Read Online A Drop of Red by Chris Marie Green - Free Book Online Page A

wasn’t a sound so much as something I saw superimposed over her when we first met outside.”
    “And what was that?” Dawn asked.
    “Only a flash. Like that old song . . . ‘There’s a little black spot on the sun today.’ ”
    Kiko humphed. “‘King of Pain.’ ”
    There were no words, because Dawn had felt that dark mark on her, and nothing she did could wash it away.
    “A black spot, huh?” Frank said. “Dawn reclaimed her soul, but I suppose I sound hollow because I’m a full-on beastie.”
    At Natalia’s next speechless moment, he added, “See, I’d have to kill my ex-wife—my master—to get my soul back. It’s . . . complicated.”
    “You think?” Dawn said.
    He went on to explain about how he, a no-account bar bouncer, and movie-star Eva had defied her managers and married. How they’d given birth to Dawn just before Eva was “murdered.”
    “She’d been recruited into a vampire Underground,” Dawn tacked on after Frank did his part. “The Master took major celebrities while they were still in their prime, staged sensational deaths that would guarantee infamy, gave them shelter belowground while their legends grew, and then performed plastic surgery on these Elite creatures before they appeared Above again, where they’d use their Allure to make humans think they had the same star quality as the old model.”
    “When Dawn killed their master,” Frank said, “most of the humanized Elites committed suicide. Some disappeared. Eva reformed herself.”
    Feeling that they were getting too personal—why did this new girl have to know everything ?—Dawn stuck to the technicalities.
    “Basically,” she said, “the Hollywood Underground had a stratified class system. There were human Servants who took care of dirty work Above and served as food. There were Guards—freaky-ass Nosferatu things that defended the higher beings. Then came the Groupies—pet vampires who didn’t have as much power as the Elites. The Master even had a lieutenant of sorts. Sorin.” Dawn took a breath. “If I had stayed a vampire, I would’ve had his power.”
    “But you didn’t stay a vampire,” Natalia said.
    “Didn’t want to.” Liar. “Besides, the Master needed to be put down, and my turning human was the result. Anyway, what I’m getting at here is even though we know the details of the Hollywood Underground, we can’t be sure about this new one we’re hunting—” Dawn stopped. “You figured out we’re hunting vamps, right?”
    “It is beginning to . . . click.” Natalia swallowed again.
    This was where they’d really lose her, no matter how much the girl wanted to help the dead or how vividly her visions told her she was making the right move by coming here tonight.
    Full steam ahead anyway. “What I was saying is that we can’t be sure about what to expect from this Underground that might have created the burial ground you passed.”
    “This is a real tough job, Natalia,” Frank added. “Lots of curve balls.”
    Kiko obviously saw an opening to cut every last tie keeping his competition here. “Since all the Undergrounds the boss has destroyed were different, we never know things like how exactly we can defend ourselves at first. The masters are all blood brothers, but over the centuries, they developed diverse talents based on individual strengths.”
    “And to make things more interesting,” Frank said, “the masters have a history of merging Undergrounds, and even going after one another to capture each other’s communities.”
    Mouth dry, Dawn took a swig from her juice, then said, “I was exposed to the last master’s knowledge, including his memories, when he turned me, and he experienced one of those takeovers firsthand.”
    “Tell her how Benedikte betrayed you by pretending to be your pal,” Kiko said. “Oh, and tell her how she shouldn’t expect total truth from the boss, either.”
    Natalia sent Dawn a don’t-do-this-to-me glance.
    “Just don’t trust