Read Online Black Desire by Karyn Gerrard - Free Book Online Page B

air quotes with her fingers and her voice dripped with disdain. He
really couldn't blame her.
    "Yes, there are,
all over the world. It is secretive. We have assimilated into the human world.
We live, we love and we work among you. There is a Bureau that governs the Vampires
within the Shadow World and they use hunters to uphold the sworn oath ‘no harm
to humans.’ We do not drain bodies of blood, leaving corpses in our wake. Most
times we get it from a plasma bag. No one really hunts anymore."
    "How lucky for
us humans. When did you last drink blood then and not from a bag? The truth, or
your version of the truth," Katrina demanded.
    One of his long fingers
reached out and touched the collar of her low cut dress, skimming just above
her nipple.
    "Last night."
    Katrina's mouth
dropped open. "You drank—from me ?"
She jumped up and tore at her dress, finding the faint mark. "Here? Oh.
My. God."
    She picked her purse
once again and ran for the door. Tristan caught her arm and swung her around
until she was against the wall.
    "A few drops,
nothing more. We are not animals. I am a man, half-human. I feel, I want—I want
you, Katrina. Not since my wife died..."
    "Your wife, was
that a story to get my sympathy?" she cried as a few tears rolled down her
cheek.
    "No. I was
married for sixty-two years. She died in my arms of old age in 1939. Please, can
I show you a picture? You won't run?" He backed away from the wall where
he had her boxed in. She finally nodded.
    He went to the desk
by the fireplace and took an old tintype out of the drawer. He looked at it
briefly and the memories flooded back. Their wedding day, 1877. God, she was beautiful.
Georgiana knew what he was and married him anyway. She loved him that much. His
fingers traced over the faded image. He reached in the drawer for the blue
velvet box that sat next to the picture. He took a deep breath and walked the
few steps back to Katrina and handed the box to her.
    She snapped it open
and gasped.
    "My Victoria
Cross. It is the highest honor to be bestowed for valor in the face of the
enemy. I received it in 1945."
    Katrina's fingers
gently touched the medal. She turned it over. "Tristan Thorne?"
    "The name I was
using at the time."
    Katrina reverently
turned the medal back. She pulled out a couple of black and white photos that
were jammed into the top of the case.
    "That is me,
receiving the medal from the Governor-General."
    Tristan watched the
confusion pass over her face as she looked at the picture and back at him. The
second photo was him standing proudly in full dress uniform, the medal pinned
to his chest.
    "It looks like
you. I don't know what to think," she murmured.
    Tristan took the
medal and pictures from her hand then held out the tintype wedding picture.
    "As you see, I
always wore my hair long, even when it was not the fashion. Well, except for my
service during World War II. Georgiana had the most angelic hair, spun gold,
though you can't tell from that."
    Katrina looked up at
him. "This is really you. No facial hair but it is clearly you. You
haven't changed at all." She turned the tintype over and inspected it
closely. "This is not a fake."
    "No, it is not.
Neither are the medal nor the other pictures and neither am I. I know we really
don't know each other but I do not lie. Not about something as important as this."
He winced slightly. He did lie to her. He denied having any children. He would
have to tell her of Lucius another time, if he ever got another time with her.
    Katrina gazed at him
intensely, her lip trembling. "Why are you telling me all this? We could
have just had a pleasant summer fling and went our separate ways in August with
me none the wiser. I still can't believe—I mean—why are you telling me this,
Tristan?"
    He stood close, cupped
her face and looked down at her tremulous lips. He couldn't resist kissing her.
Not the hungry feral kisses of before but a kiss so tender, so reverent, a kiss
that honored everything she was. God,