Black Heart: Coeur de Sade (Black Heart Series) Read Free Page B

Highland Park mini-mansion.  I really didn't know why she would need, or even want, such a large home.
                The coffin was as large as a twin-sized bed.  I mean huge for a coffin.  In fact, it had a twin-sized mattress in it.  A very comfortable coffin.  It also had a small flat panel TV, charger for my phone and stereo system.  There was no phone in the charger.
                Something very hot was burning my back.  I bowed my back to get some relief, and reached back to find a blessed silver bullet.  I brushed it aside, burning my fingers, and remembered being shot with my own gun the night before.  The blessed bullet had burned its way out of me.
                "What's going on?" I said.
                I sat up.  Yes, the coffin was that big.  Four foot deep, with a vaulted lid, in fact.  I could easily sit up inside it.
                First off, it was the first time I ever woke up alone in that coffin.  Since moving into her house, Desiree had shared my coffin.  Twice Desiree and another male fang whore of her acquaintance had shared it with us.
                Secondly, I was still fully dressed in the tattered and bloody clothes from the mall fight.  I never slept in my clothes, and I always changed as soon as possible when I bloodied my clothes.  I was quite fastidious about cleanliness.
                Thirdly, I didn't recall anything since calling Longhouse outside of the mall.  How did I get home?  Then I remembered...
                The ruby.
                What the Hell was that? I thought.  What happened to me?
                I needed to talk to Desiree.  Maybe she had some answers.  But the lid didn't budge when I pushed it.  It was locked.  I frowned as I hit the open button, listening to the locks click open and the hiss of hydraulics.
                A platter with my breakfast was sitting beside the coffin.  Desiree had been there already.  I quickly drank my fill, then stripped out of my befouled clothes.  Both the jeans and tank top were ruined.  Desiree was good with leather, so the jacket and boots were safe.
                Naked, I looked myself over.  The blood was dried upon my body.  It was severely caked under my nails and in the cuticles of both hands.  My hair was tacky with congealed blood, too.  I felt disgusting.
                Though I really enjoyed a nice hot shower in the morning, I knew there was a better way to clean myself up.  So I changed into a wolf.  I remained a wolf a full five seconds, and was back to being human again.  Whenever I transformed like that, it left me utterly clean of all dirt, grime, blood, and makeup.  Way beyond soap and water clean.
                Pulling on peach colored sweat pants and a white v-neck, I headed upstairs.  I could feel Desiree upstairs.  She was alone.  Her emotions were fired up, too.  Very tense.  A little aroused.  I shook my head woefully as I ascended the basement stairs.
                Her house was probably one of the few homes in that exclusive neighborhood with a basement.  North Texas was not "basement country."  I suspect most of the homes with basements were originally built by vampires, or mortals wishing to attract vampires.
                Desiree was in the den, or what she referred to as her Media Room.  I knew exactly were she was, and even her mood thanks to my supernatural vampiric senses.  I could feel the neighbors, too, for several houses down in all directions.  Their hot, sweet blood called to me in the basest way.
                "Desiree, I'm up," I called, striking out for the den.
                "I heard you," she called back.
                I stopped just inside the den.  She didn't even glance back at me.
                "What are you watching?"
                "Shhhh!" she said,