Read Online Urban Fantasy Collection - Vampires by Adrian Phoenix - Free Book Online

mind. The boy’s psyche is, for her, an Advent calendar; with each compartment she opens or twists or triggers, a wonderful surprise is revealed.
    Johanna ran her fingers through her short-cropped hair, glancing at her faint reflection in the window. Attractive, early thirties, blonde and blue-eyed Nordic, tall and fit. The very opposite of her père de sang in physical appearance. But she and Ronin shared a deep hunger for knowledge. In that they were very much alike.
    Weariness surged through her. She needed blood, then Sleep. She was pushing the pills’ limits too far. She could only postpone Sleep so long.
    â€œWhat was done to S’s memory isn’t the problem,” she said, turning to face Gifford. “E’s cross-country killing spree and the Bureau’s involvement in the case is the problem. I don’t know how, but E’s led them, more or less, straight to S.”
    â€œDo you want E stopped?”
    Johanna shook her head. “I’d like to keep studying his progress. But it’s making me nervous that the Bureau’s so close.”
    â€œI see,” Gifford said. He leaned forward in the chair. His composed gaze met and held Johanna’s. “What do you want done?”

    L UCIEN SAT IN THE darkened living room, back straight, eyes closed as he guarded those who Slept in the rooms upstairs. Slept deeply. Except for one. Dante’s Sleep-addled thoughts brushed against Lucien’s mind. He felt Dante’s struggle to remain conscious, alert. Damned woman and her damned search warrant. Lucien’s fingers flexed and gripped the easy chair’s armrests. He drew in a deep breath and carefully lifted his fingers. Calm.
    He knew how difficult and contrary Dante could be—the child had often tested his own considerable patience—and Wallace had simply reacted to Dante’s refusal to cooperate.
    But…why did Wallace even wish to search the courtyard? What did she hope to find? And what did any of it have to do with Dante?
    Lucien opened his eyes and stared into the curtained gloom. Shadows draped the sofa, bookcases, and standing lamps, hiding all color. Outside, birds twittered and sang, busy with morning tasks.
    For a moment, Lucien longed to take to the air, to feel the dawn warm against his face, to warble his wybrcathl into the golden sunrise, to await the answering aria of another of the Elohim.
    But his wybrcathl needed to remain unvoiced. The child he guarded needed to remain hidden from the Elohim, undiscovered. Lucien touched the pendant hanging at his throat. Ran his fingers along the edges of the X, the metal smooth and warm.
    The rune for partnership—given to him four years before by Dante, a warm and unexpected token of their friendship. Lucien’s fingers tightened around the pendant. The rough edges bit into his flesh. He bowed his head and closed his eyes. Remembered the wild, rough anhrefncathl he’d answered five years before…remembered landing on a wharf beside the Mississippi River.
    A youth in worn leather pants, scuffed-up boots, and a T-shirt sits cross-legged on the wharf’s warped and weathered wood, something wriggling between his hands caught in a bluish glow.
    Lucien lands lightly on the wharf, his wings expanding in a last flutter of air before folding behind him. Water laps and splashes against the wharf pilings. The strong odor of fish, muddy water, and rank mud layers the air.
    The youth doesn’t look up. Black hair hides his face, his head bowed as he concentrates on the thing squirming in his hands.
    Lucien steps forward, the wood still sun-warm against his bare feet. Pain and power radiate from the youth, sharp and spiky and fevered. Blood drips from his nose and splashes onto the back of his hand.
    The blue light glowing from the youth’s hands, the chaos song swirling up from him, anguished and yearning and heartbroken—draw Lucien closer. His muscles tighten; fire burns through