Read Online Polar (Book 1): Polar Night by Julie Flanders - Free Book Online

A Russian New Year, with my Russian princess.”
    “I’m not Russian.”
    “Not right now, because you haven’t listened to what I told you yet. But you will be. You’ll be my Natasha. We’ll celebrate.”
    “And if I don’t?”
    “If you don’t, I’ll kill you.”
    Aleksei watched as Maria’s already pale face turned as white as an Arctic hare. He smiled. “I figured I might as well just give it to you straight.”
    Maria opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
    “If you were an actress,” Aleksei said, “I would tell you to consider the holiday as your audition. The most important audition you’ve ever gone on.”
    Maria finally managed to find her voice. “What am I auditioning for?”
    “To see whether you’re fit to stay here and share my winter with me. You see, I like to bring my guest here on the Solstice, with the intention of keeping her with me for the winter. But the winter is special for me, and I don’t want to have it ruined by an uncooperative guest. So, if you don’t pass your audition, I’ve still got plenty of time to find someone else.”
    “You mean, kidnap someone else?”
    “Well, if you want to look at it that way.”
    Maria had never felt so cold. She clutched her knees to her chest and tried to keep from shaking. “So what am I supposed to do to pass your audition?”
    “Just be Natasha. That’s all I want.”
    “How can I be her when I have no idea who she even is?”
    “I can guide you. And I chose you because you already resemble her. Once you get cleaned up and dressed appropriately, you’ll be beautiful, just like she was.”
    “Why don’t you just have her here with you? Why do you need me or some other woman?”
    “I wish I didn’t need you. But I can’t have Natasha without you. She’s gone.” Aleksei looked down at the floor. “She’s been gone for years. Decades.”
    “Decades? How old are you?”
    Aleksei stood up and brushed his black pants with his hands. “It doesn’t matter. I need to go.” He glanced towards the tray again. “I think I’ve spelled out the situation for you. You know your choices. For now, you might as well just enjoy your Christmas dinner.”
    He climbed up the stairs and was gone without another word. Maria heard the door of the root cellar slam shut behind him.
    She looked down at the food and felt her stomach convulsing. If she’d thought about it rationally, she would have known all along he planned to kill her. But now that he had spelled it out, he had left no doubt. She jumped up and ran to the chamber pot across the room. She barely made it to the pot before she vomited.

 
     
    Chapter 13
     
     
     
     
    Danny walked out of the bar and stumbled down the empty street, trying to remember where he had left his car. He looked up and down the street, but found no car in sight. Puzzling. Hadn’t he driven here when he’d left the library?
    He shrugged and decided he’d worry about it tomorrow. Home wasn’t that far away. And he was drunk enough that the cold didn’t bother him. He noticed flyers hanging on every telephone pole he passed, and saw Maria Treibel’s smiling face staring back at him. He remembered Nate Clancy mentioning a vigil, and assumed Maria’s friends had posted flyers around the town as part of the event. He wished he could say he thought they would do any good, but he knew the efforts were futile.
    He walked past the Catholic church, where the bells were playing Christmas music once again. What time was it, anyway? Wasn’t it a little late for church bells?
    He had his answer a few seconds later, when churchgoers began filing out of the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. They were all dressed in their best, in spite of the cold, and they held hands and clutched arms as they made their way to their cars and headed home for Christmas.
    Danny had vague memories of going to Midnight Mass with his mother at St. Patrick’s church in Chicago. He loved when the mass was over and he could run