Unseen (The Heights, Vol. 1) by Lauren Stewart Read Free Book Online Page A

Fact one: Vampires were unearthly beautiful. Fact two:
They were killers. And the second made the first far less
impressive.
    But there was no way. She had not brought the leader of the entire North American zone into her
house. Into her life. No fucking way. “Were you really the
Prime?”
    “I really am the Prime. Whoever tried
to kill me failed.”
    “Well…aren’t you lucky?”
    “My kind does not give much credence to luck.
Perhaps it is you—whatever you are—who is lucky.”
    The vampire king, the Prime of the North
American zone, was lying in her bed tied up with necklaces.
    “ Yeeeaaahh . I can’t see a single thing
about this that makes me feel lucky.” The situation had just become
four times worse. A couple silver chains weren’t going to keep her
safe. There must have been swarms of beings looking for him, so any
time she could’ve used to think and stay alive was gone.
    “You are confusing to me.” He paused. “And I
dislike being confused very much. Tell me what you want.”
    “For you to get up and leave without stopping
for a snack until you’re out the door.”
    “And then?”
    “And then you pretend this never happened and
don’t tell anyone else.” As if she was going to get that. Her only
chance was to be out of here and searching for somewhere far, far,
far away to hide before he recovered or someone came to get
him.
    The Council wouldn’t bother sending a tracker
for a random vamp, but for the Prime? Shit . She didn’t know
how long it would take them to track her down and kill her, but
whatever it was wasn’t enough.
    The only possible way she could get out of
this with a heartbeat was to talk him out of mentioning her to
anyone…ever. How hard could that be?
    “I could’ve left you in the garbage where I
found you. But I didn’t. You owe me.”
    “I owe you nothing. You are required to serve
me.”
    “I didn’t know you were the Prime until a
minute ago, but I still helped you.” She cleared her throat to stop
sounding so incredibly whiny. “That should count for
something.”
    “You say all you desire is for me to leave,
but that could not possibly be true. Of course, I have never been
held hostage before; therefore, I defer to your knowledge on the
subject. Whatever you ask, I will consider it as long as it is not
offensive. And I am easily offended.”
    “I’m not holding you hostage.”
    “Then take off the chains and feed me.”
    “I’m not suicidal, either.”
    “If I tell you I will not bite?”
    “I’d say you were a liar.”
    The intensity of his eyes sharpened so
abruptly she could almost feel its cut. “You call me a liar. Yet
you expect me to believe you desire nothing but for me to go, while
refusing to provide the means to make that possible.”
    What was she going to do? “I’m going out.”
Running away. “Feel free to leave whenever. Or die whenever.”
    Unfortunately it was morning, so all he would
do is sleep or go into a coma or whatever they did. They were dead,
so maybe the daytime hibernation was a way to refuel—actually be dead for eight hours. And if she was really, really, really lucky, he’d stay that way.

Eight
    And why not leave a dying vampire back at
your apartment while you try to pretend your life is normal? Normal
for the Heights, at least.
    Holy shit. He couldn’t be the Prime.
Addison had found him in the garbage. No one would throw the Prime
in the garbage. He was probably some random vamp who looked a
little like the Prime, who got staked by someone he owed money
to.
    Focus on the first thing that could get
you killed and then move on to the next. And the next. And the
next. If she didn’t do her job, someone might be curious as to why.
And if that curiosity led to the discovery of the dying vamp in her
apartment, she’d be toast.
    She’d make it quick: Go to Headquarters, find
out if anyone had noticed that someone—say the most important being
on the continent—was missing, and then drop off her