Eternal Shadows by Kate Martin Read Free Book Online Page A

expected. A group of people, men and women, ranging in age from the very young—an infant was held by a woman sitting in front—to the elderly. I could see Mille and Madge at the center, their hair long, hanging past their shoulders. Instead of steel buildings, a small country home served as the backdrop. No one smiled.
    “My family,” Millie said, looking over my shoulder.
    “Why didn’t anyone smile back then?”
    She laughed. “We didn’t have the benefit of seeing the picture before it was developed. And we had to stay very still.” Gently, she lifted the frame from my hand and set it back. “I will gladly show you my pictures at another time. Right now, what I want you to see is over here.”
    She took my hand and turned me, and the first thing I noticed was the smell.
    It was intoxicating. I wondered how I hadn’t noticed it before. But then again, I hadn’t been near a human since my turning, aside from the woman outside, and I had been far too distracted by all my other cravings to notice if she had smelled as good. I wanted him.
    Tall, with broad shoulders that could have easily been twice my own width. He was the very definition of tall, dark, and handsome. Chiseled features accompanied what was clearly an equally chiseled chest beneath a navy blue tee-shirt. My brain short-circuited.
    Millie must have sensed my insane need to lunge at him, because she kept her hand securely wrapped around mine. I knew without testing her strength that I wouldn’t be able to get farther than two or three inches.
    “This is Brody,” she said. “My feeder.”
    “Uh, nice to meet you.” I wasn’t sure what the correct sentiment would be.
    He smiled. His teeth were just as damned perfect as everything else. “The pleasure is mine.”
    When no one said anything else, I glanced nervously at Millie. She simply looked at me, like she expected me to ask questions. Where the hell had she found this guy, is what I really wanted to ask. She must have pulled him straight off one of those hot guy calendars. However, since that would have been rude, I came up with something else. “How long have you been Millie’s…” I couldn’t say feeder. It sounded way too twisted.
    Brody obviously knew what I meant anyway. “About six years. Since I was twenty-one.”
    The length of time surprised me. He’d survived living with all these human-eaters for that long? Millie had managed not to lose control for six long years. Or maybe six wasn’t really so long when you lived forever.
    Millie released my hand, trusting I wouldn’t go anywhere, and tucked herself against Brody’s side. “I met him at a bookshop,” she said. “And I knew instantly that he was for me.” She looked up at his face, he was a good head taller than her, and that’s when I saw it.
    She loved him. And he loved her.
    She was in love with her food. And I was getting really confused. I didn’t say anything, just stared at them dumbly.
    Chimes rang through the air again as Millie laughed. She did that a lot. “Oh, Kassandra. You look so utterly perplexed. I simply wanted to show you that feeders are not abused slaves. Brody is quite a good friend to me.”
    “Uh huh.”
    “Would you like to see how it works?”
    “I think I can figure that out for myself, thanks.” No way was I watching her bite him. I had a feeling it would seem all too intimate. Already the hand he had placed on her lower back and slowly lowered little by little was making me squirm with discomfort. It was nice—for them. I didn’t need to be witness.
    Suddenly Millie unwound herself from him and took both my hands, pulling me back towards the door. “Let’s continue our walk.” She shimmied me back out into the hall, then, without letting go of one of my hands, ducked back inside for a brief moment. I could smell Brody close by again. She returned, and closed the door with a promise to be back later.
    The door muffled his scent a bit, and I chased the thoughts of it away. “Do