Read Online Night Feast by Yvonne Bruton - Free Book Online

Their little shop generated far more income than all of the shops and restaurants in the mall, in Portland put together. If they had been situated in town they, and their clients would most likely have attracted too much unwanted attention.  The antique shop business had been in Abe Jackson’s family for generations.  He had been taught the ropes by his parents and inherited the shop, after they had died.  He and Dalia lived above the shop with their only fourteen year old son.  The boy went to a local school but was never allowed to bring any of his friends home, or discuss the family business.  Abe’s great-great grandfather had built the shop, deep in the woods, because he had wanted to attract a different kind of customer.  He had originally set it up as a pawn shop, and had purposely built it quite near to the portal that had then been a strange, small white light.  He had known instantly from his discovery of it, that it would develop as a sort of entrance for beings from another time.  His own grandmother had told him many stories of such things, when he was a child and had always emphasised that the supernatural would need guidance and money, if they were to blend into worlds and societies, that were unknown and alien to them.  His grandmother had also told him that the burning of Heather incense attracted beneficial spirits, and brought rain to over dry land.  She had also mentioned slyly, that the more ambitious would add a few drops of blood taken from a white dove to the incense before lighting it.  It was this additional action that was responsible for the beginnings of the Jackson’s burgeoning business.
    The pungent aroma of doves’ blood and Heather incense attracted vampires and other supernatural beings from far and wide and from the past, present and future. Although dangerous they spared the lives of all the Jackson family,  knowing that they were a great necessity for their own survival, in this new territory.  It was agreed that the Jacksons would buy and sell the valuables that were brought to their shop by these strange individuals.  The money enabled them all to walk around, and live in the towns and cities.
    When this unusual legacy had been passed down to him from his father, Abe knew that his family would never be free.  He also knew that his son, as it had been for himself, would have to bring his future wife into the secret.  However, he had found the killing of doves and the fraternising with the Dead remarkably easy as a boy, so he had decided that persuading a new wife would be a breeze.
    Dalia Hatcher had grown up in Frenchville, Aroostook.  She was the eldest daughter of four siblings and had always been the curious sort.  Her fascination with Ouija boards and fortune telling had been a constant concern for her mother when she was younger, so it didn’t really surprise her when her daughter announced that she was going to marry that strange looking young man, Abe Jackson.
    Before their betrothal Dalia had only been to Abe’s house during the day.  She had been very surprised on how unprepossessing it was on the outside, because she was well aware that the Jackson’s were Kennedy rich.  When she had first entered the shop on that bright and warm sunny day,  she had felt a chill that she could not explain.  However even though she was a novice when it came to antiques, she could see that the merchandise had a most unique rarity.  Then she’d married Abe.
    At first she had wanted to run.  Abe had explained everything to her, and had tried to hold her and make her feel safe when he saw that she was gripped with fear.  He thought that she would have taken the family secret much better, due to her interests and morbid curiosity of the unknown.  When she told him that she was going to leave he shook his head sadly, and informed his wife that she would be hunted down by his clients, because she knew their secret.  The new bride had no choice, but to stay by her