Byzantine Heartbreak by Tracy Cooper-Posey Read Free Book Online Page A

his human instincts switched to high-alert. “Thank you,” she whispered, her lips against his cheek. She smelled of lilac.

 
    Chapter Five
     
    Vienna, 2263 A.D.
    “I feel ridiculous,” Brendan complained, tugging at the complicated double bowtie at his neck.
    Cáel slapped his hand away. “You look just fine. Leave it alone.” He looked out the window of the coach. “Five minutes, maybe less, folks.” His gut tightened. “Are you ready for this?”
    Nayara, sitting in the far corner of the coach, wrapped in ermine up to the neck and trailing velvet and sequins, looked serene and calm as usual. Her eyes were two crystal clear pools of green Cáel could easily drown in. He pulled his gaze away from her face. She looked glorious. If anyone was going to help make vampires palatable and sexy to humans, Nayara was the poster pin-up girl who would do it. If she could lose some of her indifferent air.
    “Explain to me one last time how this is going to help vampires’ public image, Cáel?” Ryan asked.
    He was sitting next to Nayara, wearing the latest in designer menswear and Cáel had to admit he looked damned good in it. He had the height and build to pull it off, along with the shoulders to fill the jacket very nicely.
    Yeah, the pair of them would make a hell of an impression, as long as no one hit one of their sensitive buttons, or messed with them in any way.
    Cáel sighed mentally.
    Then there was Brenden.
    “You’re here because you have to start looking more accessible. So you start blending in. Charity events. High publicity events where the media can showcase you. The more humans get to know and learn about you, the more comfortable they’ll get with you.”
    “We have no intention of turning into second string humans, Cáel,” Nayara warned, her voice soft.
    “Hell, who would want you to?” Cáel replied. “That’s not what this is about. For the last two hundred years, since you guys stepped out, you’ve stayed segregated. You’ve pretty much locked yourselves away on that station, or else you’ve stayed hidden, passing as human down here, because being yourselves down here was too much trouble. It’s time you took the trouble and made humans look at you. Look at you, accept you. Take you in and learn to live with you, warts and all.”
    Ryan grimaced. “What if they don’t like what they learn? What if they don’t accept it?”
    Cáel took a breath. “They have to, don’t they? You are what you are.”
    Brenden was watching the rows of fans pass by the carriage as it rolled along the street toward the Vienna Opera House where the ball was being held. “Humans aren’t exactly pretty, either,” he observed. “Not when you get right down to some of their less endearing habits.”
    Cáel gave another gusty sigh. “For god’s sake, don’t start talking about elimination and breeding in front of the cameras, Brenden. Let’s just stay positive for tonight.”
    The carriage came to a halt. Already, blazing light from cameras and spotlights streamed in the tiny windows of the carriage.
    “We’re on,” Cáel breathed. The tension in the carriage jumped higher.
    The footman opened the carriage door and dropped the step down, then moved to one side, holding the door open. He was bewigged and wore stockings, as if he was from the 18th century, but his frockcoat was made to glitter in the lights.
    Ryan stepped out first and helped Nayara out. Then Cáel and Brenden stepped out. The carriage lifted up on its springs as Brenden stepped onto the red carpet, which rolled up the short flight of steps to the graceful arches that fronted the opera house. The ball was an outdoor ball held in front of the opera house, in the public square where the fountain played. Security was paramount for the event, for world dignitaries were attending. The roads in a five block radius had been secured and even the fans lining the route to cheer the attendees had been vetted and screened.
    It was this factor