Bride of Blood:: First Kiss by Anthony E. Ventrello Read Free Book Online Page A

couldn’t get her out of his mind.   It was almost as if he were reliving the day she left over and over again.
                              He looked up at the bookshelf and stared at the nearly 400 years of books.   He had Chaucer, Shakespeare, Hardy, and many other first pressings.   The books brought many other memories that he had long ago put away.   But none of them stuck as his memories of Velara.  
                              A strong purr took his attention away from his books.   Anton’s cat Persephone jumped up on the desk.   She was a beautiful Ragdoll cat that Rick’s wife Sophie had given him for his birthday.   She was roughly about 4 years old and was totally in love with Anton.   She couldn’t stand the sight of Alexander or just about any other vampire that came to visit.   When she felt that Anton wasn’t paying enough attention to her she would play “floppy cat”, which was something that only Ragdolls tended do.   She would flop down on her back going totally limp.   She thought that it made her look totally irresistible and she was right.   Anton couldn’t wait to pet her and play with her until it ran out of gas.
                              But this time he didn’t pet her.   He picked her up and set her down on the floor.   She was slightly miffed and walked out of the room.   Anton felt bad about not petting her but he was not focusing on the world around him.   His thoughts were on Velara.   It had been so many years since he thought about her.
                              The year was 1850.   By that time Anton had been living in the Colonies for close to 50 years.   After leaving St. Croix a few years after his dear friend Alexander Hamilton left to attend a university in New York City, he traveled to a few different islands and then settled in Cuba for a while.   While there, he participated in an abolitionist movement to try and break the slave trade and slavery itself.
                              The movement needed him in the Colonies, so he traveled there and became a conductor on the Underground Railroad and helped to smuggle guns and ammo to various other militant abolitionist groups.
                              He was able to kill and survive on slave bounty hunters. There were several of them around as the prospect of collecting large rewards for the capture and return of runaway slaves caused several men to set aside any sense of decency.
                              On one particular night, Anton sat at his post ready to transport a group of runaway slaves from one safe house to another.   He was thinking of his friend Hamilton.   It had been close to 80 years since he had seen his young friend, and he thought of him on and off over the years.
    They stood on the seaside together back then staring out at the large moon.   The fifteen- year-old Hamilton looked at him and said, “I want to thank you again for your sponsorship of my education”
                              Anton smiled and said, “It’s my pleasure, but you know that several businessmen also gave money to help.”
                              “Yes, I know, but it was you that proposed the idea to send me to the Colonies.”
                              “True, but there will be more opportunities for you there.   Do you wish to remain here and be a clerk for the rest of your life?”
                              Hamilton sighed and looked down.   “There is nothing more for me here.   Mother is gone.   I have not seen Father in so many years.   I truly welcome any chance to leave this island make a difference somewhere else.”
                              “Face it, Hamilton,” Anton said putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder.   “There is not much that can be done to change things here.   This place is Hell on Earth.”   They looked