Dark Horizons (The Red Sector Chronicles) by Krystle Jones Read Free Book Online

me, s weetheart,” he said, rising and tossing the napkin onto the now empty plate. He walked over to me, putting his hands in his pants pockets, with his thumbs hooked over the sides.
    I suddenly wanted to spit on him, right in his eyes, but that seemed childish. “What are you doing here?” I asked tightly.
    He glanced over his shoulder at the table. “It would appear I was having dinner.”
    “I shot you,” I snapped, in no mood for his games. “With Scarlet Steel, at which point you fell at least twenty stories out of a building.”
    His eyes fixed on mine, dark and dangerous. The slow smile spread ing over his lips made me uneasy. “ Yes, somehow I had forgotten that part. Thank you for reminding me of your affection.”
    Guilt twisted my heart. I didn’t know why. He deserved it, and yet I couldn’t erase a lifetime of memories together, most of which from when he was less of a monster.
    “How did you survive?” I asked. My voice sounded strained because my throat was so tight.
    Orion’s eyes flickered red, reflecting like a cat’s would. “Because I am a ‘ god walking amongst mere mortals ’ . As you could be, if you chose to embrace our heritage.”
    My eyes flickered to the spot beneath his suit , where I knew the forget-me-not birthmark was . He was referring to our supposed ancestor, the first vam pire that ever walked the earth . Many believed in the myth so deeply it was nearly a religion , but I wasn’t sure what to make of the fabled vampire yet.
    “I am many things, but not a murderer or a psychopath,” I said coldly.
    He leaned forward, dropping his voice to a whisper. “You think you’re better than me, but you’re not.” Gracefully, he reached through the slot and toyed with a strand of my hair. Something flashed silver; a ring stamped with the forget-me-not emblem rested on his middle finger. I held my breath, trembling from a combination of loathing and fear. “There’s an animal inside all of us, waiting to be unleashed. And when it comes for you, dear sister, you’ll hate the vamps as much as I do , and you’ll wish you had let me follow through with my plan.”
    His words sent chills racing across m y skin as I recalled the barely human monsters that roamed the Red Sectors. At one point in time, they had all been p eople.
    Just like me.
    Did they know they were going to become mindless monsters? Was that the future I had to look forward to?
    I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. “No. No, I could never be like that.”
    His smile turned knowing. “Are you sure? I hear you killed quite a few of my best men at the Knight residence.”
    I felt my cheeks cool as I paled, remembering the feeling of slaughtering several men with little more than my bare hands. Killing seemed natural at the time , and I hadn’t thought anything of it.
    Until now.
    A dark chuckle interrupted my thoughts, and my eyes snapped up. “There it is… bloodlust .” He sighed the word, making it sound romantic. Running his thumb once more over the strand of my hair, he released it and let it flop back down over my chest. “It’s okay to be what you are. Those men were insignificant, and you are a goddess. We are more than any of them will ever hope to become.”
    It was growing very warm in here, and for some reason, my heart started to race at the memory of their blood splattered all over the living room and kitchen. I took a shaky breath, feeling a hard push deep within me to feed, to savor the warm, syrupy sweetness of their blood as it drained down my throat…
    I blinked hard. What the hell was I thinking? I didn’t want to be a vampire. The one time I had fed on a human – without meaning to, I might add – it was one of the most horrible things I’d ever done, or at least it felt that way to me. But now…
    “Stop it,” I hissed, putting my hands over my ears. “Stop messing with my head.”
    Orion smirked. “We’re twins. I’ll always be inside your head.”
    An d with that, he