Dark Studies (Arcaneology) by C. P. Foster Read Free Book Online Page A

Covenant’s growing momentum or deal it a serious blow.
    Steffen Scott chose not to sit back and see what might happen. In the last two years he had offered support to the pro-Covenant faction so their leader could peacefully challenge Astor for control of the Northwest Territory. If they succeeded, those in the opposing faction would either be brought to heel or have to flee to other nations.
    He hadn’t exaggerated about his enemies. In the current state of affairs, those in the Northwest Territory who stood against the Covenant would do anything within their power to take him out of the picture. His two children were somewhere in Europe, not easy targets, but if he formed an attachment with someone more vulnerable, that person would certainly be in danger.
    Why did he want to? She knew a few vampires who kept human companions. Her protector was one of them. But the feelings those vampires had for their humans were only a pale shadow of what the humans themselves felt. In most cases, human emotions were simply a means to an end, something to manipulate rather than reciprocate. So why would Scott fantasize about such a thing? Yet it seemed it was something he wanted to feel, or at least pretend to feel.
    And that made him vulnerable to her, just as she had been vulnerable to his kind when she was an innocent girl, all too eager to fall in love. What would it be like to wield that particular power over a vampire? Again and again, she went back to that question, and in the end she could not resist the temptation to find out.
     
     
     
    Angie called him two days later. Lynette had refused to broker this deal. It was, in her words, a whole new level of crazy.
    “This is how it will go,” Angie told him. “I’ll create a character. She will look different, sound different, smell and feel different than I do. She will have her own name. Her own personality. I’ll need input from you as to what this person should be like. She will be drawn from parts of me, but she won’t be me. That is the key to making this work—that we both never forget she is a fiction, a construct.”
    Silence stretched out across the airwaves. She waited until he said, “I’m listening.”
    “We’ll start midway into the relationship. Let it be a given that the two of you have been together for a certain amount of time, and the relationship has had a chance to build. We’ll create a history for them, a back story, in the same way actors develop their roles. This will require some imagination from us both, and a willingness to commit to playing our parts. Will you be able to do that?”
    “I think so.” He drew out the words, mulling over her proposal. “I am willing to try.”
    “Have you ever had a girlfriend before?”
    “Is that relevant?”
    “I need to know what you’re expecting.”
    “I’ve seen relationships portrayed in films and on television, but I don’t know how realistic they are.”
    Interesting. Apparently he’d never been in one. Perhaps he wanted to see what it was like before attempting the real thing.
    “Most couples go out together. Dinner, movies, dancing, concerts, but our sessions need to be private. We can make up a reason for us to keep our rendezvous secret, if you don’t mind being a little unconventional.”
    “I don’t mind.”
    “Very well. I’ll e-mail you questions about their history, her personality, and the details of the fantasy. The more thorough your answers, the more authentic the experience. I’ll craft her based on what you tell me, and let you know when I am ready to begin.”
     
    * * *
     
     
    He had booked a suite in a hotel that catered to vampires. Its windowless walls provided protection from the sun. Coffins were available for those who wished, but Scott had chosen a bed instead. The linen sheets and spread were black, probably to hide the blood stains inevitable in such a place.
    Angie sprayed a mist of lavender perfume into the air and stepped through it so the scent