Read Online Even Vampires Get the Blues by Katie MacAlister - Free Book Online Page A

feed.” Paen’s eyes had darkened until they were the color of clouds over the moon. “I don’t normally feed from women I respect.”
    His words touched me in an oddly endearing way. “Are you saying you like me?” I asked, wondering why it meant so much that he did.
    â€œYes,” he answered, his breath hot on my neck.
    â€œGood. I like you, too.”
    â€œIt is for that reason that I hesitate,” he said, his lips caressing the skin on my neck. I melted. “But if you’re sure—”
    â€œI’m sure,” I said, pressing myself against his mouth.
    â€œI won’t take anything you don’t want to give,” he reassured, his tongue flicking across my pulse point.
    â€œDinner’s on,” I said, my head lolling back as his tongue swept across my skin once again, sending ripples of excitement through me. Pain, red and hot and deep, flared from my neck for a second before it dissolved into a pleasure that seemed almost obscene in its quality. I twisted slightly so I could clutch Paen’s head, my fingers tangling into his curls as he drank from me.
    â€œDear god, don’t stop,” I gasped, my body seemingly one gigantic erogenous zone as he took life from me.
    I won’t. I can’t.
    A familiar rush of lightness raced through me. I struggled against it, clutching Paen’s head even harder as my mother’s blood kicked in and sent my consciousness flying out of my body.
    â€œNo, dammit!” I yelled silently as my ethereal being floated out of the car, Paen’s head bent over mine the last thing I saw before I was caught on an astral wind and whipped away from the car. “Dammit, this isn’t fair! Why can’t I stay? Nooo! ”
    I drifted down the road, past houses, up over trees, gaining speed as the wind carried me farther and farther away from my body. There was no moon, so I couldn’t see where I was going, but as I was whipped along over fields, housing tracts, and stretches of untouched land, I had a feeling I was heading to somewhere specific.
    I’ve found that time passes differently when you’re an astral projection. Either it seems telescoped, running so slow a second seems to take minutes, or it’s speeded up like a movie being fast-forwarded. In the time it took me to swear silently (in my astral form, I couldn’t speak aloud), I found myself zooming up to a looming black structure, a castle, an ebony mass silhouetted against a midnight sky. Before I could blink, I was whisked through the castle, down stairs, and suddenly plunked down in a rectangular room lined with bookcases. At one end of the room sat a large desk, a man seated behind it, shadowed by the light that illuminated only one corner of the desk. He shuffled through papers, and occasionally peered at a computer monitor as he tapped a couple of keys. He looked vaguely familiar. For a moment, I couldn’tplace him, but in a flash of memory I realized he was the man who had been arguing with the antique shop owner.
    â€œHuh. I wonder what I’m doing seeing him? It’s certainly not the man I’d like to be looking at right this moment.”
    Although the words I had spoken didn’t make a sound, the man’s head snapped up just as if he had heard them. He half stood while scanning the room, evidently startled by my interruption, but I knew that wasn’t at all possible. My astral form was soundless and invisible. In reality, I wasn’t really there, so how could he see or hear me?
    â€œUh . . . hello? Can you hear—whoa! Where did you come from?”
    The small monkey named Beppo—at least, I assumed it was the same monkey; I couldn’t get close enough to see if he wore the same leather collar—raced across the room and jumped onto the desk. The man had been in the process of sitting back down, but he shot up again at my words, his head turning back and forth as he