Read Online Vampires' Consort: Magical Menages, Book 2 by Bonnie Dee - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Bonnie Dee
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the Reich. He was arrested. We never found out what happened to him, but later my entire family was taken away—my mother, my two sisters and brother—and put in a prison camp.”
“Are you Jewish?”
He opened his eyes and turned his head on the pillow to look at her. She was so young World War II was nothing but a documentary on the History channel to her. She probably knew about Hitler and the Holocaust and the Americans storming the beach at Normandy, but little else of what had taken place back then.
“No,” he answered. “It wasn’t only Jews who were imprisoned. Anyone who was undesirable or spoke against the government was rooted out like weeds and thrown on the rubbish heap.” He thought of Gerta and Mother quite literally tossed in a pile with other dead bodies.
“And Valarian found you there?”
“Yes, just before Dachau was liberated in ’45.”
“What about the rest of your family? I’m sorry. It’s not my business.”
He’d rather not talk about it, but now he’d started, he might as well tell her the rest—although not the details. Those he would never share.
“My younger brother Hans was sent to a different camp for some reason. It was impossible to understand the bureaucracy. I never learned what became of him or my father. My mother and one of my sisters died at Dachau. My other sister…died later.” That was enough. She didn’t need to know Mary had become an officer’s whore and later killed herself from the shame of it.
“I’m so very sorry.”
He nodded, accepting her condolence, and moved on. “The formal surrender of the camp took place on April twenty-nine, but another division arrived the day before. Valarian was with them as a war correspondent. He’d immigrated to America many decades earlier, forging new identities and relocating whenever his lack of aging became obvious.”
“If he can’t be out in the daylight, how did he manage to hold down a job like that?”
“He couldn’t join the armed forces. But as an independent journalist, he traveled as he wished, producing the appropriate papers and attaching himself to various battalions. He was resourceful and fought the war in his own way.”
How could he tell her what it had been like just before the Americans took over the camp? That night had been a blur. Jacob had been listless from hunger and closer to dying than he’d realized. When the guards had started shooting and burning bodies to destroy the evidence of their crime, he’d tried to protect some prisoners who were even weaker than himself.
The Americans had broken through the gates, bullets flying. In the midst of it, Jacob had one single-minded purpose—to protect a boy he held in his arms. Having that focus gave him the willpower he needed to stay alive as he shielded the boy’s body with his own. And then he’d felt a presence by his side. He’d looked into eyes so powerful they felt like searchlights. In the midst of the chaos, he heard the stranger’s voice as if it were inside his mind. The boy is dead. You can let go now.
Jacob looked down and saw it was true. The child’s emaciated chest was no longer moving. He laid the boy on the ground and returned his gaze to the man beside him. Now what?
“I can save your life, if you will devote it to me,” the dark-eyed man said aloud. He showed his teeth, and where the canines should be was a pair of curving fangs. Jacob was past being shocked by anything at that point. He simply nodded, accepting the face the man showed him.
“I need a good man like you to be my agent. In return I’ll give you a new existence.”
Jacob barely paused to consider. “Will you give me revenge? That is what I want.”
“Revenge is usually not as sweet as we anticipate,” the vampire warned.
“Those are my terms. You help me and I will serve you for the rest of my life.” At the time he hadn’t really understood how long that life would be.
Valarian had slit his wrist and offered Jacob his
“Are you Jewish?”
He opened his eyes and turned his head on the pillow to look at her. She was so young World War II was nothing but a documentary on the History channel to her. She probably knew about Hitler and the Holocaust and the Americans storming the beach at Normandy, but little else of what had taken place back then.
“No,” he answered. “It wasn’t only Jews who were imprisoned. Anyone who was undesirable or spoke against the government was rooted out like weeds and thrown on the rubbish heap.” He thought of Gerta and Mother quite literally tossed in a pile with other dead bodies.
“And Valarian found you there?”
“Yes, just before Dachau was liberated in ’45.”
“What about the rest of your family? I’m sorry. It’s not my business.”
He’d rather not talk about it, but now he’d started, he might as well tell her the rest—although not the details. Those he would never share.
“My younger brother Hans was sent to a different camp for some reason. It was impossible to understand the bureaucracy. I never learned what became of him or my father. My mother and one of my sisters died at Dachau. My other sister…died later.” That was enough. She didn’t need to know Mary had become an officer’s whore and later killed herself from the shame of it.
“I’m so very sorry.”
He nodded, accepting her condolence, and moved on. “The formal surrender of the camp took place on April twenty-nine, but another division arrived the day before. Valarian was with them as a war correspondent. He’d immigrated to America many decades earlier, forging new identities and relocating whenever his lack of aging became obvious.”
“If he can’t be out in the daylight, how did he manage to hold down a job like that?”
“He couldn’t join the armed forces. But as an independent journalist, he traveled as he wished, producing the appropriate papers and attaching himself to various battalions. He was resourceful and fought the war in his own way.”
How could he tell her what it had been like just before the Americans took over the camp? That night had been a blur. Jacob had been listless from hunger and closer to dying than he’d realized. When the guards had started shooting and burning bodies to destroy the evidence of their crime, he’d tried to protect some prisoners who were even weaker than himself.
The Americans had broken through the gates, bullets flying. In the midst of it, Jacob had one single-minded purpose—to protect a boy he held in his arms. Having that focus gave him the willpower he needed to stay alive as he shielded the boy’s body with his own. And then he’d felt a presence by his side. He’d looked into eyes so powerful they felt like searchlights. In the midst of the chaos, he heard the stranger’s voice as if it were inside his mind. The boy is dead. You can let go now.
Jacob looked down and saw it was true. The child’s emaciated chest was no longer moving. He laid the boy on the ground and returned his gaze to the man beside him. Now what?
“I can save your life, if you will devote it to me,” the dark-eyed man said aloud. He showed his teeth, and where the canines should be was a pair of curving fangs. Jacob was past being shocked by anything at that point. He simply nodded, accepting the face the man showed him.
“I need a good man like you to be my agent. In return I’ll give you a new existence.”
Jacob barely paused to consider. “Will you give me revenge? That is what I want.”
“Revenge is usually not as sweet as we anticipate,” the vampire warned.
“Those are my terms. You help me and I will serve you for the rest of my life.” At the time he hadn’t really understood how long that life would be.
Valarian had slit his wrist and offered Jacob his
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