Demon's Kiss by MAGGIE SHAYNE Read Free Book Online Page B

it up. “Company coming,” she muttered. But the emphatic nature of the message seemed to suggest there was more to it than just the traditional signal of a toppling broomstick.
    Roxy would have told herself she was being overly nervous, except that she’d been having odd feelings for days, and bad dreams three nights in a row. An evil spider weaving a web in the middle of a busy sidewalk. A bear trap set and baited in the heart of a wildlife preserve. A sense of someone waiting around a corner, just out of sight, someone dangerous, about to spring, but not on her.
    Roxy reclaimed her unfinished drink—a tall glass still half full of her own special blend of vegetable juices and empowering herbs. “Let’s just see about this,” she said as she pulled on a satin robe, slid her feet into matching slippers and scuffed to the table in the middle of her rain forestlike living room. She had filled the place with man-sized waterfall-fountains, tub-sized misters and more plants than furniture. She kept the humidity level at eighty percent in here. God, she loved her home.
    Taking a seat, she sipped her drink, then set it down, picked up the tarot cards and began to shuffle as she thought about opening herself to messages from spirits. Then she laid the cards out in a careful pattern.
    The Hermit. That card usually indicated an inner journey. But the thought that came to mind when she saw it was of her dearest friend.
    The other cards that fell around it, though, didn’t make sense. He was surrounding himself with…family? But he didn’t have family. He was a loner. Someone was conspiring against him. He was in danger in the near future, but also…
    â€œRight now.” Roxy jumped to her feet, raced to her bedroom and pulled on clothes just as fast as she could. A flowing skirt, a clingy Lycra top, a pair of bamboo sandals. She hoped it was a warm night, and pulled on a black felt shawl as she raced outside, deciding the car was a far better option than the van.
    She didn’t know exactly where he was. But they had a bond, and she was counting on it to guide her to him.
    God, just let it be in time.
    Vampires, she thought, rolling her eyes. Sometimes they were more trouble than they were worth.
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    â€œIt’s going to be daylight soon,” Reaper said. “Can you feel it?”
    Seth frowned, and searched his senses. “I feel… something. ”
    â€œDescribe it.”
    â€œIt’s kind of…dense. Heavy.”
    â€œYes, that’s the lethargy. Be aware of it, always. You must never be caught by the sun’s rays. They’ll burn you alive, Seth.”
    â€œOkay,” Seth said as the vampire steered the car onto an exit ramp. “So we’re gonna find someplace to hole up for the day, then?”
    â€œYes. Tonight will be soon enough to visit this vampiress.”
    â€œCool.” Seth supplanted his impatience by conjuring images in his mind of where they would spend the day. Some crumbling ruin, an abandoned warehouse, maybe a crypt in a cemetery. “So tell me something, will you?” he asked.
    â€œI might.”
    â€œHow long have you been a vampire? I mean, are you, like, centuries old?”
    â€œDo I seem old to you?”
    â€œWell, you seem pretty wise and pretty powerful, so yeah. I guess that makes you fairly old. That’s not an insult, is it? I mean, to a vampire?”
    â€œAge is power. To call a vampire old is to call him powerful. It’s not an insult.”
    â€œSo?”
    Reaper looked at him, narrowed his eyes, then nodded once. “I’ve been a vampire for a little more than a decade.”
    â€œWho made you?”
    Tipping his head to one side, Reaper seemed to study him, then said, “I suppose I had all the same questions when I was newly made. I wanted to know if the way I’d been brought over was unique or fairly common, what others had experienced, how many of us there