Dead Roses for a Blue Lady by Nancy Collins Read Free Book Online Page A

feel giddy, almost lightheaded, while in his company. To be mistaken for a desirable human woman was actually quite flattering. Especially since she'd stopped thinking of herself as human some time back.
    They ended up dancing, adding their bodies to the surging crowd that filled the mosh pit.
    At one point, Sonja was amazed to find herself laughing, genuinely laughing, one arm wrapped about Judd's waist. And then Judd leaned in and kissed her.
    She barely had time to retract her fangs before his tongue found hers. She slid her other arm around his waist and pulled him into her, grinding herself against him. He responded eagerly, his erection rubbing against her hip like a friendly tomcat. And she found herself wondering how his blood would taste.
    She pushed him away so hard he staggered backward a couple of steps, almost falling on his ass. Sonja shook her head as if trying to dislodge something in her ear, a guttural moan rising from her chest.
    "Sonja?" There was a confused, hurt look on his face.
    She could see his blood beckoning her from just beneath the surface of his skin: the veins traced in blue, the arteries pulsing purple. She turned her back on him and ran from the bar, her head lowered. She shouldered her way through a knot of dancers, sending them flying like duckpins. Some of the bar's patrons hurled insults in her direction, a couple even spat at her, but she was deaf to their anger.
    She put a couple of blocks between her and the bar before she stopped to catch her breath.
    She slumped into a darkened doorway, staring at her shaking hands as if they belonged to someone else.
    "I liked him. I honestly liked him and I was going to.. .going to.
    Like. Hate. What's the difference? Blood is the life, wherever it comes from.
    "Not like that. I never feed off anyone who doesn't deserve it. Never."
    Aren't we special?
    "Shut up, bitch."
    "Sonja?"
    She had him pinned to the wall, one forearm clamped against his windpipe in a choke hold before she recognized him. Judd clawed at her arm, his eyes bugging from their sockets.
    "I'm...sorry..." he gasped out.
    She let him go. "No, I'm the one who should be sorry. More than you realize."
    Judd regarded her apprehensively as he massaged his throat, but there was still no fear in his eyes. "Look, I don't know what it is I said or did back there at the bar that put you off..."
    "The problem isn't with you, Judd. Believe me." She turned and began walking away, but

    Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) he hurried after her.
    "I know an all-night coffeehouse near here. Maybe we could go and talk things over there—?"
    "Judd, just leave me alone, okay? You'd be a lot better off if you just forgot you ever met me."
    "How could I forget someone like you?"
    "Easier than you realize."
    He was keeping pace alongside her, desperately trying to make eye contact. "C'mon Sonja! Give it a chance! I—damn it, would you just look at me?"
    Sonja stopped in mid-step to face him, her expression unreadable behind her mirrored sunglasses. "That's the last thing you want me to do."
    Judd sighed and fished a pen and a piece of paper out of his pocket. "You're one weird chick, that's for sure! But I like you, don't ask me why." He scribbled something on the scrap of paper and shoved it into her hand. "Look, here's my phone number. Call me, okay?"
    Sonja closed her fist around the paper. "Judd—"
    He held his hands out, palms facing up. "No strings attached, I promise. Just call me."
    Sonja was suprised to find herself smiling. "Okay. I'll call you. Now will you leave me alone?"

    When she revived the next evening she found Judd's phone number tucked away in one of the pockets of her leather jacket. She sat cross-legged on the coarse cotton futon that served as her bed and stared at it for a long time.
    She'd been careful to make sure Judd hadn't followed her the night before. Her current nest was a drafty loft apartment in the attic of an