Kiss of Crimson by Lara Adrián Read Free Book Online Page B

disgust.
    Now he was damn glad he hadn‘t paused to tidy up before coming in. Hoping to offend further, Dante strolled up to the agent and held out his grimy hand in offered greeting.
    ―You must be the warrior called Dante,‖ said the low,
    cultured
    voice
    of
    the
    Darkhaven
    representative. He accepted Dante‘s outstretched hand and clasped it briefly. The agent sniffed almost imperceptibly, fine nostrils flaring as they picked up on Dante‘s certain stench. ―A privilege to meet you. I am Special Investigative Agent Sterling Chase, of the Boston Darkhaven. Senior Special Investigative Agent,‖ he added, smiling.
    ―But I‘ve no wish to stand on ceremony, so please, all of you, feel free to address me as you will.‖
    Dante merely grunted, biting back the choice form of address that leaped to his tongue. Instead, he dropped into the seat next to the agent, holding him in a cool, unwavering stare.
    Lucan cleared his throat, all it took for the eldest of the Breed to resume command of the gathering.
    ―Now that we‘re all here, let‘s get down to business. Agent Chase has brought some disturbing news from the Boston Darkhaven. There‘s been a rash of young vampires going missing lately. He‘d like the Order‘s help in recovering them. I‘ve told him we will.‖
    ―Search and rescue‘s not exactly our thing,‖
    Dante said, his eyes on the civilian as a rumble of agreement kicked up from around the table of warriors.
    ―That‘s true,‖ Nikolai put in. The Russian-born vampire grinned from under a long hank of sandycolored hair that didn‘t quite conceal the wintry chill of his ice-blue gaze. ―We‘re more of a bagand-tag operation.‖
    ―There‘s more to this than just a few stray vampires out past curfew and in need of collars,‖
    Lucan said. His grim tone dialed down the attitude in the room at once. ―I‘ll let Agent Chase explain what‘s going on.‖
    ―Last month, a group of three Darkhaven youths left for a rave somewhere in the city and never returned. A week later, another two went missing. More disappearances have been happening from Boston area Darkhavens every night in the time since.‖ Agent Chase reached into a briefcase on the floor beside him and pulled out a thick file. He tossed it to the center of the conference table. From within the manila jacket, about a dozen snapshots spilled out—faces of smiling, youthful vampire males. ―These are just the reported disappearances so far. We‘ve probably lost another couple of individuals in the time I‘ve been here meeting with you.‖
    Dante sifted through the pile of photographs and passed the folder around the table, figuring they couldn‘t all be runaways. Life in the Darkhavens could be a bore to young males with something to prove to the world, but nothing was so bad it would drive groups of them away at a time. ―Have there been any recoveries at all? Any sightings? This many missing individuals in such a short period of time—seems like someone ought to know
    something about it.‖
    ―There have been only a handful of recoveries.‖
    Chase brought out another file from his case, this one considerably thinner than the first. He withdrew a few photographs and fanned them out before him on the table. They were morgue shots. Three civilian vampires, current generation, and probably not one of them older than thirty-five years. In each photo, a pair of sightless eyes stared up at the camera lens, pupils elongated to hungered slits, the natural color of the irises saturated in the amber-yellow glow of Bloodlust.
    ―Rogues,‖ Niko said, practically hissing the word.
    ―No,‖ Agent Chase replied. ―They died in the throes of Bloodlust, but they hadn‘t yet turned. They were not Rogues.‖
    Dante got out of his chair and leaned over the table to have a closer look at the pictures. His gaze was drawn immediately to the crust of dried pinkish foam that circled the subjects‘ slack mouths. The same kind of saliva residue