Read Online With Silent Screams by Steve McHugh - Free Book Online

Garrett,” she continued, causing all nineteen heads to snap back toward her. “Let it be known that he is a friend to us all.” She stepped off the platform and walked toward me as her subjects watched her move. She really was stunningly beautiful. A few inches shorter than me, but in three-inch heels she was roughly the same height. Her long billowing skirt had a slit down one side that allowed me to glimpse her slender legs with every step she made. She placed one elegant finger on my chest and brushed her mouth across my neck, allowing me to inhale her. She smelled like passion fruit. I really like passion fruit. I had to remind myself that there were twenty people in the room—and also that she could tear me in half without too many problems. Vampire masters were a level of power that was scary to anyone with two brain cells to rub together. If she’d decided to take me by force, the only way I could have stopped would have ended with one of us dead. And I wouldn’t have put money on me.
    “You’re a very handsome man,” Felicia whispered as she walked around me, running her hands over my body. “I like my men rugged, to be men. Have you ever had a vampire take blood from you before?”
    “Many times,” I said. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
    She nodded and grinned. “How many of those did you allow?”
    “Two.” Both of them were to help a vampire heal.
    “What did you do to those who took your blood without permission?” Felicia had made a full circuit of my body and stood in front of me.
    “I turned them to ash.” I had whispered the words, but they appeared to explode around the room so that everyone heard.
    “And do you give yourself to me willingly?”
    “Yes.” My words were almost a snarl; I had no idea why, but just being near Felicia made me want to tear her clothes off.
    “Then come to me.”
    She didn’t so much as lead me as I followed without complaint until I was on top of the platform and sitting in the chair. “This won’t hurt,” she said and straddled my lap. Her words were normal to my ears. Whatever magic or power she was using had stopped, although I still wanted her.
    My head felt clearer. “Not me it won’t. Last chance to change your mind.”
    She kissed me hard on the mouth before breaking away and sinking her teeth into my neck.

    Allowing your blood to be taken by a vampire did incredible things to both participants. It created a bond, albeit briefly, whereby just after the bite stopped, you could see into each other’s lives. It was a tiny glimpse into a person, and it was how most vampires gauged whether they wanted to extend that bite into one that would turn the other person. And if the person being bitten wasn’t human, then the vampire gained strength from the blood far in excess of anything they could get from a human.
    The bite lasted only a few seconds, but once it broke I saw Felicia as a small girl on a ship to America. I saw her grow up, marry, have children, and then I saw it all taken away by a vampire, who left her alive to use as his own. I saw her kill him, take his brood, and move away from Georgia. Images of her throughout her life flashed through my head—men and women she’d been with, and those she’d killed—until it faded and I sat, exhausted, in the chair.
    Felicia had a slightly different experience. She screamed.
    It took me a few seconds to realize that she was on the ground thrashing about as whatever memories of mine ripped through her. None of her subjects leapt to help her, most appeared shocked and confused, but some were glancing at me with the intention of blaming me for what was happening to their master.
    One of the men, a huge monster of a vampire, stared at me and took a step forward.
    “No!” Felicia ordered. “You will stay where you are.”
    The man stopped in mid-step and then moved back.
    “Are you okay?” I asked. I didn’t bother to offer my hand; no one in a position of power would have accepted it