Beloved Vampire by Joey W. Hill Read Free Book Online Page A

died for him. You will not dishonor that.”
    “She’s turned the corner, Harry,” Mel muttered, though his face had lost some color. “A vampire. Jesus Christ.”
    Jess kept her eyes on Harry. His avarice warred with something that might be conscience, but unfortunately she suspected it was just fear. And fear wasn’t enough.
    Reluctantly, he drew his gun. “Best to end your suffering, darling,” he said gruffly. “I’m sorry for it.”
    Mel chuckled, a harsh sound, recovering some of his brass. “If I was going to defile it, I’d take a piss on her, love,” he said.
    “Which I’m likely to do, once I bag up some of these baubles, because it was quite a hike getting here. It’s a goddamned miracle you made it, sick as you are.”
    “You will leave here,” she retorted. “Or you will be eternally sorry.”
    When the air currents shifted behind her, she registered it a moment before the gazes of the two men did. In the space of one of her struggling heartbeats, the disbelief and lack of fear they had shown in the face of her meager threat transformed into something entirely different.
    She didn’t look behind her. Instead, her gaze strayed to the fresh orchid in the vase, clung to it. Before all this happened, she’d been a brilliant student, with an exceptional mind. Her professors had told her so, but she’d realized a person didn’t know how brilliant she was until she endured things so horrible her mind was able to perform mitosis, splitting into two parts to survive. The academic side of her knew the psychology of that, just as her soul knew it wouldn’t survive the impact of bringing reality and fantasy back together to face what was behind her.
    It was the final insult, and would snap a mind frayed for so long it should have completely unraveled by now. Maybe it had, as Mel had implied. There was comfort in that. Perhaps she was in a dream, and could turn it in the direction she wanted. She could die right now, never knowing, and go into oblivion clinging to what she’d wanted this moment to be.
    As Harry’s eyes widened and Mel’s face went satisfyingly pale, Jessica felt her body shudder, caught between terror and heartbreak. One inch at a time, she forced herself to turn her head, until she was looking at what had stepped from the shadows.
    Though illness had shriveled her to a hunched state in comparison, he was still a tall man. Every bit as beautiful as Farida had described him. A man with the soul of a desert tiger, shining through his preternatural amber eyes, and copper hair that shimmered like the cat’s hide in the firelight. Those eyes turned to her now. They made a thorough assessment of her expression, even the state

    of her body, in the space of a heartbeat. And she knew. Dear God, she knew.
    He was a bloody, goddamned vampire.
    5
    “ W HAT did you do to Dawud?” she rasped, turning back to Harry. The man was too busy assessing this new threat to answer, but Lord Mason did, in a velvet, dangerous voice that was a fluid blend of European and Arab accents, edged with an animal’s growl.
    “They slit the boy’s throat when he tried to keep them from coming after you.”
    No. Oh God, no. Jessica’s knees gave out on her then, and she fell into the petals. Oddly, the impact of bony kneecaps on stone didn’t hurt, because he’d moved, putting his hand under her elbow to ease her down in a swift movement. The unexpected touch was gone before she could react to it. Mel rushed for the stranger. Harry was smarter, trying to scramble back up into the tunnel. It wouldn’t help. A human couldn’t escape a vampire.
    Mel started firing, and the other torch dropped, dimming the chamber. Lord Mason leaped for him, but she was more concerned about the bullets. Lunging to her feet, she covered Farida, screamed in pain as one of the stray bullets punched into her. Don’t let her body be harmed. She’s perfect . . . Let her stay perfect.
    010
    Raithe had stolen her life, binding her to