Chapter 1

It had been a week since that strange substance was plunged into my veins. The doctors had cleared me, saying they had not found traces of anything unusual in my system. I suppose that was a good thing, but it didn't explain the way I'd been feeling lately. 

I stood in my bathroom, brushing my teeth and staring at myself in the mirror. I looked about as bad as I felt. My hair was mussed, my eyes red-rimmed with bags underneath. I hadn't slept since the attack and it was starting to catch up to me. My skin was pale and I felt weaker. But the thing that freaked me out the most was the hunger. This insatiable hunger. It didn't matter what I ate or how much, I was still hungry. 

With a sigh, I spit into the sink. When I looked back up to the mirror, I dropped my toothbrush and gasped in horror. Surrounding the blue irises of my eyes was a red ring, seeming to be spreading throughout my whole eyeball. My eyes were almost completely red, the blue of my irises shining through. What was happening to me?

I ran into my bedroom, which was a mess. My clothes were strewn all over the floor, my bed still messed up. I'd been so down in the dumps these past few days that I hadn't gotten around to cleaning. It looked like I wasn't going to get around to it today either. 

Picking up my phone, I dialed Josh's number. He'd called me several times since last Tuesday, checking on me and offering to bring over my missed school work. I just hadn't had the heart to see him or anyone else. 

"Hello?" Josh answered. "Jess?"

"Josh?" I replied, trying to remain calm. And failing. "Josh, something's wrong with me." I stopped, only just noticing the syringe and note laying on my bedside table. 

Josh sounded worried now. "Jess, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," I told him. I hung up, ignoring Josh's protests and walked over to the night-stand.

With shaking hands, I picked up the note. It read: Take this. You'll feel better. Looking from the note to the syringe and back again, I debated whether or not I should do what the note said. What if whatever was in that needle made me feel worse? What if killed me? But what if it did make me feel better? What did I really have to lose at this point?

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the syringe and went back into the bathroom. Before I could change my mind, I bit my lip, closed my eyes nad injected myself with the blue fluid. When I opened my eyes, I watched my reflection in the mirror as my eyes returned to normal and my skin regained its color. I exhaled the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I felt relief, but also fear. Who and why would someone do this to me? What had they even done?

After getting dressed, not really even paying attention to what I was putting on, I grabbed my bag and headed out the door, still shaken up. I locked my apartment behind me. My apartment was nice, I supposed. My parents were paying for it, though we didn't speak much. Johnson Carver, a senator of New York, was my father and my mother was a well-known Historian. I'd moved out when I was sixteen and they hadn't wanted me living on the streets, so they had agreed to pay for my apartment until I was eighteen and off to college.

The air was still chilly, but I felt numb to everything. Something was happening to me and I had no idea what. The police were supposedly looking for my attacker, but I had a feeling they weren't going to find him. If he could sneak into my house with me in the next room, not making a sound, surely he could evade the New York Police Department. 

I was paranoid, glancing all around me, my heart pounding. I wasn't even sure where I was going at this point. School? No, I couldn't go there. There was no way I'd be able to focus. And what if my attacker was someone I went to school with? Would they try something else? I wasn't taking that chance.

Passing by the alley where I had been attacked only a week before, I stopped, hearing my name. I turned slowly, my heart feeling like it was going to beat straight out of my chest. I saw a man. He was tall, with strong features, black hair that just reached his bright blue eyes, curling at the ends. He was sexy, okay? But he was dangerous. I knew he was the man who had attacked me―I could just feel it. I knew I should run, but I didn't.

"Jessalyn," he said in a deep voice. 

"Who are you?" I asked him, forcing my voice not to shake, though I was scared to death. "Are you the one who left this?" I held up the now-wrinkled note that I'd been clutching since I'd left my apartment.

The stranger nodded once. "Yes, that was me."

"Why? What do you want with me? What did you do to me?" Regardless of my attempts at trying sound strong, my voice was shaking, as were my hands. 

"My name is Tobias. And I can explain everything if you come with me."

I actually laughed out loud at that. "Go with you? Are you nuts? No way." Did he seriously think I would go with him after what he'd done to me? Did I look insane? Probably, at this point. I was laughing maniacally, when none of this was funny. Maybe I was losing my mind.

Tobias sighed. "Have it your way. But the only way you're getting any answers or anymore of that antidote is if you come with me. Your choice, Angel."

D****t. He was right, of course. I wanted answers and I was sure I'd need more of that antidote to survive. What I couldn't quite understand was why they'd injected me with something, only to give me the antidotes when needed. What was the point?

With an eyeroll and a deep breath, I nodded. Tobias got his motocycle that was parked in the alley nearby. He handed me the only helmet and I climbed on behind him. Tobias started the bike, making me jump. Oh, it was going to be a long ride.