and is watching me curiously. I back away from him nervously, not accustomed to dealing with anything on my own without my twin’s protection.

“Madigan and Maxima Sinclair.” Fynn recites with a curious expression on his face. “Daughters of Joseph Sinclair and Ann Stoica Sinclair. Mother was attacked while pregnant and was placed in a medical coma so that her twin daughters could live long enough to be delivered.”

“How do you know that?” I ask him as my back hits the wall, forcing me to stop my retreat.

“Gaius and I did some research after you both stumbled into the club last night.”

He confesses. “You and your sister have no idea that you aren’t only human, do you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shake my head at him as he stalks closer to me.

“You and Madigan are not just human girls with psychic gifts Maxima.” He tells me as he studies my expression. “Your mother wasn’t attacked by an animal.”

“How do you know what she was attacked by?” I blurt, my curiosity getting the better of me.

“I can smell what you are, little one.” Fynn’s husky voice washes over me as he places his hands on the wall on either side of my head before leaning down and nuzzling my neck.

“Please don’t bite me!” I whimper when I feel his nose stroking my skin. He chuckles as he kisses the curve of my shoulder softly.

“I am not a vampire.” He states as he raises his head to look down at me. “You are.”

“What?” I feel all the color drain from my face.

“Your mother was attacked by both a vampire and a werewolf. Their DNA was absorbed by you and your sister while you were in her womb. She couldn’t survive the transition by both species but for some reason you and your sister did.”