Read Online The Vampire With the Dragon Tattoo (Love at Stake) by Kerrelyn Sparks - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Kerrelyn Sparks
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I always thought he was shy.”
“Actually,” Gregori said, “I don’t think he approved of us bringing you here. He questioned if we had the right to drag you into our world.”
Leah sat up. Was that why he’d looked so tense and agitated when everyone else had been cheerful? Was he actually on her side? She shook that thought away. He was a violent, wild person. She didn’t dare trust him.
Emma’s cell phone rang. “It’s Angus. I’ll take this in the hall.” She hurried from the room.
Gregori picked VANNA up and headed for the door. “I’ll get rid of this.”
“Permanently, I hope,” Abby muttered, then shifted on the bed to look at Leah. “So you’re okay now?”
“I guess.” Leah shrugged. “Did you have a hard time accepting all this supernatural stuff?”
“Not too hard. I was desperate to find some plants in China that I thought would help my sick mother, but it seemed impossible. That’s when my father arranged for the vampires to teleport me there.”
“So you were well motivated to accept them.”
“Exactly.” Abby smiled. “The Vamps and shifters took me there and protected me.” Her smile faded. “At one point, we were captured by Master Han, and while we were escaping, one of the bad guys came at me with a sword. Gregori jumped in front of me and was stabbed in the back. I almost lost him.” She blinked away some tears and smiled. “I cry way too easily these days. Must be the hormones.”
Leah slid off the bed and paced across the room. Abby and Emma made their husbands sound like heroes. Undead heroes fighting against the supernatural forces of evil. It sounded as fanciful as the stories her grandfather used to tell her.
Grandpa had always said there was a world beyond science, a magical world that could not be explained with logic. Her mother had warned her to pay no attention to his silly tales. Grandpa could never stroll along a rocky shore without looking for a selkie, or roam the green fields without searching for the fae. He had claimed his Uilleann pipes could entice the leprechauns to come out of hiding.
Mom had rejected her father and Ireland. She’d moved to the States to study at MIT, and there she’d fallen in love with a brilliant physics professor, Dr. Kai Ling Chin.
Leah had been raised on a strict, home-school regimen of science and rationalism. Her mind had thrived on it. But her heart had loved the one magical summer she’d spent with Grandpa. Her parents had been invited to speak at several prestigious conferences, and her two teenage brothers were already in college. After realizing that a nine-year-old girl was too young to fend for herself all summer, her parents had shipped her off to Ireland.
Grandpa had made her feel loved instead of abandoned. And wonderfully free. She’d danced barefoot in the meadow while he’d serenaded her with the pipes. She’d gathered flowers without learning their names in Latin. And she’d reveled in Grandpa’s stories where nothing was what it seemed. If he were still alive, he would laugh and drink a toast to this bizarre, new world she’d stumbled into.
So what should she do? Run back to her safe, secure world that made sense and followed the rules? Where dead people remained dead without waking up and craving blood, and humans remained human without shifting into killer cats? Her parents would say run. It was the logical choice.
But Grandpa would lean close to her ear and whisper, “Life is an adventure, lass. Live it to the fullest, and never look back.”
If she were fanciful like Grandpa, she would suspect that somehow his spirit had guided her here. She recalled the odd feeling that had swept over her earlier. As if her whole life had been a series of small steps leading her to this one moment in time. Fate.
She shook her head. She was too logical to believe in fate. Her decisions had been her own. She was master of her own destiny. She’d accepted the perfect job, one that required a
“Actually,” Gregori said, “I don’t think he approved of us bringing you here. He questioned if we had the right to drag you into our world.”
Leah sat up. Was that why he’d looked so tense and agitated when everyone else had been cheerful? Was he actually on her side? She shook that thought away. He was a violent, wild person. She didn’t dare trust him.
Emma’s cell phone rang. “It’s Angus. I’ll take this in the hall.” She hurried from the room.
Gregori picked VANNA up and headed for the door. “I’ll get rid of this.”
“Permanently, I hope,” Abby muttered, then shifted on the bed to look at Leah. “So you’re okay now?”
“I guess.” Leah shrugged. “Did you have a hard time accepting all this supernatural stuff?”
“Not too hard. I was desperate to find some plants in China that I thought would help my sick mother, but it seemed impossible. That’s when my father arranged for the vampires to teleport me there.”
“So you were well motivated to accept them.”
“Exactly.” Abby smiled. “The Vamps and shifters took me there and protected me.” Her smile faded. “At one point, we were captured by Master Han, and while we were escaping, one of the bad guys came at me with a sword. Gregori jumped in front of me and was stabbed in the back. I almost lost him.” She blinked away some tears and smiled. “I cry way too easily these days. Must be the hormones.”
Leah slid off the bed and paced across the room. Abby and Emma made their husbands sound like heroes. Undead heroes fighting against the supernatural forces of evil. It sounded as fanciful as the stories her grandfather used to tell her.
Grandpa had always said there was a world beyond science, a magical world that could not be explained with logic. Her mother had warned her to pay no attention to his silly tales. Grandpa could never stroll along a rocky shore without looking for a selkie, or roam the green fields without searching for the fae. He had claimed his Uilleann pipes could entice the leprechauns to come out of hiding.
Mom had rejected her father and Ireland. She’d moved to the States to study at MIT, and there she’d fallen in love with a brilliant physics professor, Dr. Kai Ling Chin.
Leah had been raised on a strict, home-school regimen of science and rationalism. Her mind had thrived on it. But her heart had loved the one magical summer she’d spent with Grandpa. Her parents had been invited to speak at several prestigious conferences, and her two teenage brothers were already in college. After realizing that a nine-year-old girl was too young to fend for herself all summer, her parents had shipped her off to Ireland.
Grandpa had made her feel loved instead of abandoned. And wonderfully free. She’d danced barefoot in the meadow while he’d serenaded her with the pipes. She’d gathered flowers without learning their names in Latin. And she’d reveled in Grandpa’s stories where nothing was what it seemed. If he were still alive, he would laugh and drink a toast to this bizarre, new world she’d stumbled into.
So what should she do? Run back to her safe, secure world that made sense and followed the rules? Where dead people remained dead without waking up and craving blood, and humans remained human without shifting into killer cats? Her parents would say run. It was the logical choice.
But Grandpa would lean close to her ear and whisper, “Life is an adventure, lass. Live it to the fullest, and never look back.”
If she were fanciful like Grandpa, she would suspect that somehow his spirit had guided her here. She recalled the odd feeling that had swept over her earlier. As if her whole life had been a series of small steps leading her to this one moment in time. Fate.
She shook her head. She was too logical to believe in fate. Her decisions had been her own. She was master of her own destiny. She’d accepted the perfect job, one that required a
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