Heart of the Dead: Vampire Superheroes (Perpetual Creatures Book 1) by Gabriel Beyers Read Free Book Online Page B

seemed more than that. She felt as though some cosmic time clock had been set in motion and the seconds were rapidly falling away.
    Jerusa couldn’t look away from his intense green eyes and a strange sensation of falling overtook her. The budding trees, the whispering breeze, even the sunlight faded from her sight. All that remained was his resplendent face and Alicia dancing about like a jester in the corner of her eye. Though the man made no movement, Jerusa felt his warm, powerful hands caress the sides of her face, his fingers combing through her hair. A pleasant shiver cascaded down her spine and she gasped as if caught off guard by a kiss.
    Then the world of trees and light returned. The young man still took shelter behind the maple tree.
    “Thank you, but I must remain here,” he said. “I must stay and watch.”
    “Watch what?” Jerusa shuddered at the desperation in her voice.
    The man smiled, but offered no other explanation.
    “If I go to get you some clothes, will you stay here until I get back?”
    The man’s smile broadened, parting his lips and showcasing the set of perfect white teeth hidden within. His spectral green eyes seem to sparkle and glow as though they were the fount from which galaxies were born. Jerusa gasped as an acute dizziness overtook her. An irrational fear of falling into the man’s eyes, literally falling as though his pupils were twin black holes, forced her to look away.
    When the man realized he was the source of Jerusa’s sudden anxiety, he said, “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” His voice was repentant, but Jerusa was the one that felt ashamed, though she wasn’t sure why. “I would love some clothes,” the man said. “If you will be so kind as to find me some, I will wait right here.”
    Jerusa chanced a glance at him and was in awe of the scene before her. The naked Adonis peering around the tree, the lush and living forest embracing him, the golden shafts of sunlight bowing before him, it was no less than a masterpiece of Michelangelo or Botticelli come to life before her.
    “I won’t be gone long,” Jerusa said.
    It took a great force of will, but Jerusa turned away from the man and continued down the gravel path that had once been the realm of trains. She often imagined those serpentine behemoths trudging through the forests carrying everything from coal to sundries to passengers only to be deemed obsolete by super highways and air travel, and it made her sad. Sad that something so strong and needed not too long ago was now quickly becoming a nostalgic memory. What did that mean for her, who had never been strong, never been needed, a girl who had been born with a broken heart, obsolete from the beginning?
    Jerusa cast the thoughts of her own insignificance from her mind and concentrated on the job at hand. The path skirted up next to a swollen creek for a short while before they parted ways. Someday, when no longer pinned under her mother’s thumb, she planned to come here, wade into the cool sparkling water and follow the current to some adventure.
    Not far past where the path and creek separated, a weathered and worn cattle gate crossed the trail, its green paint all but chipped away. Beyond the gate stood the ground still owned by the federal government, where the old steel lines and creosote-soaked timbers remained. To the right of the gate was the path leading from the woods and eventually to Jerusa’s home.
    Jerusa had the overwhelming urge to ignore the “NO TRESSPASSING” sign bolted to the gate, climb the rounded rungs, and hop over into that forbidden world. It seemed a gateway to another world, a door to Narnia or Terabithia or any other of the many worlds of her dreams. But those worlds also housed witches and monsters, and beyond this gate were dangerous men … at least according to her mother. Jerusa placed a wistful hand upon the cool metal of the gate, then turned right up the gravel path.
    The path spilled out