Vampire Most Wanted by Lynsay Sands Read Free Book Online Page B

been up with her all night. You should rest.”
    “I have been up all night with her because of you ,” Damian said resentfully, his voice moving away.
    “Yes, and I am sorry for that,” Abaddon said, his voice growing fainter as the two men apparently headed out of the room. “But at least we know she is not in cahoots with them.”
    “She is my mother, Abby. She would never act against me.”
    “I wouldn’t be so sure. If she ever found out . . .”
    Whatever came after that was too soft for Divine to hear. She instinctively opened her eyes and turned her head in an effort to be able to hear them again, but the instant she did, agony shot through her skull once more. This time it brought unconsciousness with it.
    “M orning, Marco.”
    Marcus glanced up from the Tilt-A-Whirl’s panel and offered a smile of greeting to Madge as she approached. He had gone to the Hoskinses’ trailer last night after finding Divine’s dark and quiet, but Divine hadn’t been there. Still, Bob and Madge had been up and he’d sat and talked with them for a good hour before returning to his SUV and heading to a nearby motel to catch some sleep before returning to the carnival today.
    He liked the Hoskinses, and they obviously liked Divine. Not only had they flat-out said as much while talking to him, but he’d read it in their thoughts as well. The couple hadn’t been able to have children of their own and tended to unofficially adopt the younger members of their carnival. Divine was one of those they considered family. If they’d had a daughter, they would have been proud had she been like Divine.
    While the couple had told him at least a hundred good deeds Divine had performed, and as many positive personality traits she possessed, Marcus hadn’t learned a thing about Divine’s past before coming to this carnival. She apparently didn’t share much of that, and they, like most carnies, didn’t pry. But what they knew of her from the last two years that she’d been with them had impressed them. She didn’t drink, didn’t do drugs, didn’t mess around. She was quiet, did her work, and was always available to help others.
    According to the older couple’s thoughts, Divine might seem standoffish at first, but once you were around her for a while, it became clear she was thoughtful and kind. There was little for her to do in the way of setup for her fortune-telling gig, so she was always helping the others set up and tear down their own stalls or rides. She helped with the interviewing as he’d found out earlier, but she was also quick to help if labor was needed or something else, and she was handy as hell to have around. Bob didn’t think there was anything she couldn’t fix. “The gal was smart as a whip” by his reckoning. It was as if she had been in the business much longer than her years could possibly allow.
    That thought had made Marcus smile. Divine might look twenty-five, but she was immortal, and while he didn’t know how old she was exactly, she might have been “in the business” from the time of the first carnival. That would explain the knowledge and skill that so surprised the mortals here.
    “What on earth did you do to our poor Divine when you two were out last night?” Madge asked, snapping his attention back to the fact that the older woman had reached him and that while she was smiling, there was concern in her eyes as well.
    “What do you mean?” he asked with surprise.
    “Well, she’s usually up with the birds. I swear the girl doesn’t sleep more than a couple hours a night. But as far as I can tell she isn’t even up yet. We open in half an hour, but her RV’s closed up tight, her sign isn’t out, and I knocked and got no answer.”
    Marcus frowned and glanced toward Divine’s RV.
    “Maybe she’s already up and out or something,” Madge murmured, peering toward the RV too. “Although I don’t know where she’d have got to. Being allergic to the sun like you, she usually