Blood and Destiny by Kaye Chambers Read Free Book Online

the first thought after seeing him didn’t bode well.
    “I’m surprised you’re still here, Marcus. Don’t you have plans for your day?” It sounded a waspish. Marcus didn’t take offense. Mornings weren’t my best time of day, a fact he knew firsthand.
    “You expected me to leave you sleeping?”
    Yeah, I had. It would have saved both of us from the awkward moments without the armor of our clothing. I took a deep breath, trying to think of what to say when the sharp scent of sausage tickled my nose. Awkward moments aside, my stomach growled at the hint of breakfast. Jumping up from my bed, I trotted to the back stairwell. I was heading down the steps at a fast shuffle before Marcus crossed the threshold.
    I barreled into the downstairs kitchen and nearly ran over Peter. He had heard me coming and didn’t even flinch at the close call. The stove was full of pots and pans brewing up a meal fit for a queen, or one very hungry shapeshifter. Since vampires don’t really eat solid food, it surprised me.
    “I love a man who thinks to feed me. Thank you, Peter.”

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    I gave him a quick one-armed hug as I skirted around him to grab a cup of coffee from the timed pot on the counter.
    “Well, you could return the favor,” he bantered back as Marcus came through the door. “You look good enough to eat.”
    “Oh, I think not.” The icy tone surprised me and I turned to frown at Marcus.
    Peter blanched as he ducked his head. Was that fear I saw on his face before it was obscured by long locks of sandy bangs?
    Vampires in the morning were totally different than they were at night. Like nightclubs, the real thing was not the fantasy. They still had a mostly liquid diet, but the mysticism of them was wasted in the daylight. Despite that, they could still kill you before you ever saw them coming because they were that deadly.
    They might look as ordinary as the stranger passing on the street, but they weren’t.
    Peter scooped sausage from the pan and onto a plate followed by fluffy scrambled eggs and hash browns. He had to have brought it with him since my idea of breakfast was a bagel or cold cereal only so the coffee had something to digest with.
    He put the plate onto the tiny table in the corner and stepped back with a definitely deferring posture to Marcus. Ignoring the dynamics, I sat in front of the feast and reached for the powdered creamer. As much as I preferred the real thing, I was notorious for letting it go bad. Both the refrigerators in the house were apt to decide not to work on any given day and I was tired of replacing easily perishable things. So, powdered creamer and sugar it was.
    While I mixed my coffee and breathed in the rich aromas of my breakfast, Marcus was putting Peter through the third degree.
    “Did you find the man?”
    “No, but we did find the youngster who brought him into the Vantage.” Peter wouldn’t meet Marcus’s gaze and I wondered what he didn’t want to say in front of me.
    I took a bite of the eggs and found them lightly seasoned with paprika and something else that exploded on my tongue. Who knew the Roman vampire could cook? Swallowing, I washed it down with coffee as the silence stretched out.
    “You might as well say it, Peter. He’s going to turn around and repeat it, anyway.”
    Both of them frowned, but neither countered me. After another moment, Peter gave in with as much grace as he could.
    “The boy’s a fledgling. He’s waiting to talk to you, but I don’t think he’ll have anything useful to say. Poor fool’s shaking in his boots at being called forward for an audience.”
    Guessing that was my cue to get dressed, I ignored it. It wasn’t every day I had a home-cooked breakfast and I wasn’t wasting it in a rush over a vampire who had already spent who knew how long cooling his heels.
    The two vampires talked about the Vantage while they waited. Marcus put on his own water for