Read Online Stake and Dust (Stake and Dust series, Book I) by Karen Michelle Nutt - Free Book Online

into
adulthood. Without the blood, they would wither away and die.
    Breena had been her name, a dark-haired
beauty with eyes the color of the sea. She gave her life so he
could live. For shame, he hadn't thought about her in a long
time.
    He kept pace with Shakespeare as he frolicked
at the water's edge. The moon stood high in the sky with the stars
just as bright. His thoughts returned to Sheerin and his claim to
have a serum to allow him to walk in the sun.
    He never brooded over being a vampire—as the
humans now called his kind. He was, an original, born from Oiche
Sith parents. He loved the night, but to chance a few hours in the
sun would be just short of a miracle and one he'd have a difficult
time refusing. He could debate the pros and cons all he wanted, but
he knew he'd chance it. Not just out of curiosity sake, but for a
possibility to learn more about Cassandra Hayes. Walking in the
sun, would keep her from suspecting he was anything other than a
human. If he kept insisting they meet at night, her hunter's radar
would go off big time.
    Was it crazy to want to get to know a hunter
who would sooner stake him than strike up a friendship? Oh aye, but
he had a hunch Cassandra Hayes would prove well worth the ride into Looneyville .

Chapter Eleven
    Cassandra ended the call with Tremayne with
the plan to meet at the wharf after six tonight. She glanced at her
watch. She had a few minutes to spare.
    There were very few slips vacant. She
wondered if the Lamia took residence on a boat or if she lurked
beneath the water just waiting to strike.
    She stepped closer to the edge of the ramp
and glanced at the watery depths below. The murky color prevented
her from truly seeing anything beneath its surface with
clarity.
    The Lamia would think nothing of giving her
lover a watery death once she drank her fill. And the vamp she hung
out with couldn't be an innocent bystander either. Maybe they
shared their victims. She couldn't rule out the possibility.
    Earlier today she'd spent time at the morgue,
where the victims had been put on ice. The blood had been siphoned,
but there was unusual bruising around each of the victim's mouths
and beneath their eyes as if they had been starved, but they didn't
appear emaciated.
    Where could the Lamia be hiding? She glanced
at the sun sitting low on the horizon, the day slipping away to
night faster than she'd like. She glanced toward the storefronts
across the way, one being the Eternal Bliss. The pub had been a
pleasant surprise. Even though Tremayne had been sent to the States
as a punishment, he did all right securing a home base.
    "Speak of the devil," she murmured as she
spotted Tremayne, leaving his establishment. He wore jeans and a
sweatshirt with a hoodie even though it was a pleasant
seventy-three degrees.
    "Have you had any luck at the morgue?" he
asked upon reaching her side.
    "No more info than we already had." Her gaze
slid over him. Tall, fit and he wore his jeans well, but the
hoodie? "What's with the hoodlum getup?"
    "What do you mean?" His brows furrowed over
the bridge of his nose.
    "Never mind." She rolled her eyes at his
fashion sense. Who was she to judge when his attraction hadn't been
hampered in anyway – at least not for her? "I checked out the
morgue, but other than the obvious, there weren't any clues as to
where the victims had been murdered and drained of their blood
before being dumped. What I don't get is why would they want the
bodies found when they could have easily hid them away where no one
would ever be the wiser? They would have entered into the system
under missing persons, case unsolved."
    "They like the notoriety," he offered his
opinion. "They get off in letting us know they can kill at will,
aye?" He fished out a folded piece of paper from his jacket
pocket.
    "What's this?" she asked as she took it from
him.
    "I did some digging myself. As much as the
paranormal duo wanted us to know of their proclivity to torture,
they may have more killings they