Bloodline by MAGGIE SHAYNE Read Free Book Online

one they couldn’t break. She was the one who would rather die than submit. She was the voice of his conscience whenever he closed his eyes long enough to listen. She was the face he couldn’t stop seeing in his mind, the name he heard on the wind.
    She was the one kiss he had never been able to forget.
    He hadn’t named her Lilith because she reminded him of the print. He’d bought the print because it reminded him of her, right down to her name.
    She was Lilith.
    And somehow, she had found him.
    He was going to have to make her tell him how.
    21 Years Ago
    The taxi dropped Serena off in front of a cracker-box house in a neighborhood full of cracker-box houses and pulled away. She’d never felt more alone.
    It wasn’t a new sensation, of course. Serena had always been alone. She’d been orphaned at nineteen and had been making her own way ever since, waiting tables at the Broadway Grill, living in her tiny apartment in the low-rent district. On her own. That was how it had always been. The one-night stand that had resulted in the pregnancy had been just that. A one-night stand. A stranger in a bar on a particularly bad night when she’d been too depressed to want to go to bed alone. She didn’t even know his name.
    But for the last nine months, she hadn’t felt lonely at all. She’d had her baby daughter growing inside her. She’d talked to her. She’d laughed with her. She’d sungto her and read her stories. Then she’d given birth to her—and someone had stolen her away.
    It wasn’t fair.
    She’d briefly considered going back to her own apartment. Her own job. Her own life. Until she’d seen the one person who had tried to help her blown to bits in her own car.
    Now Serena was scared. She was angry, and she was grieving the loss of her baby, but fear had layered itself over both those emotions. She’d given her name and address, her employer and insurance information, when she’d checked into the hospital. She wasn’t going back home, not until she knew exactly what was going on. It might not be safe.
    So she stood in front of the little house staring down at the key chain from the knapsack and wondered briefly if this had been Maureen Keenan’s home. If it was, and if Maureen had been killed because she’d tried to help her, then wouldn’t those dark killers know where she lived? Wouldn’t they be watching?
    Serena turned and looked around. There were other houses just like this one lining both sides of the smooth, narrow, perfectly paved road. There were little maple trees spaced at regular intervals along both sides. There was a sidewalk unrolling in front of the houses, not a chip or a crack in it.
    A few cars were parked in a few driveways. None along the curb. None with anyone lurking inside. There were swing sets and tricycles in several yards. The place looked for all the world like a cozy, friendly, safe little neighborhood. No faces peered out through parted curtains as far as she could see. Maybe it would be safe to go inside.
    Drawing a breath, she went up the perfect little sidewalk to the front door, knocked and awaited an answer that never came. So, with hands that trembled, she slipped the key into the lock, turned it and opened the door.
    The house was dark, but it wasn’t empty. She didn’t know why no one had answered the door, but she could feel another’s presence. And along with that feeling, there were the aromas. She smelled something hot and rich, and her stomach growled.
    She looked through the darkened room she had entered to the rectangle of light that was an open doorway at the far end. A woman’s form stepped into that opening, no more than a dark silhouette.
    â€œSerena?” the shadow asked softly, but the tone of her voice said she already knew.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnd where is Maureen?”
    Serena got the feeling that the faceless woman already knew what her