The Vampire's Release, A Paranormal Romance (Undead in Brown County #4) by S.J. Wright Read Free Book Online Page A

she truly wanted.
    She deserved better.
    I lifted my head and took a deep breath.  She was coming.  I could smell her skin and the distinct power of the blood moving through her.  I could hear her eager steps across the dead grass, leaves and dry twigs of the clearing that led to the cabin.
    There was a tap on the door.
    I hesitated for only a second or two.
    “Come in, Sarah.”
    There was something infinitely sweet about the way her eyes lit up when she saw me.  I couldn’t recall anyone ever looking at me in quite that way before.  It touched me deeply; enough to cause pain.   Because I knew we coul dn’t stay like that, locked in a fantasy of mutual wonder where t he real world never intrudes; a place where vampires and humans were the same and nothing separated us.  Not politics, not hunger, not ghosts of the past.  
    It was heartbreaking.
    She moved quietly around the cabin, stealing peeks at me occasionally through the dimness.  She touched the bottle of wine and then drew her wet fingertips back.  They glistened from the condensation on the bottle.
    “ How are you feeling?” she asked mildly.
    “Fine.”
    It was an inadequate response in an inadequate conversation.
    “Not tired?”
    “No,” I replied.
    She was wearing a faded denim jacket that looked decades older than she was.  It also held the scent of her father in its fibers.  From the smell, he may have worn it close to his death. 
    When she noticed me loo king at it, she smiled faintly.  “My Dad’s.  I thought it might give me courage.”
    “Since when have you ever lacked courage?”
    She rolled her eyes towards the ceiling and fingered one of the sleeves of the jacket.  “Oh, since forever.  Or maybe just since he died.”   Moving to the fireplace, she tugged off her jacket and tossed it over the rocking chair by the window.  She rubbed her pale hands together and held them out towards the heat of the fire. 
    Her hair smelled like ripe oranges.  It teased and beckoned me forward.  I came to stand beside her and took one of the gently waving amber locks into my fist.  Her head turned towards me but she closed her brilliant eyes and let her lashes sweep over whatever emotion that might have been blooming inside her head.  Without real intent, my fingers left her hair and touched her chin.
    “Why do you close your eyes?”
    “You frighten the hell out of me, Michael.”
    She didn’t need to say more to make me understand.  Her soul was straining to let go and burst open in the inky landscape around her.  So much feeling inside that head, I thought.  It was a mosaic backdrop of ocean blue with sprays of yellow hope and splashes of blood red anger.  She had been holding in everything but the fury of her circumstances.
    “Sarah, why don’t you let it out?”
    Bright beads of wetness appeared in the corners of each closed eye.  Her delicate chin trembled against my touch.  “You can’t know.”
    “Why shouldn’t I?”
    “Because if I let it go, you’ ll take it when you leave me.”
    “I don’t want to leave,” I said.  But I knew what she meant. 
    She inched away and covered her face with her hands, the grief beginning to seep from her in dark waves.  “We can’t be together.  You know that.”  I wanted to go to her, but somehow knew it wasn’t the right time.  She was on the edge of some important revelation.
    After wiping her eyes, she glanced quickly around, taking in the wine and the fire and clean rugs.  The fire in her rose.  I immediately recalled Trevor, who had seduced her and then abandoned her.  Was this what he had done?  Before the accusations began to fly, I knew where her mind was.
    She glared at me accusingly.  “What the fuck is all this anyway?”
    I sighed. “I’m not using you, Sarah .  I just wanted to make you happy tonight .”
    The sound of the wine bottle shattering startled me.  It was a horrible sound that seemed to go on forever and accompanied by a searing