Immortal Earth (Vampires For Earth Book 1) by Sarah Warden Read Free Book Online Page B

scratch on my body. I went inside the bar to see if the bartender had witnessed anything … and then you saw me and, well, here we are.”
    Bram took a few long draws off of his pipe and stroked his beard, staring into the fire that his wife had lit before she’d left for work.
    “If you are not injured, then something must have happened to the people that you were with,” Bram said. “Even without a wound to your head, I have heard that the mind can block all manner of horrible things from our memories. Have you any idea where the Count and Countess are staying? It would be simple enough, I suppose, to call on them and hear their version of events; if they are uninjured as well, which seems unlikely, I’m sorry to say.”
    “No Bram, I’ve no idea where their rooms are, but I have this feeling that they are all fine. It’s, well, it’s something that I can’t quite put my finger on, but I’m sure that no harm has come to them.”
    Harland rose from his chair and went to stand by the fire.
    “ They are fine, but I cannot seem to get warm, my teeth have been sore, ever since, and my neck has been itching something frightful,” Harland said.
    Bram stood up, took Harland’s jaw in his hand, and tilted it at an angle, to let the light of the fire hit the spot Harland had been itching. Two small holes were apparent, on the side of Harland’s neck, but the tissue had already begun to close and redden over the wounds.
    “I do see a mark there, Harland, but the skin is healing already, so this could not have happened only a few hours ago,” Bram said. “Why don’t you relax here for a bit, and let your body recover from whatever happened? I will get you a change of clothes for tomorrow, those bloody rags you wore in here, we will burn, and then you’ll sleep a bit, and things will seem much clearer in the morning, I’m sure. Now, let’s put another log on the fire, and you go and get your clothes from the washroom, before my poor wife comes home and is put to the shock with the sight of all of this blood.”
    Harland nodded and reached down into the basket full of wood next to the fireplace. Absentmindedly, he threw the log he had grabbed onto the fire, and turned to walk to the bathroom, when he heard Bram scream.
    Harland had tossed the new wood onto the fire too quickly. One of the already burning logs had rolled out onto the floor, and started a small fire on the rug. In one swift motion, Harland grabbed the burning wood with his bare hands, and tossed it back into the fireplace, while he stomped out the burning embers on the carpet.
    Bram was staring at him, wide-eyed. He grabbed Harland’s hands, and pulled him down the hall to the washroom sink. Bram turned the water on, full-blast, and plunged Harland’s coal-blackened hands into the cold water.
    “If you didn’t need a doctor before, you bloody well do now, you damn fool,” Bram said, as he held Harland’s hands under the tap.
    “It doesn’t hurt, Bram,” Harland said.
    “It will soon, trust me,” Bram said. He took a towel from the linen cabinet and, gently, began to blot Harland’s hands dry. The white towel was swiftly covered in soot, and Harland’s hands were covered in blisters.
    Bram jerked his head back in shock; almost as soon as his eyes fell on a blister, it disappeared.
    “What in heavens? Harland, have a look at this,” Bram said, but almost before his words were out, Harland’s skin had healed itself, each blister retreating back under the skin, leaving his hands the color and texture of a newborn baby’s.

 
    EIGHT
     
     
    One block south of King’s Road, Isi and the Immortals had taken up temporary residence in a furnished three bedroom flat. After they had left Harland Fergusson outside of the Rose Tavern, they had walked down every side street, and stopped at the first building that advertised rooms for rent. Exhausted from their journey, all of them had fallen asleep quickly, almost as soon as they’d walked in