Vampire Games by J. R. Rain Read Free Book Online

paths with me in harm’s way.”
    “ Only if you do not learn to control who you are, Samantha.”
    “ And I suppose you’re just the one to teach me?”
    “ I can help you, Sam.”
    “ Didn’t you cause this mess?”
    “ I did it for love—”
    “ Shove it,” I said, shaking my head.
    His clothing, I noted, seemed to shift in color. One moment, his slacks were beige, then brown, then tan. Or maybe I was just going crazy.
    “ Not crazy, Sam. My clothing is an illusion, of course.”
    “ Of course. That doesn’t sound crazy at all.”
    I exhaled, and looked at him through the churning cigarette smoke. He was a beautiful man. Perhaps the most beautiful I’d ever seen. Too beautiful.
    “ And what about the rest of you?” I asked.
    “ Illusion, of course. But I see I have chosen a favorable form.”
    “ Why are you here?”
    He continued smiling, and the darkness that swarmed around him—the black snakes and worms and creepy-crawly things—seemed to grow in numbers. It was as if I was seeing evil multiplying before my very eyes. Deepening, propagating. I shivered.
    “ I’m here to give you news of your dog.”
    I looked at him sharply. He was, of course, referring to Kingsley. “What about him?”
    “ He’s not a very loyal dog, now is he?” Ishmael smiled broadly. Wickedly.
    “ What the fuck do you mean?”
    “ When the vampire’s away, the dog shall play.”
    I brought the cigarette up to my lips, but instead of inhaling, crumpled it in my hands. The temporary burn made me gasp, but the pain faded quickly. “You’re lying.”
    He said nothing, only watched me from the deep shadows of my room, looking supremely pleased.
    I looked at my hand. The red mark in the center of my palm was already fading. I threw the remnants of the cigarette over to the closest ashtray. It missed.
    “ You’re trying to drive a wedge between us,” I said.
    “ I didn’t have to try very hard, Samantha.”
    I sensed the not-so-hidden meaning in his words. “You set him up,” I said. “Planted someone.”
    “ Call it what you want, Sam. But your doggie took the bait.”
    “ Who is she?”
    “ Does it matter?”
    A familiar sickness appeared in my stomach. Re-appeared. It was a sickness that had nothing to do with the supernatural, a sickness I had lived with for many, many years with Danny. I rubbed my temples and took lots of slow, deep breaths, and when I moved my hand away, I was alone in the hotel room, but I sensed the angel was near. Always near.
    The son-of-a-bitch.
     
     
     
    Chapter Thirteen
     
     
    It was early afternoon and something was wrong.
    I’d been feeling it all day. The forty-five minute plane ride from Vegas to Ontario had seemed like an eternity. Now, driving home from the airport, an inexplicable fear gripped me. Something was seriously wrong.
    Except I didn’t know what.
    My kids, I thought, pressing the gas harder. Something with my kids.
    But what?
    I didn’t know. Not yet.
    Having extrasensory perception had its benefits, but also its pitfalls. Being keenly aware that something was wrong, but not knowing what, was, if anything, torture.
    A moment later, as the dread in me grew to a fever pitch, my cell phone rang. It was my sister, of course.
    My kids.
    A car blasted its horn next to me. I jumped, jerking my wheel. I had inadvertently swerved into its lane. It continued honking at me even as I snatched up the phone and made an inhuman sound. A squeak, of some sort.
    My kids, of course, were staying with their Aunt Mary Lou.
    “ Mary Lou,” I gasped, pressing the phone hard into my ear. “What’s wrong?”
    “ How—never mind.” She swallowed. “It’s Tammy.”
    “ What about Tammy? What’s wrong?” My voice had reached a very loud, shrill note.
    “ She ran away, Sam.”
    I took in a lot of worthless air. I had expected worse, true. Running away wasn’t the worst, granted, but it wasn’t good either. Tammy was, after all, only ten years old.
    “ When did she