Shadow Rising by Kendra Leigh Castle Read Free Book Online Page A

It’s awful. I thought it was a dead animal in the corner when I first walked in.”
    Ariane’s jaw tightened. “Fine. Since I’ve failed so miserably at blending in, I’ll go stick out like a sore thumb elsewhere. You can go, Elena. I understand.”
    And on some level, beneath the hurt, she really did. Ariane was fairly sure Elena had enough problems just protecting herself in the night-to-night running of this place. Even if she was as capable a fighter as Ariane knew she must be, the woman had her hands full enough without harboring a Grigori. A wanted Grigori, if what Damien had said was true. Though she couldn’t imagine they would focus on bringing her back so quickly.
    Elena shifted her weight restlessly from one foot to the other. “Look, this isn’t what I want, okay? I’m not used to tossing out vamps who mind their own business. But it’s not my call.”
    “Mmm,” Ariane murmured, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. She didn’t trust herself to speak, didn’t want toget into an argument she didn’t stand a chance of winning. Instead, she focused on placing on the bed the scant articles of clothing she’d acquired, along with her satchel, and then removing a carefully folded black duffel bag from the single drawer of the nightstand. She quickly put everything in the bag, just managing to stuff her scimitar and sheath in, though it strained the fabric to its limits even with the hilt sticking out. She noted with a small, humorless smile that there was still plenty of room to spare. She missed her things… just as she missed the luxury of taking them for granted. Cash was precious now, and she didn’t want to sell anything else she cared for.
    Elena was still talking, the words coming out in a guilty rush. “I mean, I appreciate that you’ve tried to lie low. Maybe another safe house in Charlotte will take you. Strickland doesn’t own them all. You’re quiet. You don’t make trouble. You even tried to cover that hair . But…”
    “But I’m Grigori. Hated. Feared.”
    Elena’s expression turned to shock. “No! No, Ari, it’s not hate. Fear, yeah, but not hate. Not to mention envy, which can be dangerous. You are beyond slumming it here. Don’t you get that?”
    The packing was done, and Ariane turned, bag in hand, ready to go. She felt a sick twist of her own fear in the pit of her stomach. Where would she go now? Another city, maybe, if she could find information that indicated Sam had left here before he’d vanished. Another safe house, like Elena said, if they would have her. But not for long. She could see already that it would never be for long. Her hunt for Sam seemed suddenly impossible. She’d been so naive…
    But then, she could lay the blame for that squarely atSariel’s feet. He and the other ancients who kept them all so isolated for reasons they refused to say. How could she have known?
    “What do I need to do?” Ariane asked quietly. “How can I stop them from fearing me wherever else I go?”
    Elena seemed surprised by the question. “I’m not sure you can. It’s not just being a highblood, Ari. When a Grigori turns up, trouble—big trouble—is never far behind. I don’t know if your people bring it, or if you just sense it and are drawn to it, but it doesn’t make much difference. The end result is the same. A Grigori’s presence always bodes ill.”
    Her denial was reflexive. “The Grigori do no harm.”
    But we watch it. And are forbidden to make it stop.
    The rules that had decreed her an outcast from her first breath as a vampire had never seemed so ludicrous. And becoming aware of the general perception of her kind made her question what the ancients’ true purpose was in the missions they devised. Ariane had always assumed the Grigori observed many facets of life when sent into the world. Did they really only bother with tragedy?
    “Well, they might not cause harm, but they sure like staring at carnage,” Elena replied. “It’s creepy. You not