Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7)

Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7) Read Free Page B

Book: Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7) Read Free
Author: Kathi S. Barton
Ads: Link
they both turned toward the vampire who had showed them in. He didn’t look any better this time than he had the first time.
    His hair was unkempt and lank-looking. His cheeks, his entire body, looked gaunt and his skin, pasty white. He looked starved, and Aaron thought that for a vampire of this one’s apparent age, it had to have been weeks since he’d last fed. But for all his sickliness, his uniform was in pristine order.
    Clean and pressed, even his shoes were polished to a high glossy sheen. Like the house and its contents, money had been put into appearances and not into those that lived there. Aaron shook his head at the waste of money.
    Carlos Sanchez had been the master vampire of this little realm for nearly three hundred years. Aaron had moved there several weeks earlier when a few meetings with some other vamps had told him what was going on. Aaron might not have thought the cruelty was true had it have been only one or two stories, but he had heard the same thing over a dozen times.
    Carlos was abusing his position as master. Not only was he taking more than sixty-five percent of their total income, but he was not setting up anything in return for them. There were no health benefits for the human servants, nor was there anything set up for the orphans of vampires who were killed in fights or by humans. Then there was the physical abuse as well.
    Starving them was bad enough, but he was also killing them. Murder of one’s own kind was punishable by death. Only when challenged could a vampire kill another. But he was killing for pleasure, to show others what would happen if they crossed him or tried to leave his realm.
    As soon as they were led into the large receiving room, Aaron knew he had to win. The smell of death was everywhere, and the three dead women and the one man…all humans…on the floor before them were sickening to say the least. Aaron gained strength in knowing that he would win for the people of the realm.
    “Ah, Aaron MacManus. What brings you here tonight? Come to finally pledge to me, have you? It’s about time. I was about to send out my troops to bring you in and make you do it.” His laugh grated along Aaron’s skin. “Well, my boy, let’s get this over with.”
    “No, I have not. I’ve come to challenge you. Challenge you to your death for rules and rites of passage.” Aaron drew his sword and slammed it deep within the carpeted floor, never taking his eyes from Carlos.
    Carlos laughed again, but this time, Aaron could hear the forcefulness in it. “Surely you jest.”
    “I assure you that I do not. I, Aaron Xavier MacManus, pledged to no master, hereby challenge you, Carlos April Sanchez, to rules and rites of passage of this realm. I challenge you to your death.”
    Carlos looked at the men and women around him. Two of them stepped away and then flashed to the door and out of the room. One of the women made her way toward Aaron. He wasn’t sure what her intent was, but she was stopped by Duncan, who simply stood in front of her, blocking her way.
    “The last three times someone challenged me, I was the victor. You think you—”
    “They were not me,” Aaron said, cutting him off. He pulled his sword free and held it before him. “Are you afraid, Carlos? You should be, for I plan to make your death count for so much.”
    “You’re going to regret this, MacManus. I haven’t lost a fight yet, and I don’t plan to do so to an insolent prick like you,” Carlos snarled as he stood.
    Aaron grinned and knew that Carlos could see no humor or friendliness in it. “So be it.”

~CHAPTER ONE~
     
    Sara paused only slightly when she felt it. Someone or some...thing had moved into her zone. As she continued to vacuum the carpet in the little Cessna, she reached out and touched the other people she knew to be inside the hangar. Maybe, she thought, one of the others brought in a visitor.
    The mechanics, Mark and Tully, were in the outer bay; Maria, the cleaning lady, was in

Similar Books

A Date with Fate

Cathy Cole

The Dr Pepper Prophecies

Jennifer Gilby Roberts

Full Moon Feral

Jackie Nacht

Matt Archer: Monster Summer

Kendra C. Highley

Wild Orchids

Karen Robards

TYCE 3

Shareef Jaudon

LOVING ELLIE

Lindsey Brookes

Target: Rabaul

Bruce Gamble