Nightshifters by Tamelia Tumlin Read Free Book Online Page B

revealing
fangs. Rana slowly unzipped her purse and reached in. Nico’s hand curled into a
claw and shot into the air. Her purse fell to the ground spilling its contents
at her feet. The bottle of holy water rolled off the sidewalk under her car.
Her stake protruded from the black bag. Nico growled and kicked her handbag off
the curb. Rana’s eyes darted down the street. Nothing but blackness. No one
would even hear her if she screamed. She took a step back, ready to flee back
into The Voodoo Den. Nico grabbed her arm and jerked her toward him.
    “Going somewhere, pretty lady?”
    “N-no…”
    Suddenly, Nico’s body flew across the sidewalk and collided
with the brick wall behind them. The impact threw Rana against the side of her
car. She stumbled and looked up to find Alexandru’s eyes penetrating hers. The
fierce look on his face turned her blood to ice. She had never seen him so
angry. “You all right?”
    Rana nodded, unable to speak.
    He pivoted with a snarl and strode menacingly toward Nico.
He grabbed the other vampire by the throat and lifted him into the air. “This
one is off-limits. You understand?”
    The words spoken softly, but supernatural power radiated
from Alexandru daring the younger vampire to disagree. Nico nodded and paled to
an almost translucent state. Rana blinked at the skeleton glowing just beneath
his skin. Alexandru dropped him on the concrete with a thud. “Next time you
will not live to regret it.”
    Nico scrambled to his feet and rushed back into the club.
Alexandru glided back to Rana. “You shouldn’t have come.”
    “I know.” Rana bent down to retrieve her bag. She scooped up
the spilled contents. Alexandru lifted a brow and pointed to the wooden stake.
“Is that a present for me?”
    Rana’s face heated like a furnace. Did he know? “O-of course
not. I just brought it for protection. Just in case.”
    “Protection from whom?” Alexandru asked softly.
    Rana kept her thoughts firmly clenched behind her mind’s
window. “Them.” She pointed toward the club.
    “I see.”
    Rana tightened her hand on the stake. Should she do it now
when no one else was around? She swallowed. No, killing him now would not do.
Not after he had just saved her life. Even she couldn’t stoop that low.
Besides, one stab to his heart and she would be surrounded by the underworld.
They would protect one of their own at all costs. She would have to get him
alone first. She let go of the stake and it fell into her purse. She zipped her
bag closed. Killing him would have to wait. “I should go.”
    “I’ll see you safely out of the territory.”
    Rana grimaced. Since when were vampires chivalrous? Weren’t
they all evil sub-humans like her father? “That won’t be necessary. I’ll be
fine.”
    “With your wooden stake?” His words mocked her. Rana lifted
her chin.
    “Yes.”
    “And you think this will stop one of my kind?”
    Rana knitted her brow. “Of course. You don’t think it
would?”
    He shrugged. “Depends on the vampire.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “If the vampire is very old or very powerful, then I’m
afraid your little stake will prove to be only a nuisance. It will not kill an
elder.” Amusement flickered in his Caribbean eyes.
    “I have other weapons.” Rana shifted to her left foot. Did
he think she was daft? Of course, she knew a wooden stake wouldn’t kill all
vampires. But it would weaken them. Enough for her to escape, at least.
    Alexandru’s eyes traveled the length of her and gleamed with
appreciation. “I imagine you do.”
    Lightning slashed across the night sky followed by the
continuous rumble of distant thunder. Within seconds, large drops of rain fell
from the moonless sky. Alexandru opened her car door. “Get in.” Rana hesitated.
Though Alexandru wasn’t an old vampire, he was a powerful one. He had been
turned by an elder, which meant her former fiancé now possessed exceptional
powers. Powers that could cost Rana her life if she wasn’t