The Fallen 03 - Warrior by Kristina Douglas Read Free Book Online Page A

She was the seer who’d sent Michael on his ridiculous mission in the first place. Except this ridiculous mission was going to keep me alive, when Pedersen and my mother would have been certain to kill me.
    Rachel took my cold hand and placed it on Allie’s elbow, holding it there. Allie flashed me a reassuring smile. “Keep an open mind, Tory,” she said quietly. “It will be all right.”
    I was getting a very bad feeling about this. Some of the men had begun an odd chanting, and the sound, so foreign and strange, gave me goose bumps. I wanted to get away, I wanted to run. I looked up. Michael’s dark eyes impaled me and my feet were frozen to the ground.
    “Let the bond be sealed by blood,” Raziel said, not sounding particularly happy about the whole thing. I glanced back to Michael, and his eyes were half-closed, his mouth open, and it almost seemedas if his teeth had elongated. Impossible. He couldn’t—
    He struck like a snake, fastening his mouth to Allie’s wrist. She didn’t flinch, but I tried to pull away. Rachel’s strong hand held me firm. What the hell was he doing to Allie? Giving her the mother of all hickeys? Why?
    And then I saw the blood trickle down over her wrist. He lifted his head, and there was blood on his mouth, blood on his—his fangs, and he used his tongue to bring the last of it into his mouth.
    “Oh, hell, no.” I tried to yank free, but Rachel had anticipated my reaction, and her fingers tightened painfully.
    “The union is sealed,” Raziel said in an unhappy voice. “The Source has been blooded and the bond is accepted.”
    Michael released Allie’s arm, only to take mine, and Rachel’s tight grip had been a caress compared to his steely fingers. Everyone stepped back, leaving me to stare up in frozen horror into Michael’s cold eyes. “It is done,” he said.
    He dragged me through the crowd of people murmuring disjointed congratulations. The woman named Martha was still offering some kind of protest, but Michael wasn’t listening, seemingly intent on getting me out of there, which was a good idea, since I was on the verge of screaming.
    We were moving so fast I could barely catch my breath, out of the garden and along the rocky beach.Michael dragged me around the side of the building and headed toward a large, one-story structure that glowed in the sunlight. The halls were empty when he pushed me inside, towing me down white, unadorned corridors to a wide door at the far end. He pushed it open, shoved me in, and closed the door behind us.
    “What . . .” I began, trying to catch my breath, “the hell . . . are you?”
    He’d finally released me, and I rubbed my abused wrist. He moved to a wall of glass, staring out at the restless ocean, and took a deep breath before answering. “I told you. We are angels who have fallen from heaven, cursed to live out eternity on earth.”
    “Last I heard, angels weren’t vampires,” I snapped, trying to stay calm. And I’d thought I was in such good shape. I was nothing compared to the man I’d supposedly married.
    He didn’t bother looking at me. “They aren’t. This is part of our curse. Just being kicked out of heaven wasn’t enough of a punishment. We are cursed to drink blood as well. Blood-eaters are despised in our tradition. The Supreme Power thought it only fitting.”
    “So you go out and kill people and drink their blood?”
    He made a disgusted noise. “Of course not. We can only drink the blood of our bonded mates.”
    I didn’t like the sound of that at all. “What do you mean by that? If you think you’re biting me,you’re out of your mind. And I thought Allie was Raziel’s . . . er . . . bonded mate.”
    “Allie is different. Allie is the Source. She provides nourishment for those of the Fallen who aren’t bonded. If we eat the blood of anyone else, we could die. It is the Source or our own mates.”
    I still didn’t like the sound of this. It was as if I’d fallen asleep and woken up in the