Read Online The Lady Is a Vamp by Lynsay Sands - Free Book Online Page B

pocket with the other. She didn’t even think about what she was doing then, but dropped the chain she’d pulled from him and used both hands to snap the barrel off the end of the tranquilizer gun with a satisfying snap.
    Jeanne Louise let the two pieces drop to the floor and then stepped back from Paul, giving him space. She had no desire to scare him or make him feel threatened.
    “Jesus, I knew you guys were faster, but . . . damn, you moved so fast you were a blur,” Paul said with amazement.
    Her voice calm, Jeanne Louise said, “I could have done that at any point over the last couple of hours. The only reason I’m still here now is because I choose to be.”
    “Jesus,” Paul repeated, and then eyed her warily as he took a deep breath. Letting it out, he asked, “Then why are you still here?”
    Jeanne Louise hesitated unsure how to answer that. The truth wouldn’t do at all. He wasn’t ready to hear that he might be her life mate, and she wasn’t ready to tell him. First, she needed to be sure he was. And then she needed to see if he was willing to be that life mate, if he could see her as more than a possible way to save his daughter. Jeanne Louise, like every other immortal, had only one turn to use, and while her heart ached for Livy and she sympathized with Paul, she couldn’t save every mortal who was terminally ill. She wouldn’t give up her turn to just anyone, but had to use it wisely.
    Aware that he was waiting for an answer, she finally shrugged and offered an evasive, “Consider it a test.”
    “A test,” he muttered with a frown.
    Jeanne Louise nodded.
    “What kind of test?” he asked warily.
    She bit her lip, but simply said, “You have your secrets and I have mine. Neither of us is ready to reveal them yet. In the meantime, I’m willing to help alleviate Livy’s pain so that she can eat and rest and rebuild her strength. I presume you’d like that?”
    Paul’s eyes widened, but he nodded. “Yes, of course.”
    “Good. Then can you please remove the shackles from my ankle? They’re beginning to chafe.”
    “Oh.” Paul glanced around and then shook his head and reached in his pocket for the key as he knelt by her leg. He shifted her pant legs up and Jeanne Louise bent to hold them out of the way for him as he quickly undid both shackles and removed them.
    “Thank you,” she murmured, releasing her pant legs and letting them fall back into place as she straightened.
    “My pleasure,” he said wryly, gathering the chain and shackles and moving to set them on the kitchen table. He hesitated and then glanced toward the refrigerator. “Would you like some blood now?”
    “Yes, please,” Jeanne Louise responded, her lips twitching at how polite and stiff they both sounded. Good Lord. Nothing was ever easy, was it?
    Nodding, Paul moved to the refrigerator and retrieved a jar of the dark crimson liquid.
    Jeanne Louise’s eyebrows rose when he undid the lid and handed it to her. “What—?”
    “It’s my blood,” he explained quietly. “I used sterilized jars. I didn’t have access to a blood bank or anything. I’ve been bleeding myself for nearly two months to get enough together for you.” He glanced back to the refrigerator with a frown and then added, “I hope I have enough. I wasn’t sure how much you’d need. They don’t give us info like that. Only what we need to know.”
    “I’m sure you have enough,” Jeanne Louise murmured and accepted the jar, then hesitated. She wasn’t used to drinking out of a jar. Or a glass for that matter. She tended to just pop a bag to her fangs to avoid tasting it. Not that it was unpleasant to her, but she felt a bit self-conscious about drinking it in front of him.
    Turning her back to him, she walked to the window as an excuse to keep her back to him as she quickly downed the beverage. She drank it as quickly as she could, very aware that he stood behind her, probably watching her drink his own blood. Dear