AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"We can't just leave them here. They'll raise the alarm as soon as they wake up."
"They won't wake up." The flat finality in his voice sent a chill through her.
"You mean..." Keri swallowed hard. "You're going to kill them?"
Joshua met her gaze steadily. "I already have."
Keri knew she should be horrified, but she wasn’t. In fact, she was a little turned on. She chalked that up to the lingering pheromones in the air. "But they’re still there. Their bodies haven’t turned to ash. Don’t we have to stake them or shove garlic in their mouths?”
“You’ve watched a lot of movies, haven’t you?”
“Well, excuse me for not having primary sources for my information. How do you kill a vampire?”
“I kill them very easily.”
“Do you want to share that knowledge?” she asked tartly.
“Not at the present time. We need to get out of this dungeon. Then you need to go home, and I need to complete my mission."
“To kill Anatole Vasile?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t leave without Chrissy.”
“She betrayed you. Why do you care?”
It was a good question, and she hesitated to tell him the real reason. But there was this connection that she felt. The bond between them made her feel safe with him. It was ridiculous. He was a violent assassin and a stranger, but somehow, she knew he would understand.
“I don’t have anyone else,” she admitted.
“How is that possible?” he asked. “You are young, beautiful, and full of life.”
Keri snorted. “I think the pheromones are still messing with your head. My family has different views of the world than I do. They aren’t who I want in my life. On the rare occasion when we’re together, we argue and it turns out ugly. I don’t want to be like them, and they think I’m an idealistic fool who doesn’t see the real world.” She gave a half laugh. “Even without vampires and magic.”
“Family is difficult,” Joshua said kindly.
“I suppose your clan is very close-knit?”
“I would die for them and vice versa.”
Keri shook her head. “With my clan, it’s every man for himself, and women don’t really matter much unless there’s cooking or cleaning to be done. I was born female, and that was my first mistake. The second mistake was I wasn’t very obedient.”
Joshua nodded. “There are some older vampires that have those same ideas as well.”
“Well, at least they have the excuse of being born in a time when that was the norm,” she said, wiping her eyes that had suspiciously started to leak. “They tried to beat it out of me.”
Joshua scowled.
“And when that didn’t work, they all but disowned me. I left as soon as I could and never looked back. Chrissy was in a similar situation. We met on the train coming into the city and were friends ever since. She must have been forced to trap me. She had to have been mind-controlled like they thought we were.”
“If she’s a Vasile vampire, then she’s a puppet to Anatole. There’s nothing we can do to save her short of killing him.”
“Then that’s what we do.”
He acknowledged her words with a tilt of his head. He listened with his head still cocked. "No immediate pursuit, but that won't last. Can you walk?"
Keri pushed herself to her feet, surprised to find her legs steady beneath her. More than steady — she felt energized, almost euphoric. Whether from their escape or some lingering effect of their bond, she couldn't say.
