Read Online The Power by Cynthia Roberts - Free Book Online Page B

away from him, but she listened carefully to the blood pushing through his veins and cleanly through his arteries. He was all right, for now…
    Reginald had been in her employ for the past sixty-three years, having been sent to her by her dark mother, Gina, when Reginald had been but nineteen years old. Gina had drunk from the young man, but Lillian never had, despite Reginald’s insistence.
    “We thought you were dead, lying in some ditch somewhere.” Reginald snapped fitfully like a p arent that had been worried to death over his child that had missed her curfew. Lillian walked into the parlor where they all stood. Her sharp eyes took in everything that she was so familiar with. The now antique furniture that had been with her for years upon years had been restored again and again over the time. It was lovely and beautifully made. The crystal chandelier that hung over head was massive and had once hung in her mortal father’s home back in London, England when she had been a child. Each piece in the room held some kind of meaning and significance to her past.
    “I am dead.” She said dismissively as she peeled off the black slicker she had worn out that night, and tossed it on the back of a golden lounge chair. Reginald picked up the piece of clothing and tenderly smoothed it through his fingers.
    “You know what I meant.” he insisted.
    “I’m fine, Reginald. I was just a bit detained tonight, that is all.” she explained.
    “There was trouble?” Troy spat out as if jumping to her defense. Lillian turned meeting the younger man’s dark brown eyes that at the moment were filled with anger and concern.
    “No.” Lillian replied.
    “Then what detained you?” Josh stepped further into the room, running a large, angry hand through his short, coal black hair as he did so. His muscles were tense, but his heart was beating swiftly as if he too had been worried for her.
    “There is another vampire in this part of the city.” Lillian decided to let them know. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell them about Jack yet though. She herself couldn’t even be sure. She had heard of it happening before, of how the mortals lived again and again from one life to the next, while they, th e immortals, stayed the same forever or until they met their demise.
    “You’re sure?” Reginald’s heart jumped fearfully, and Lillian instantly regretted sharing anything at all with her good friend. It was cruel of her to cause his worry, but it was too late now.
    “He has made a kill.” she told the room. Josh and Troy looked at each other, both thinking the matter over.
    “He?” Reginald asked, and Lillian shrugged.
    “Or she. I can’t be sure yet. I ran across a police officer tonight who is working the case. The kill I made this evening.” She said, and they all looked at her with difference in their eyes, as if they didn’t like to think of her as what she actually was: a killer.
    “Oh for Christ’s sake, Josh! She has to eat to survive.” Troy growled angrily, as if he hadn’t been thinking along those same lines.
    “Drink.” Josh countered heatedly. “And I know that. I also know that she doesn’t take from the innocent.”
    “No. She doesn’t.” Reginald finished firmly, and he nodded toward Lillian as if saying, “Go on.”
    “The officer that worked the scene…uh, afterward.” she said uneasily. “I read of him that there had been another victim. I did not make the other kill.” she told them.
    “It could be nothing, not even a vampire.” Josh spoke up in a thoughtful manner.
    “The man was killed in the same way, fang marks in the neck, drained of blood.” she told them. Josh swallowed slowly, and Lillian couldn’t resist. She stepped in closer to him, knowing that her nearness made him feel uneasy. He straightened, throwing back his shoulders with pride as she came even closer, even as his heart picked up pace.
    “Enough!” Reginald barked in a commanding voice. “ Josh you have no