My Lady Vampire by Sahara Kelly Read Free Book Online

creature he abhorred. He had faith in his new father, and had just come without the need to feed, but …
    He was still not human.    
    - - - -
     
    And so the pattern was set for Sir Sidney Chesswell and the young Mr. Chesswell, his newly-recovered son. Months became a year and more, and still Sidney labored on within his study, emerging with new potions, liquids and foul mixtures with which to torture Adrian.
    Or so he said, teasingly, one evening. “I swear, Father. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were definitely trying to poison me.” He held a glass to the candle. “This has a lethal herb in it, doesn’t it? It must. It tastes… deadly .” He grinned.
    Sidney grinned back tiredly. “Yes. Drink it and die, damn you.”
    Adrian chuckled. “Long day?”
    “Not really.” Sidney ran a hand through the thick grey hair, tousling it into disarray. “I truly think I’m close, Adrian. Your feedings are down to minimum now, and you’re existing on pig’s blood, not human blood. You are beginning to take in a little solid nourishment, and more liquids. This is marked progress, you’ll agree?”
    Adrian sighed. “It is, Father. It is and I am more grateful than I can say.”
    “But?” Sidney raised an eyebrow.
    “But.” Adrian rose and paced the floor. “My heart does not beat as yours does. My flesh is cool to the touch. My fangs have not disappeared, though I use them so seldom. I still cannot tolerate the light of the sun, and I confess that my one time with a woman was--difficult.”
    Sidney nodded. He knew that Adrian had taken his release with a local whore. In fact, he’d encouraged it, giving Adrian a special bottle of wine with a small dose of tranquilizing herbs in it. Just in case.
    It hadn’t been needed. Adrian had kept himself under control, no small accomplishment. But it had been frustrating for him, Sidney knew. Adrian had no sooner arrived home than he’d thrown himself onto the bare back of his favorite horse and ridden away the remaining hours of darkness.
    “We shall continue, Adrian. We shall succeed.” He nodded his head assertively. “I shall accept no less.”
    “Father…” Adrian sounded unusually hesitant. “Are there not other tasks that you should be doing? Isn’t this project taking up too much of your time?”
    Sidney watched him affectionately, understanding what he wasn’t saying. “I won’t give up on you, Adrian. You have become too important to me.”
    Adrian’s quick smile was reward enough. “Thank you.”
    “And besides, you take care of much of the Chesswell business now, and that was truly a chore I deplored. We progress nicely together, do we not?”
    “We do. We do indeed.”
    And later that same night, as Adrian strolled along the shoreline and breathed in the soft early summer scents of grass and ocean, he recalled his father’s words.
    They did go along “nicely” together. Adrian might have been cursed in Europe but he’d been blessed in England. Perhaps the Almighty had designed it to be that way--one evil being offset by one act of kindness.
    He resolved to be the best son Sidney could ever hope for. It never crossed his mind that this act of kindness might merit a reward all its own.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    “Hell and devil confound it--”
    The woman with a death grip on the reins of the small carriage swore fluidly as her maid grasped at the strings of her bonnet and hung on for dear life. Spooked by a shrieking owl in full pursuit of a fox right across the lane in front of them, the horses had panicked and there was nothing she could do to pull them up.
    “ Mrs. Byerly-- ” It was a scream of terror and preceded a rather nasty turn in the country road that the darkness had concealed. The frightened cry only made things worse, spurring the poor beasts into a galloping frenzy.
    Katherine battled the runaway pair, rising to her feet and bracing herself as the small vehicle swung wildly. The brake would have been