Immortal Sins by Amanda Ashley Read Free Book Online Page A

three hundred years had passed since the night he caught her in Jason Rourke’s arms. Ah, Rourke. It would not be safe to free Ana now, he thought, not when the vampire Rourke again walked the earth. She had no resistance to the creature’s charm. Should Ana Luisa meet him again, she would no doubt succumb to his supernatural enchantment once more. He would rather see her dead than prey to the vampire’s unholy lust.
    Rourke. Where was he now? Vilnius closed his eyes and opened his wizard’s Sight. In moments, the vampire’s image rose in his mind, and with it, the knowledge that the creature was somewhere in America.
    Perhaps, with half the world between Rourke and Ana Luisa, there was nothing to worry about. Then again, it was always better to be safe than sorry.
    With a wave of his hand, Vilnius repaired the broken vessel and returned to the spell at hand.
     
    Trapped in a painting located in a museum in Bucharest, the wizard’s daughter sensed a shift in the supernatural world.
    It took her a moment to realize what it was, and then she knew. Jason had broken her father’s curse! A single tear slipped down Ana Luisa’s cheek. Did Jason still hate her after all these years? Would her father ever forgive her for what she had done and release her from this horrid captivity? Alive and yet not alive, she had spent the last three hundred years trapped in a painting behind a wall of glass, doomed to remain frozen in time until someone called her forth. She had long ago lost any hope of that happening. Save for Jason, no one now living even knew her name. How had Jason managed to escape? Of course, he was a powerful vampire, while she was just a young witch with abilities she was helpless to use.
    Three hundred years, and she had been unable to move in all that time. The painting that imprisoned her had changed hands many times in three centuries. It had adorned the wall of a citadel in Spain, a tavern in London, a palace in France. Once, she had languished in a cellar for over a century, with rats, mice, and spiders her only companions.
    These days, the painting hung in a small museum near the outskirts of the city. She stared at the night watchman, who was sitting in a wine-colored wing chair, his head bent over a book. He had been a young man when the painting had first come here. Now his body was stooped with age, his face lined by the years, his hair as white as winter snow. Years ago, she had hoped he might be the one to call her forth from her prison, but he rarely looked at her anymore.
    She was doomed, she thought, doomed to spend the rest of her miserable existence sitting on the back of a unicorn.
    Discouragement settled over her like a shroud.
    For her, there was no hope of escape, no chance of reprieve.

Chapter 7
    Kari woke with a low groan. Opening her eyes, she glanced at her surroundings. Funny, she didn’t remember falling asleep on the sofa. Sitting up, she stretched her arms, back, and shoulders, then ran a hand through her hair. She’d had the strangest dream…. She shook her head, recalling how she had dreamed of Rourke standing in her living room in front of the hearth.
    It was then that she saw the broken glass. The tiny fragments sparkled on the rug like bits of ice on a winter day. Where on earth had all that glass come from? She looked up at the blank space above the hearth.
    The painting! Of course. She remembered now. The Vilnius had fallen off the wall last night. The frame had broken and the glass had shattered into a million pieces.
    Rising, she picked up what was left of the canvas. It was ruined beyond repair. She shook her head. She could understand the glass breaking. She could even see how the canvas might get ripped in a few places. But this? The canvas looked like it had been run through a paper shredder. Remarkably, the notes he had written were unscathed. She stared at them a moment, then slipped them into her pocket.
    So much for the fortune she had hoped to make from selling