From Fear to Eternity: An Immortality Bites Mystery by Michelle Rowen Read Free Book Online

tended to make a first impression on people that got them to either like me or hate me. There wasn’t usually a lot of indifference. Maybe I could use this to break through Sebastien’s guard and get to the truth. “That just goes to show that you don’t know me at all. I used to be nice. Then someone bit my neck and made me a vampire against my will, with hunterslying in wait, wanting to end my life. That can shake the nice out of anybody.”
    Thomas walked past us in the hallway with a tray of drinks. He nodded at Sebastien, but didn’t slow his steps. No cranberry juices on the tray. No whiff of blood. Just more champagne.
    “It certainly can. But it is a good test of one’s personal will to see how driven she is to survive.”
    I couldn’t figure this guy out. Was he an old acquaintance with a strange sense of humor or was he up to something nasty? Unfortunately, my gut instinct was gesturing wildly toward door number two. “Why haven’t you stayed in touch with Veronique or Thierry? Three hundred years is a very long time.”
    “You have no idea how long three centuries can feel.”
    “True.” The ice in his words made a chill run down my spine. “So why now? Why after all this time have you made the decision to reconnect?”
    Sebastien paced to the other side of the room, his face in shadows, his jaw tight. For a moment, he reminded me so much of Thierry that I thought they could very well be blood relatives after all.
    “He never told you about me?” he said.
    “Sorry, no.”
    His expression darkened. “How easy it must have been for him to forget.”
    “Forget what?”
    “What he did to me.”
    I thought I was finally starting to get the hang of this. Sebastien Lavelle was not much better than a fanged college kid with a long list of separation issues when it came to his parents. He was having a tempertantrum because enough attention hadn’t been paid to him over the years. Well, too bad, Junior.
    I was going to try for patience to deal with him. Maybe it didn’t have to get any more unpleasant than it already had. Our number one priority tonight was dealing with the Atticus situation. Anything else wasn’t worth our time and attention.
    Still, this guy was obviously in pain about his past with Thierry, a sire who hadn’t really been as attentive as he could have been. In that regard, I felt bad for Sebastien.
    “Whatever your deal is with Thierry,” I said gently, “you need to let it go. You don’t have to have a relationship with him, but I’m sensing some serious anger issues here. However, having his drink spiked with blood when apparently you have the very same blood addiction isn’t cool. You’d know very well what kind of torture that is for him.”
    “Spiking his drink?” Now a smile played at his lips. “What do you mean?”
    I narrowed my eyes, my sympathy waning in record time. “Yeah. Don’t try to tell me it wasn’t you who told the blonde to put blood in Thierry’s drinks. You know his problems and you wanted to make him lose his composure tonight.”
    “That would be a cruel trick.”
    “Yes, it would.”
    “He seems fine.” His attention moved to my neck, mostly covered by my hair. “But perhaps that’s only an act. Is it?”
    “You need to back off.”
    “Do I?” His gaze grew glacial again in seconds. “Do you know what he did to me? This man you proclaim to love with all your heart?”
    I didn’t flinch from his furious glare; I met it full on. “Go ahead. Tell me. It’s obvious that you’re dying to.”
    He raked a hand through his hair, turning to pace a few feet down the hall before he swiveled to face me again. “Up until three months ago I was locked in a tomb no bigger than a closet. Trapped. Abandoned. Starving and wasting away to nothing but skin and bones. Your darling new husband did that to me, Sarah. He locked me up and threw away the key.”
    I stared at him in shock. “You’re lying.”
    “I’m not lying.” There was not even a