Blood Born Read Free Page B

contrast to his youthful, urban looks.
    “What’s impressive?” I asked, my mind still hazy from being controlled.
    “How quickly you were able to free yourself from my thoughts,” the vampire spoke. “How you forced your mind to ignore what it was being told to do. Not an easy feat, my dear.”
    “I’m not your ‘dear.’” I had to fight the urge to puke all over myself.
    The vampire simply smiled. “Forgive me for not introducing myself,” he continued. In less than half a second, he was inches from me, my hand now resting in his, a wry smile on his face. My mind hurt trying to process what it had just seen—him moving as fast as lightning. “My name is Aldric Kruger. Please, excuse my rudeness.”
    “What rudeness?” I snapped back. “Forgetting to tell me your name? Or killing me and stuffing me in a box in the ground?” Apparently I was oblivious to the fact that the undead man standing in front of me could kill me faster than I could blink my eyes. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it, but the unbelievable events of the night kept the realization at bay. It was like the filter in my brain had been disarmed and I was free to speak my mind. Aldric’s smile faded a bit, my words obviously having an effect on him. He quickly recovered with a tiny laugh.
    “Be very careful, Avaline. Do not let my youthful looks fool you. I’m over a thousand years old, and I could rip your head from your shoulders without thinking twice.” Even as he said the words I didn’t believe them; something told me Aldric didn’t believe them either.
    “Do it and I’ll kill you.” Chance’s voice caught me off guard. I spun to look at him, and what I saw scared me. His face was twisted in to a gnarled expression of anger and rage. His arms were taut at his sides, the muscles rippling beneath his skin. His fists were tightly coiled and beating against his legs.
    “Really?” Aldric said with a hint of surprise in his voice. “Well, Mr. Caldon, I must say you never cease to amaze me.” Aldric was mocking Chance now. Somehow I knew that Chance would be dead before he could even get close enough to Aldric to kill him. “But perhaps you should heed the warning given to Avaline, my friend. It is in your best interest, believe me.”
    “I am not your friend ,” Chance said through clenched teeth. The anxiety evident in his body seemed to intensify.
    “Your title really is irrelevant. You will do as I say.” Aldric only glanced in Chance’s direction, his body firmly planted in front of me. I focused on his eyes, which seemed to burn with anger toward Chance. My heart fluttered with worry. Apparently, Aldric could sense my uneasiness.
    “Look what you’ve done, Mr. Caldon,” he said, turning his attention back to me. “You’ve upset Avaline.” He paused a moment, then added, “Apologize to our guest.” I wanted so badly to take my hand back and run away from Aldric and Chance and my newfound-but-unwanted life. I wanted to go to sleep and wake up to find that all of this had been a horrible nightmare and I was back to being normal. I closed my eyes for a moment, hoping that when I opened them, my dream would come true. It didn’t.
    “I’m sorry, Ava,” Chance said from behind me. I could tell without even looking at him that he meant it, though I’m sure he wasn’t happy about being told to apologize.
    “It’s okay, really.” I felt bad for Chance, I honestly did. But somehow I couldn’t look away from Aldric.
    “Ava?” Aldric said. “Well, please forgive me again, Ava . I was unaware of your preferred epithet.” Aldric’s smile felt sinister, almost evil. A chill crawled my spine and settled into the back of my mind, warning me not to trust him; no problem there. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, shall we move on to what’s important?” He dropped my hand and stepped away from me. As soon as he did, I noticed his missing presence. I hated the feeling. He stood with his back to me