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

anybody,” Dawn said, still unwilling to open herself up to an emotional autopsy. “Every creature involved is bent on survival.” She gestured with her glass toward the angel carving. “Even the boss.”
    In the mist of her mind, all of his apologies threaded together. The good of the many outweighs the good of the few. I had to do what was necessary. . . .
    Yeah, Dawn knew Costin would still choose his soul over her if it came right down to it, and she couldn’t blame him, either, because she’d lost her soul once and . . .
    And she’d liked what she’d been. For the first time, she’d felt accepted. Complete.
    Blocking that out—damn it, she couldn’t help the ingrained habit—Dawn started talking again, hoping the sound would chase away the truth.
    “Even though we have a few answers from Benedikte—none of which probably apply to the new Underground—there’s another question that’s been bugging us since we came here. It seems that London’s been the center of a lot of Underground activity, and we don’t know why.”
    Natalia asked, “It’s as if these vampires were drawn here?”
    “Yeah, looks like the blood brothers keep coming back.” Dawn finally acknowledged the painting above the fireplace. Kalin. “See this girl? She was part of a team that hunted a master and some vamps around this area in the early fifteen hundreds, even though there weren’t established Undergrounds at that point. Then, after Undergrounds started to form, there was one in some abandoned tube areas. It was the Hollywood master’s first community, but it was destroyed by another blood brother.”
    Frank said, “Then there appears to be this Underground.”
    “So why do they keep coming here?” Dawn finished. “It’s something we need to find out, along with the usual junk.”
    Natalia volunteered a theory. “Why are there so many hauntings here, as well? There’s much spiritual activity.”
    “Enough to even draw what’s referred to as ‘the dragon,’ ” Kiko added, probably because if this part didn’t get the other psychic out the door, nothing would.
    Natalia had leaned toward him, her dark curls tumbling forward. “The dragon?”
    Kiko chuckled softly, the terror.
    But Natalia surprised the tar out of Dawn when she sucked it up and smiled right back at him. It was a bring-it-on gesture if there ever was one.
    Kiko slid out of his chair, folding his hands behind his back in preparation for his doom speech.
    “Oh, yeesh,” Dawn said at the drama.
    He forged on anyway. “Our boss—the guy you’re about to sign on with? Well, a long time ago, he got caught up in some real hairy stuff with some real hairy men. I ain’t naming names, but the boss exchanged blood with a guy who made a bargain with the devil. And that guy was freakin’ brutal. A warrior who turned all his closest men into master vampires and eventually told them to secretly create powerful, individual armies that would all gather one day to take over the world once this guy woke up from a loooooong sleep.”
    “This is the dragon,” Natalia said.
    It looked like Kiko’s story had bitten a chunk out of her second-wind courage.
    But Dawn watched carefully for any signs of deception. If she’d done the same with Matt Lonigan, aka Benedikte, back in L.A., she would’ve saved them all a lot of trouble.
    Kiko hammered on. “In my vision—we call it the ‘key vision’—I saw Dawn bathed in a vampire’s blood, victorious. At first, the boss interpreted it to mean she would find the L.A. master and somehow be the key to besting him. And she was.”
    “But . . .” Natalia said.
    “ But we think there’s more—that Dawn’s going to be key in the destruction of the dragon, too.”
    “Or maybe you’re being optimistic.” Dawn took another drink of juice, basically to cover how her pulse had just tried to jolt its way out of her chest.
    “Or maybe I’m right,” Kiko said.
    She didn’t mention that maybe he was holding onto the