Read Online Eternal Shadows by Kate Martin - Free Book Online

said. “So I’ll leave you to him. But be on guard. Don’t be surprised if I decide to test you without notice.”
    “Gee, you really know how to make a girl feel comfortable.”
    “It’s important. There are dangers out there you can’t begin to imagine.”
    I was surrounded by vampires. My imagination was a little more bendy than usual. But he didn’t seem the joking type. “I believe you.”
    He nodded, satisfied, I guess, that I had been convinced. Then he gave his attention to the others as though I didn’t exist. “Rhys, we’ll finish our discussion later. Millie, I have something I need you to do.”
    She followed him inside after smiling at me yet again. I wondered if her mouth ever hurt, or if the muscles in her face were just really strong after more than a century of smiling. I wondered, too, why they walked inside at a normal human pace.
    “Why walk so slowly when you can move faster? Is it always so much work?”
    “No, once you learn to control the speed it takes no effort at all. But why use it when you don’t really need it? Short distances like from here to the house are no great feat, and we do like to enjoy the fresh air.”
    Made sense, I guess. I was getting rather excited about all these new abilities, against my better judgment. Once I could run that fast without killing everything in my path, I’d be doing quite a bit of it. Speed walking was going to take on a whole new meaning. I giggled at the thought of showing all the old ladies at the mall every morning a thing or two.
    Rhys watched me, clearly pondering my sanity. It only made me laugh more.
    “So,” I said once I was done, “what do I get to learn now, oh wise one?”
    “Basic control. And you’ll have to make a decision about feeding.”
    “You mean whether or not I want a feeder?” My new knowledge surprised him. “Millie introduced me to Brody, and the basic concept.”
    “Good. Is that the course you want to pursue?”
    “No. I want to not drink blood at all. But it seems like the least destructive route, so yeah, I guess.”
    “Then let’s practice not breaking things when you hold them. Humans are rather fragile.”
    Yippee .

Chapter Four: Feeder
    I wasn’t allowed to pick my own feeder. Not that I wanted to. Apparently, it was all some big to-do. Rhys had refused to pick for me, so Millie had taken the job. Rhys did, however, have to approve.
    “I’m telling you, Rhys, she won’t be comfortable biting a girl.”
    “She’s not going to be comfortable biting anyone.”
    I’d been secretly listening to them argue the matter for some time. Honestly, it was amusing, and educational. It surprised me how well both of them knew me after such a short amount of time.
    Any time Rhys had some pressing matter to attend to, Millie came to keep me company. Or babysit me, which was closer to the truth, but I preferred to think it was purely because she enjoyed my riveting conversational skills. Not that she didn’t like me. She did, and I liked her. Millie was smart. She had been a stenographer before she was turned, and had worked for the head of some huge New York company. She refused to tell me which one. Since then she did a lot of reading and kept track of just about everything the family, as they called it, did. While she hadn’t told me about anyone outside of herself, her sister, Rhys and Cade, I had gotten the impression that the family was much larger, and very important in the grand scheme of things. After all, they had usurped my father. Just like in every other country the vampires had visited, the United States was close to finding a solution to the seemingly never-ending war. It was all over the news. Of course, it was easy to come to peace agreements when the leaders of enemy countries were no longer enemies, but more vampires and all a part of the same movement. I hadn’t worn Millie down enough to get all those details, but I was close. The day before she had almost slipped. Next time I’d get