Read Online Savannah Past Midnight by Christine Edwards - Free Book Online Page A

my
recall—her superior strength, her monumental confidence and lack of
any fear, those fucking fangs, not to mention those intimidating
eyes that can change color. My bullshit radar is super keen and one
thing I know for certain is that this woman isn’t lying. Well
I’ll be goddamned. Un-fucking-believable.
    “Were you once human, then somethin’ happened to
you?”
    “Exactly.”
    “Tell me.”
    “Why don’t you ease off a bit, and I might.”
    “Sorry. You do things to me, woman.” I push away and
lean back against the sofa, taking a much needed gulp of ale in the
process. My hands are slightly unsteady as I set the beer down on
the floor by my right boot.
    She speaks slowly, as if recalling a dream, “It all
began with a horseback riding accident.”
    She watches me, as if to gauge my interest level
before continuing, “I took off on a racehorse, a massive Arabian
named Sacred Falls that I had zero business on. I was knocked off
his back in the woods not a mile away from the stable. The fall
subsequently severed my spinal cord. I wanted to die but didn’t
even have the faculties to carry out that selfish act. Thankfully,
my uncle Severin and his creator, Katerina rescued me. She was the
vampire who turned me.”
    All business, I ask, “Did she have to kill you to do
it?”
    “Nearly, yes. But you have to understand that I was
already dead inside. Colton, there was no hope for me. I would have
lain in that bed of mine until my body slowly withered away
completely. Every day I’m grateful for the chance I was given to
live as what I am now.”
    “How old were you?”
    “Twenty.”
    “You look about that age now.”
    “Yes. We don’t age. I most likely seem older because
of my confidence and the way I carry myself. When you have been
around for a few hundred years, less and less impresses you. Jaded
acceptance replacing rampant excitement would be the best way to
explain it.”
    “I’ve seen the blaze in your eyes. Things fire you
up, wildcat.”
    “ Specific things, intriguing things, yes. I’ll
admit that I’ve always been drawn to danger and the unknown, the
unusual. This will never change. Does what I am bother you?”
    “Nope.”
    “That’s all you have to say on the subject of me
being a vampire?”
    “Yep. I’ll be honest, I don’t give a flying fuck if
you’re a vampire, a ghoul, or a possessed demon, darlin’. Still
doesn’t change the fact that I like you and I wanna know more about
you.”
    Her outstanding eyes are wide and wary. I wonder if
someone has hurt her in the past to make her this skittish. My
fists tighten at the thought.
    “Now it’s my turn to get personal, cowboy. Why do you
fight? Tell me honestly.”
    “Easy one—same reason you straddle that cycle every
night. Probably the same reason you took off on your final ride on
that racehorse as well—to feel something. To get that
indescribable feeling of power, of adrenaline that reminds us that
it’s all worth it.”
    “That is a very interesting way to put it,
cowboy.”
    “Don’t know shit about that, just know that fuckin’
rush is beautiful and pulls me out of the gray, the everyday, the
bland. It also helps me release the pent-up rage I’ve always had in
abundance. Add in the fact that I can make around a grand a night
for a ten-to-twenty-minute fight seems all right by me. Sure as
hell has helped out with the endless shit I have to buy to rebuild
this ancient place.” I reach down and tag my beer between my
fingers before taking another swig.
    “You’re right, Colton.”
    I lower the beer from my lips and ask, “ ’Bout
what?”
    “About the rush. That’s exactly why I need it—crave
it, actually. I think I’ve always been drawn to danger.”
    “Yeah, some of us are, like a moth to a fuckin’
flame, wildcat.”
    “You mentioned rage. Where does that come from?”
    “Had a twin. She’s dead ’cause of me. End of
story.”
    Deep sorrow fills her eyes as she says softly, “I’m
sure