Nightlord: Sunset by Garon Whited Read Free Book Online Page B

bits rattling wildly in the engine compartment of her brain.
    While I was pretty sure I liked her—okay, I was sure; she’s was a great looking piece of woman and had a real talent for…  um… she’s the one that made me think of succubi—I wondered if I wanted to get any more involved with her.  Maybe a few days… weeks… years… later.  When she wasn’t thinking of me as her long-lost lord and master.
    I realized something.
    I did like her.  A lot.  Moreover, I was both jealous and irked.  Jealous of the ancient fellow who once had her love, and who she still sought.  Irked in that she did not see me when she looked at me.  She saw him .  I wasn’t so sure she really cared about me.  I was more sure she was just after the man I resembled.
    Yeah, I had to admit it to myself—I was angry about that.
    “We could,” I continued.  “Or I could.  I’m not so sure she’d want to discuss it with anyone else.  Obviously, nobody else is really in on the secret.”
    “Good point.  So, do you think you can turn into a bat, or something?”
    Bless that man.  He can sometimes tell when I need a distraction.
    “I don’t know.  How does one go about it?”
    “Kinda like folding up like a telescope, I would imagine.  All you have to do is figure out how to start.”
    “ Alice.”
    “Yup.”
    “Okay, so how does one start turning into a bat?”
    “Search me.  That’s your problem.”
    “Aren’t you supposed to be fading out around that grin, about now?”
    “I’m a werewolf, not a cat.  Besides, I’m too busy eating.”
    I sighed.  “Okay, let me think about it.”
    So I thought about it.  Being a bat.  Leathery wings instead of arms.  Little tiny feet.  Fangs—okay, I didn’t have to imagine the fangs.  Big ears.  Fur…
    I opened my eyes.  No soap.
    “Didn’t work,” Travis said, mouth full.
    “So I see.  I’ll keep practicing.”
    “Go on and talk to Sasha.  Maybe she can teach you.”
    I shrugged.  “I’ll get around to it.”
    He chewed vigorously for a moment, swallowed, and said, “No, you’ll go now.”
    “Now?  Why?”
    He set the silverware down and leaned back.
    “Eric, you’re… not quite right anymore.  We don’t know anything about this condition of yours.  All we know is what it’s done to you—and probably not all of that.  I surely don’t understand how you manage to survive without heart action and breathing.  We need to know more about this; she’s the only one who knows.  And I know you.  If you put it off today, you’ll put it off tomorrow—and you’ll never do it.”
    I sighed and thought about it.
    “All right.”

 
     
     
     
    TUESDAY, JUNE 14 TH
     
    I t was after midnight before I got out there.  I took my bike; I partially own a car and completely own a motorcycle.  Both are somewhat beaten up.  Generally, I drive the car; I have a lot of stuff in the trunk—odds and ends from an eclectic lifestyle.  Some armor from my SCA days, a couple of home-made wooden swords, a bunch of textbooks, CD’s, and tapes… plus, buried in there somewhere, jumper cables, a tool kit, and an air compressor.  I think I have a spare tire.  I saw it once.
    I didn’t feel like a lot of baggage tonight.  I also wanted to feel the wind; my senses were exceptionally alive—it goes with being a vampire, I guess.  But I put my helmet on (don’t wear one if you don’t have anything to protect) and drove out there with the visor up.
    I felt a lot better.  A good ride on a bike is a tonic.  If more people did it, the world would be a happier place.  It was almost like flying, really… although hang gliding is probably the best for that; parachuting is more like plummeting.  Although that does have its good points.
    I landed at her front gate.  The last time, it had been open.  I thumbed the call box and waited.
    “Yes?”
    “Sasha?”
    “Yes.”
    “It’s Eric.”
    The gate hummed and swung inward.  I rode up the drive.
    She