Eternal War Rising to the South: The Beynok Vampire Series by Erika Bradshaw Read Free Book Online

my visions of the past, but still my guard needed to stay up. There must be a reason I visualized Vladimir wanting to kill him. This figure had to be a threat to me in some way. Besides, it was neither Beynok nor human so it had to die.
    In a familiar stern voice, I listened to him say, “My name is Sorin. I mean you no harm, so you can drop your guard.” I could see a flicker of light reflecting from his eyes. They were staring straight at me, connecting with mine.
    “The fact you’re taking cover in the darkness only convinces me of your bad intentions. You’re stalking me in my dreams and now in real life. What are you? Walk out so I can see you.” I steadied my voice, braced myself, and waited.
    The figure walked forward and slowly became a body and no longer a shadow to me. His eyes never moved from mine while he walked closer in the moonlight. He stopped ten feet short of me and held a robust position. This didn’t help comfort me any. He was tall, 6’5” maybe. He had wide shoulders and a trim waistline and wore dark jeans, brown leather boots, and a dark-colored T-shirt tucked into a bulky brown belt with a large, heavy-looking belt buckle. Over top of his ensemble was a knee-length, hooded, brown leather jacket. He had a look on his face and a stare in his eyes that implied, he was on a mission and I was the goal. His presence seemed to stiffen the air around me. The breeze stopped blowing, the creek stop crackling, the animals and bugs silenced…the world stopped except for him.
    He was so close. I had to open myself just a little to sense if he was going to attack me or not. My heart was beating so hard I could feel my whole chest moving in and out. It had felt like this during our first encounter. I had to place my hand over my heart and push to try to slow the pace down.
    “Breathe, just breathe,” he said. His face was perfect. It was square with defined cheekbones, a stern jaw line, and full lips. He had dark, short hair almost to his scalp. Dark short hair? He should have chin length hair. Why would I think that?
    I was still having trouble breathing, and my neck and hands became clammy. “What are doing to me?”
    “It’s okay, it’ll pass. Maybe you should run some water over your face and neck.” How dare he tell me what I should do? I was pissed that he could see I was weak. Cool water would help, though. I knew that if he attacked me, he would defeat me. His emotions drained my strength.
    “Okay.” I glared at him, “If you’re here to kill me, you could at least let me regain some composure so it would be a fair fight. Unless you are a coward and you are scared of a fair fight.” No response from him. He just lifted the left side of his mouth, giving me a smirk, revealing a boyish dimple. I walked to the water, still facing him as I went in. The water did feel good as I splashed it over my face and arms. The day must have dehydrated me. I was splashing and drinking at the same time, making a spectacle of myself, but I didn’t care. As I walked out, I patted myself dry with the shirt I had left on the riverbank. After I pulled my damp shirt on over my bare body, I felt better, able to fight if necessary.
    “So, what do you want? We’re hundreds of miles away from where we first saw one another. You’re obviously stalking me. What do you want from me? And what are you?” He walked closer to me, about an arm’s length away. I couldn’t back up because if I did such a thing, it would seem as if I were intimidated by him, so I stood my ground. I tilted my head up to look at him because he was standing so close to me. I was determined to say nothing. It was his turn to talk. He stood there in silence, staring down at me with his imposing eyes. They were so dark they almost looked black, but I could swear they were a dark amethyst color. He was not human, that was for sure. He was too perfect not be some other type of creature or demon, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on