In Memories We Fear by Barb Hendee Read Free Book Online Page A

skin is almost white.”
    “I’m hungry,” she said as quietly as she could. “I haven’t fed in more than a week.”
    “No, you just went out last night.”
    “I didn’t feed.”
    Slowly, in halting sentences, she told him what had happened. When she finished, he didn’t ask any questions. He didn’t need to. That was one thing about Wade. He understood Philip almost as well as she did. Wade didn’t need her to explain the dilemma.
    “I can’t go to London like this and start a search,” she whispered.
    He crouched there in silence for a few moments. Then he reached over and took her hand, standing and pulling her to her feet. “Come on,” he said, starting for the back side of the church.
    “Where are we going?”
    “Just come on.”
     
    Wade led Eleisha into the darkness behind the church and down a short flight of moss-covered stone steps leading to the back door. They were hidden from sight here, and he crouched again, pulling her down with him.
    “Lean against the wall,” he said, and he positioned himself with his back to the stairs.
    She looked at him in confusion, and her face glowed white in the darkness. No wonder she’d been outside in the garden. She probably hadn’t wanted Philip to see how white her skin was turning.
    “Just feed on me,” he said.
    Reacting exactly as he expected, she tried to jump up. “No.”
    But he was ready and gripped her arms, holding her down, surprised by how easy it was. He knew vampires in general were stronger than mortals, especially vampires like Julian and Philip, but he’d always wondered about Eleisha. She kept this aspect of herself a secret, and now he knew why.
    He didn’t like having to hold her here, but it wasn’t difficult.
    “Just listen!” he said. “It’s all right.”
    She wore a sky blue flannel shirt over a long skirt—her usual gardening clothes—and the material of her shirt felt soft under his hands. Her expression began to crumble when she realized she couldn’t push him away.
    “Wade, please don’t ask me to—”
    “It’s all right,” he said again. “You can’t go out, and I know why you can’t tell him. But you have to feed before we go to London. I’ll just wear a long-sleeved shirt for a while. Nobody else needs to know.”
    He gave her a few moments to allow his words to sink in. He was right, and she knew it. When she didn’t speak again, he let go of her with his left hand and moved his wrist up to her mouth.
    “It’s all right,” he whispered one more time, hoping she’d believe him.
    He was ashamed of the excitement building in his chest. He could finally give her something she needed. She was starving, and she couldn’t just walk away.
    Slowly, she took his wrist in both her hands. “I’ll be careful.”
    “I don’t care.”
    He shivered when she put her mouth over his skin and bit down. A flash of pain shot up his arm, but he didn’t even flinch and pushed his wrist deeper. She was swallowing his blood, drinking him in, and he didn’t want her to stop. They huddled in the stairwell, entangled with each other, and he was lost in the moment, almost not able to believe that her mouth was finally pressing against his body.
    But he’d forgotten one element of this act, and his small oversight changed things between them forever.
    Just a few seconds after she started, his most recent memories began to flow. When a vampire killed while feeding (and he’d experienced this many times while reliving their memories), the victim’s entire life poured out. But when feeding like this, Eleisha would see only bits and pieces and shadows, and Wade’s most vivid memories of the past weeks involved him standing over Eleisha and Philip while watching them sleep on her bed.
    As she swallowed mouthfuls of his blood, she experienced the raw, unexplainable feelings of being “shut out” that he suffered while looking down at them. She felt his internal struggle over trying to stop and being unable to overcome