The Vampires' Last Lover (Dying of the Dark Vampires Book 1) by Aiden James, Patrick Burdine Read Free Book Online Page A

worked around the bracelet, carefully avoiding the silver to get to the meat in my hand and forearm. Some clinical part of my mind also remembered that I still needed to get that clasp fixed.
    “What? Damn it, Tyreen, just ‘cause the dead chicks look like Txema doesn’t mean this crazy asshole will be coming after her next,” he replied, indignantly.
    He pulled on the sleeves of his Bengals sweatshirt, as if that would give him strength against his girl’s simmering anger. “It’s anyone with dark hair and green or hazel eyes—and that’s like a quarter of the girls attending school here!”
    “Well, dumb ass, don’t you think it implies that it’s even
more
important we make sure she’s
not
next?”
    Tyreen was thoroughly pissed off, and there was no one to rescue Johnny from the pile of crap he just stepped in. Even Peter slid closer to me and popped a fry in his mouth to make sure he couldn’t say a word. I damned sure wasn’t coming to Johnny’s defense.
    “Yes, it
is
important to make sure Txema is safe,” he said quietly, glancing sullenly at a nearby table where an older man and woman looked on. They politely nodded and then looked away. “I’m sorry, babe. Sorry to you, too, Txema.”
    “It’s okay,” I assured him, shooting a look to my roommate that pled for mercy, Tyreen whirled around to face me. “Let’s just enjoy our lunch and make plans for the afternoon. I say we skip school and go see a movie.”
    Normally, this would make Peter bristle, since he wasn’t willing to take any chances on a less than perfect GPA. He had plans to become a surgeon, and the best medical schools were hard as hell to get into—something money alone couldn’t buy. Even Tyreen was a stickler for excellent grades. Her goal of being an attorney someday depended on her keeping her grants and scholarships. She would also need additional fellowship funds when her undergraduate education was completed, and many of those were determined by her academic performance.
    But, they both said they were game for a movie, until Johnny waved them off.
    “Man, she can’t go anywhere—
we
can’t go anywhere!” he said, his expression a long way from the smug look he had just minutes earlier. “I heard it on the news, man, on the way here to meet y’all. Everybody living on campus is supposed to stay on campus, and if you live off campus like Peter here, you’ll have to show I.D. to go back and forth. They’re supposed to be setting up police roadblocks at every intersection to make sure anybody who doesn’t belong near here doesn’t get through. By the time we get to the theater, it’ll probably be too late. I’ll bet the place is closed anyway.”
    “Are you sure? Maybe you heard it all wrong,” said Tyreen, reaching for her Blackberry.
    He pointed at her phone and scowled. “Go ahead and check. You’ll probably find it on Channel 4’s website—”
    “He’s right,” Peter interrupted, holding out his phone for Tyreen to see. The murder news story and curfew sidebar were prominently displayed on the screen. “So, that nixes the movie idea. But do we
have
to go to class?”
    This time my head whirled around. His offer to play hooky without any real reason to do so surprised me. Impish excitement danced in his eyes, and my heart skipped a beat. This was a side of him that I hadn’t seen. Now, we just had to find something fitting for the four of us to do, and kill time until tonight.
    “So, what do you have in mind?” Tyreen’s tenseness lessened at the prospect of something to take her mind off of all that transpired over the past two days.
    “Well, there’s the theater room in my townhouse. Y’all really haven’t had the chance to check it out yet, and we’ve got a shitload of Blu-rays,” Peter suggested. He shrugged his shoulders with raised eyebrows when she didn’t respond right away. “We can all climb in the hot tub for a while. Plus, there’s plenty of booze in the fridge!”
    That got