Read Online Flowers and Fangs (Stake and Dust series, Book II) by Karen Michelle Nutt - Free Book Online

She expected Tim to topple over, but
the impact barely fazed him, but something else happened. The skin
and hair at the base of his skull sizzled and popped as if it were
on fire. "The frying pan wasn't hot," she said out loud, more to
herself than for Derek's benefit. "Tim's skin…"
    "Iron will burn a vampire's flesh," he told
her. He glanced in the rearview mirror again.
    She casually glanced at her palms. They
weren't blistered and she hadn't felt the effects of the iron. She
let out a sigh of relief.
    "That's a good sign," Derek said and she
realized he had wondered the same thing and had been waiting for
her reaction.
    She licked her lips that had suddenly felt
dry. "Tim's not going to stop coming after me, is he?"
    "No." He didn't even hesitate to answer her.
"Whatever your relationship was before with him, it will be
amplified in Tim's mind. All his emotions, senses, and feelings are
out of control." He paused for a moment, concentrating on the road
and turning onto the major street and merging into traffic. "How
long have you and Tim been a couple?"
    "I've known him since we were young—our
fathers went to school together, but we just started dating. We
weren't—" She halted her words and pursed her lips. She was sharing
way too much. She met his eyes in the mirror without apology.
    "You never slept with him?" he asked the
question she hoped to keep to herself.
    "Does it make a difference?"
    "It might. He's been leaving roses with his
victims and he showed up at your house with flowers and a box of
chocolates."
    "We were supposed to go out for Valentine's
Day."
    "What are you leaving out?" he asked.
    "Perceptive, aren't you?"
    "Comes with the job."
    Along with weapons and fighting
skills , she thought to herself. She squirmed in her seat and
Lad whined. "Sorry, boy." She rubbed behind his ears, knowing how
much he liked it and he settled back down and closed his eyes. "I
live at home," she said to Derek. "Tim lived at home with his
parents, too. There wasn't a lot of alone time if you know what I
mean." God, she hoped he did so she didn't have to spell it out. As
it seemed he did know, and he made no qualms about saying so.
    "You planned to sleep with him—on Valentine's
Day."
    Her face felt warm and she was sure she
turned a nice shade of pink.
    "You don't have to be embarrassed," he
hurried to say. "Hell, sex is part of a relationship, right?
Eventually we all go there." He glanced in the mirror again, but
she didn't answer him.
    Back in high school they only got as far as
feeling—over their clothing. Then he left school and that was that.
If he had stayed… Yeah, she had no doubt they would have gone
there .
    He pulled off the main road and onto a
residential street. "We're here," he announced as he pulled into
the driveway of the third house on the right.
    "I thought we were going to see a vet.'
    "This is better," he reassured her.
    Dr. Mary Sinclair was in her early thirties,
blonde and pretty. She clearly had a thing for Derek with the way
she batted her eyes at him, but she was all business when it came
to examining Lad. She had a room in the back of the house with an
examining table with restraints. There were chains and manacles
attached to the wall, and a cage sat to the side that was large
enough to house a polar bear.
    With what Sloane had learned in the last two
days, this doctor dealt with more than a typical dog or cat crisis.
She didn't even flinch when they brought Lad to her.
    She checked him thoroughly from his snout to
his tail. It dawned on her that the doctor searched for flesh
wounds before she concentrated on the leg. She x-rayed the limb for
a better idea of how bad the break was.
    "There, there sweet boy," she cooed in a
sweet tone meant for animals or infants. You've had a bad day."
Finally she finished her examination and turned her attention to
the x-ray she placed over a light illuminating the film. She then
addressed Sloane. "It was a clean break, no crushed areas or
fragments. I