Read Online Dracula's Secret by Linda Mercury - Free Book Online Page A

disinterestedly.
    â€œHello, darling.” A doe-eyed woman emerged from the shadows. Her enormous diamond earrings, his wedding gift to her, caught the moonlight. Vlad’s heart caught.
    He’d pierced her ears himself on their honeymoon. The diamonds were to ensure that she never went hungry, never had to rely on another for anything. She’d never taken them out.
    Inexplicably cheered at her well-being, Vlad smoothed his hair and stood to face his former wife. “What do you want, Ilona?”
    â€œRadu wants you dead, my husband,” she said, her formerly luminous eyes sad, lonely, and completely frozen. “He’s heard of your plan and your ejection. We cannot afford you lose on the battlefield.” She circled him.
    He countered her movement. “I’m already dead.” Vlad managed a weak joke to cover his heartbreak at seeing his wife again.
    â€œForgive my lack of precision.” She allowed a brief smile at the reminder of their old banter. “But my master demands your dust.”
    â€œThe brat sent you to do his work for him again.” Vlad let his disgust through.
    She shook her head, her face regretful. “Radu controls me.”
    â€œI see.” He stopped. He faced her. “Radu truly chose well. No one could compare to you. No one ever has.”
    She narrowed her eyes at him, clearly not trusting his gentle words.
    Her skin glowed like a pearl in the night. Vlad remembered the taste of her mouth under his and the headiness of their passion in their younger days. He had broken her maidenhead with his ivory erection, bringing them both ecstasy over and over on their wedding night. He could still see her wet, writhing body underneath him, the wine-colored stain on the bedding. Vlad had held those small, firm breasts in his hands, learning her pleasure.
    She had even cried for him when he hinted of his treatment under the Ottomans.
    Radu knew that Vlad couldn’t raise a hand against his former beloved.
    He put his hands on her shoulders. “We were happy once. I cherish those memories.”
    Ilona put her hands on his waist in reply.
    â€œI always loved you,” he whispered.
    â€œNo, Vlad, you didn’t.” She shook her head sadly. “If you had loved me, you would have told me your secrets. You liked me well enough, though, and that counts for something.”
    His frozen heart cracked at her disbelief. The only person he’d trusted didn’t believe in him. Nevertheless, he needed her caress one last time. “Come to me.” He held out his arms.
    They touched foreheads, a sign of affection from long ago.
    â€œI am sorry,” Vlad whispered.
    She didn’t look up. “As am I.”
    He felt the telltale tightening of her back as she clasped the stake behind her back.
    His knife sliced through her clothes and bodice to her heart. The diamonds dropped soundlessly to the ground as her ashes and dust floated away.
    Vlad knelt, coated in his wife’s remains. He could never forget her, and never forgive Radu for taking her away from him. In honor of his love, he stabbed those earrings through his own lobes. They would never come out, for he could never forgive himself, either.
    Dracula would not risk his heart again. The memory of her forehead on his, the feel of her dust falling on his hands, allowed no other contact beyond manipulation and feeding.
    Ilona, his only love, was dead by his own hand.

Chapter 13
    Lance escaped by the theater’s back door. Protestors blocked the front, but the rear alley was clear. Lance ran through the dark rain past a Dumpster, trying to reach his car before he was noticed.
    His scalp tightened in a familiar and very unwelcome way. Something nasty was about to happen.
    A flicker of movement to his left warned him. As he turned, an enormous tiger padded out of the cold drizzle toward him. The calculating gleam in its gold-green eyes said this was no escapee from the zoo. It