Fighting Hope

  (Bloodmoon Series)

  By: Briana Alisandra

  © 2021 Briana Alisandra. All rights reserved.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1: Hope

  Chapter 2: Hayden

  Chapter 3: Wyatt

  Chapter 4: Lexie

  Chapter 5: Hope

  Chapter 6: Christian

  Chapter 7: Hope

  Chapter 8: Hayden

  Chapter 9: Hope

  Chapter 10: Hope

  Chapter 11: Hope

  Chapter 12: Knight

  Chapter 13: Hope

  Chapter 14: Wyatt

  Chapter 15: Hope

  Chapter 16: Christian

  Chapter 17: Kane

  Chapter 18: Hope

  Chapter 19: Hayden

  Chapter 20: Kane

  Chapter 21: Wyatt

  Chapter 22: Hope

  Chapter 23: Lexie

  Chapter 24: Hope

  Chapter 25: Hope

  Chapter 26: Knight

  Chapter 27: Hope

  Chapter 28: Wyatt

  Chapter 29: Hope

  Chapter 1: Hope

  The basement door opened and shut.

  I tensed at the sound of footsteps coming down the steps.

  It was my grandfather.

  I couldn’t see him yet, but I’d gotten good at differentiating between the sound of his footsteps compared to my bitch grandmother. If you could believe it, she was the worst of the two of them.

  There wasn’t a maternal cell in that woman’s body.

  When he got to the bottom of the steps, he grabbed the key from the wall and went to unlock my cage.

  It was dinner time.

  I must have behaved enough to get a meal today.

  Before he opened the cage, he looked at me expectantly.

  I stood up from the cot and went to stand on the opposite end of the cage.

  After the biting incident, he didn’t trust me very much.

  I was surprised he even came into the cage at all. He could easily throw my food in here, like the dog they seemed to think I was.

  Hell, you treat a dog better than this. No dog deserved to be beaten, starved, and tortured. Certainly no person.

  Except for maybe him and my grandmother.

  He opened the cage and put my food down on the small table by my bed. The tray from this morning was still there, untouched. He sighed and looked at me. He shook his head. “You need your strength, Hope. Your endurance needs work. You need to eat.”

  I refused to eat what they gave me. I didn’t trust them.

  For all I knew they were feeding me some potion to take my will away and turn me into one of them.

  I wouldn’t put it past them.

  They had zero boundaries.

  They didn’t give a rat’s ass what I wanted. They just wanted someone to be able to continue doing their bidding after they croaked. Someone to carry on the Sinclair name as a name all vampires feared.

  Fuck that shit.

  Part of me wanted to change my name altogether.

  But the other part wanted to avenge every wrong they ever made. I wanted to embarrass them. I wanted Sinclair to be a name that didn’t strike fear in the hearts of vampires everywhere. I wanted to put their reign of torment in the distant past, and leave them completely forgotten.

  More than anything, I wanted to rid the world of my grandparents once and for all.

  “Sorry. I don’t have much of an appetite, being trapped in a dungeon and all.”

  “If you’d cooperate, you could be upstairs in a room of your own. But you won’t see reason.”

  I scoffed. “Reason? You have me in a cage!”

  He waved me off. “Because you are a danger to yourself.”

  I was a danger alright, but not to myself. To him.

  He grabbed the old tray of food. He turned back to leave the cage. “Eat your dinner. Training starts at five AM sharp tomorrow. We can discuss your attitude then.”

  No, thanks.

  I grabbed the tray of food and threw the food off of it.

  He turned around to look at me, just as I slammed the tray against his head. I hit him again, as hard as I could before running out of the cage and locking the door shut.

  I ran up the steps.

  I had to find Hayden.

  They moved her to try to break me. I had no idea what they were doing to her up here. I wasn’t even sure if she was alive.

  I had to save her.

  She was only here because of me.

  I opened the basement door slowly, looking around for any signs of my grandmother.

  When I didn’t see anyone, I walked into the kitchen and down the hall towards the steps.

  I stood still, listening out for Hayden.

  Someone was upstairs. I couldn’t be sure if it was Hayden or my grandmother though.

  I took the chance and went up the steps.

  I didn’t have a choice. I had to find Hayden.

  I wouldn’t leave without her.

  Never.

  The sound was coming from one of the bedrooms. I went to turn the knob. It was locked from the outside. Definitely Hayden in there.

  I stood back and held my hand up to the knob. “Hoc reserare ianuam.”

  I heard the lock turn. I opened the door and found Hayden pacing the room. “Hope?”

  She looked at me surprised and ran to hug me. “How did you get out?”

  “It doesn’t matter. We have to go now.”

  We ran out of the room and down the steps. The front door was right in front of us.

  We were so close to freedom I could smell the beautiful smell of the outdoors.

  I opened the front door and ran through with Hayden.

  We ran as far as we could, but then Hayden slowed down.

  “Come on, Hayden. We have to hurry.”

  She started to cough. “Hope,” she couldn’t finish as a coughing spell interrupted her.

  I grabbed her. “Hayden.”

  She grabbed onto me, her eyes wide with fear. “Hope, something’s wrong.”

  Blood started coming from her nose, then her eyes and ears.

  She fell to the ground. I held her. “Hayden, no.”

  “Hope, you have to go.”

  “No! I’m not leaving without you. Hayden!”

  “Hope, go.”

  Her eyes froze, her body going limp in my arms.

  She was dead. My sister was dead and it was all because of me. Everyone I loved died.

  “No. No!”

  This couldn’t be happening.

  This isn’t real. This isn’t real.

  Hayden couldn’t be dead.

  It hit me.

  This wasn’t real. None of this was real.

  He was doing it again.

  That fucker.

  “Let me out!” I screamed. “Get the fuck out of my head!”

  I opened my eyes and lifted my head. My grandfather was sitting in a chair just outside of the cage.

  He shook his head. “You know you wouldn’t have the chance to escape in real life. That should have tipped you off right away.”

  “Hayden.”

  He put his hand up and stood up. “Safe. Upstairs. She won’t stop asking about you though. She’s like a broken record. You two are too attached to each other. Your human tendencies are getting in the way of your true potential. The both of you.”

  “Feelings.”

  “Sorry?”

  He looked confused by the word. Like he didn’t know what the word even meant. He was horrible.

  It still shocked me that Mom and Aunt Gemma ended up normal. As normal as they could get anyway.

  “Human tendencies?” I said. “You mean feelings.”

  He shook his head. “Yes, these feelings are what stopped you from succeeding in the vision. You went to save your sister. Again. You failed. Again. You could have escaped had you left right away.”

  “That’s fucking stupid! I’m not going to leave my sister behind. Not in this world, and not in any dream world you make up in my head.”

  He walked around. “You see these feelings you keep boasting about, they’re a liability. They get you into trouble, Hope. The sooner you learn to stop making decisions based on your emotions, the sooner we can really make some progress.”

  “That’s never going to happen.”

  “Hope, being a hunter must come before all. Even family.”

  “I’m not a hunter.”

  “It’s in your blood, Hope. You were born to hunt vampires. To kill them.”

  “The only people I’m interested in killing are you and your psycho wife.”

  He smiled at that. “I like the rage. Now we just need to work on redirecting it to where it should be. The vampires.”

  He was about to go back upstairs.

  “Wait. Will that really happen to Hayden if she tries to leave the house? Do you have a spell on her or something?”

  I wouldn’t put it past them to do something like that.

  They knew I wouldn’t leave Hayden behind. No amount of mind games would ever make me do that to her.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s probably best you don’t try and find out.”

  He walked up the steps and turned off the light.

  I sighed, the pitch black darkness engulfing me.

  He closed the door, and left me. Alone.
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  Again.

  I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could take.

  They knew exactly what they were doing separating me and Hayden.

  I could only hope her living conditions were better than mine. Once again her life was being upturned because of me.

  I had to get out of here. I had to do whatever it took to save her and myself.

  Even if that meant giving my grandparents exactly what they wanted.

  They wanted a monster.

  That was exactly what they were going to get.

  Chapter 2: Hayden

  Hope’s grandmother opened the door to the room they were keeping me in. Last week they separated me and Hope.

  I could still hear her in the basement, so I knew she was still alive.

  “I want to see Hope.”

  “Hope is busy.”

  “Busy being held captive in the basement of her grandparents?”

  This was so fucked up. What kind of people did this to their own blood? I mean, I wouldn’t do this to anyone, but to do something like this to someone you’re supposed to care about?

  They were monsters.

  “I know you don’t understand this, but I’m helping my granddaughter.”

  “You’re hurting her. She needs a break from the mind games you guys are using on her.”

  “Hope is resilient. She’ll live, and she’ll be a better person when this is over.”

  She was going to be something alright. Better to me, but not so sure Constance and James were going to appreciate her change. I had the feeling this was going to make Hope a bitch on wheels.

  She was never going to be a vampire hunter, but if they kept fucking with her she might choose to hunt them instead.

  “You won’t break her, you know. She’s strong. The strongest person I have ever met. She’ll get through this and she’ll fuck all of you up.”

  It was a quality that infuriated me at first, but now I admired it about Hope. She really is the strongest person I know.

  If anyone could survive this, it was her.

  “I don’t doubt that. That’s why we’re being so hard on her. Breaking someone into pieces is the only way to put them back together into the person they were always meant to be.”

  I glared at her. “You’re a psychopath.”

  She smiled. “It’s breakfast time. Let’s go.”

  I crossed my arms and stood by the window. “No.”

  “I can force you.”

  She could. I didn’t have any power here. They had a cuff on me that prevented me from shifting. It was a nifty invention that I was thinking about keeping for the future. We should really be using these during the full moon.

  It was a pain in my ass right now though when my sister needed me to get her out of that dungeon.

  “You can try. More work than it’s worth though. I don’t want to have breakfast with you bitches.”

  “Hope will be joining us.”

  I looked at her seriously. “What?”

  “Hope. She’s downstairs now.”

  I walked past her and down the hallway.

  “That sure lit a fire up your ass.”

  I glanced back at her. “Shut up.”

  She was telling the truth. When I got downstairs, Hope was coming into the dining room with James.

  “Hope.”

  A look of relief washed over her. She looked skinnier. It was obvious she hadn’t been eating. I wanted to kill them for this.

  She went to go towards me, but James held her arm tightly.

  I snarled at him. “Let her go.”

  “Sit,” James said. “All of you.”

  Hope rolled her eyes and sat down at the table across from me. I smiled. She was as feisty as ever.

  “Where’s Francesca?” Hope asked.

  Her voice sounded hoarse and groggy. Probably from crying or screaming. Or both.

  I hadn’t seen the vampire witch since the night Hope shifted. Scratch that. The witch. She wasn’t a vampire anymore. I wonder how she felt about that.

  Or if she was even alive.

  “The witch isn’t your concern,” James said.

  “She’s a person,” Hope said. “A person I care about. Where is she?”

  “Doing as she’s told,” Constance said.

  Hope looked taken back. “Francesca would never work for you people. What did you do to her?”

  “Enough about the witch,” James said.

  Maybe she was working with them. It wouldn’t be the first time she double crossed us.

  Constance went to the kitchen and came back with two plates of breakfast. It was two pancakes and some scrambled eggs with bacon. “Enjoy.”

  “No, thanks,” Hope said.

  Hope really needed to eat. It had to be days looking at how much weight she lost.

  “Hope,” I said, looking at her sternly.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “Hope, training will be taxing,” James said. “You need strength if you don’t want to die at the hands of a vampire.”

  “I will never train with you. What don’t you fucking get!” She slammed her hand down on the table and glared between the two of them.

  If looks could kill, the two geezers would be dead. If only looks could kill.

  “You are just as stubborn as your mother,” Constance said.

  I saw the rage boiling up inside of Hope’s eyes. She didn’t like when they talked about Melinda.

  “Yeah, and you tortured them too,” Hope said nonchalantly. “Mom, Gemma, even your stupid son. I actually feel bad for Nathaniel now. He’s still a douche face, but it’s comforting to know you’re the reason why. He wasn’t born an asshole. You made him that way.”

  “And yet he failed,” James said, shaking his head. “He was weak.”

  Hope shook her head. “I hate you people so much.”

  I looked at her from across the table. She looked back at me, with a solemn look in her eyes.

  Dammit, Hope.

  I could tell what she was thinking. The guilt was written all over her face. She felt responsible for me being here, and it was completely stupid.

  I was really sick of her taking everything on her shoulders like that. I mean, yeah it seemed like the world revolved around her, but this wasn’t her fault. This was on them.

  You can’t help who you come from.

  My mother was a terrible person that tried to get Hope killed. I wasn’t her.

  Hope wasn’t her grandparents, and she never would be.

  “Hope, we want what’s best for you,” Constance said.

  “You’re a bitch.”

  I almost laughed, but the look on Constance’s face made me straighten up. Hope was going to end up right back in the basement if she didn’t chill.

  “Now she sounds like Gemma,” James said with a smirk.

  Hope furrowed her eyebrows. She was thinking what I was thinking. That didn’t sound at all like her aunt.

  She must have been a different person back then. Living with a couple of monsters will bring out the worst in anyone. Even a saint like Gemma.

  “Hope, you have a choice,” Constance said. “You both do. You can get in line and help us defeat the vampires once and for all, or you can stay in the dark.”

  “I will never help you,” Hope said.

  “You already performed the spell,” I said. “I’m sure you took out a lot of them with that alone.”

  Hope looked bothered by my words. Unfortunately, it was the truth. There was no sugar coating it.

  It was daytime when they performed the spell. Any vampires that weren’t able to get out of the sun were burned alive. Who knew how many were still even alive.

  “It’s not enough,” James said. “There are still countless vampires living underground. Countless threats still walk amongst us. This isn’t over until every last vampire is gone.”

  Every last vampire. That technically included Hope.

  I wasn’t sure how much her grandparents knew about that.

  “The sun spell being broken makes it easier for us to find and eliminate them, but we need strong people like you two,” Constance said. “You can help us bring an end to this nightmare.”

  “I don’t know what part you’re not getting,” Hope said. “I said no.”

  “This would be so much simpler if we had Nathaniel. We could create more of the serum that fixed your mother and your boyfriend.”

  Hope glared at James. He did not want to mention Wyatt to her. I wasn’t sure if she even called him that. Boyfriend. It must be complicated to have a connection going with three guys.

 

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