Fallen by Stacy Claflin Read Free Book Online

mom will be home when Charlie gets there, so I don't have to watch him. I'll let her know that I'll probably be late."
    "There's no probably about it," I said with a smile.
    He leaned across the center console and placed his lips on mine. His desire and confusion mixed together and made the most alluring smell. I grabbed his face and kissed him back, and then pulled away. He looked disappointed.
    "There'll be more of that tomorrow," I said.
    "Don't be late."
    When he was safely inside, I ran back to the hotel that I had slept in the night before. They had a lot of vacant rooms, so it made sense to sleep in one of those. I just had to walk around the building listening for heartbeats. I walked through the wall of the first empty room I found and saw suitcases sitting on the beds. Obviously the room wouldn't be vacant for long, so I slipped through the door and walked along the hall, listening for another empty room.
    The next one I found was free of luggage, so I made myself comfortable on one of the beds and turned on the TV, not paying attention to what was playing. My mind kept going back to Tanner. I couldn't stop thinking about how gorgeous he was or how delectable he smelled and tasted. I understood why some vampires liked keeping human volunteers, though it was usually the ones with a conscience who felt bad about killing humans to meet their blood need.
    Having grown up around royal vampires, I'd met more than my fair share of vampires bent on helping the human race. Ironically, it was usually the common vampires—the ones turned from human to vampire, rather than being born a vampire—who had no qualms about killing people.
    My phone rang and I groaned, knowing that it was probably Vince. I pulled it from the backpack and saw that I was right.
    "What do you want? Are you going to call me several times a day now?"
    "I want a real update, Samantha, and don't hang up on me this time."
    So that's what this was about. I'd hurt his pride. "There's nothing to report. I'm still looking for the right guy."
    "Maybe you shouldn't lead in with your being a vampire. Find some guy to seduce that will do the job, and then when he's wrapped around your finger, tell him about Alexis then."
    "Great. I'll do that. You didn't answer my question. Are you going to call me every day now?"
    "If you don't make a habit of checking in. Oh and since it looks like you'll be there a while, be sure to enroll in the school."
    "I can't wait. These things take time, Vince. If I have something important to tell you, I will. Otherwise just let me focus on what I'm doing here. I heard the noise in your background earlier. It sounds like you've got plenty to keep yourself occupied while I'm gone."
    Vince laughed. "We're perfect for each other, Samantha. We both have someone on the side all the time and we don't let it bother us."
    I rolled my eyes. "I thought we were perfect for each other because we both want to rule over vampires worldwide after removing the current leadership."
    "That too, baby. Have fun with the humans." The call ended.
    I put my phone away, thinking about the differences between Tanner and Vince. Sure, Tanner was a high school football player and obviously very different from a ruthless vampire who was set on ruling the world, but I found myself really taken in by his innocence. I wanted to learn more about that and not to crush it, as I usually would. Instead of seeing it as a weakness, I was drawn to it.
    What was I going to tell Tanner? I was going to explain that I was a vampire, but I couldn't tell him that I was actually working with one of the most powerful vampires alive so we could take out one of Tanner's classmates. He would think that I was a monster, even if he didn't know who Alexis was.
    Was I even doing the right thing? I didn't want to lie to Tanner, but at the same time there was no way I could tell him the real story. I wanted him to continue to like me. He was a much better person than Vince.
    Did I really even