Demon Moon Read Free

been much more effective in London’s drawing rooms—instead of being silenced the vampire’s voice rose and rang with challenge. “You endanger all of us. The elders should never have allowed such as you to roam the streets.”
    Such as him? Colin’s amusement returned. “They attempted to stop me…once. Will you try to do the same now?”
    â€œYou fought them?” Fia’s question was echoed by uneasy murmurs.
    Colin raised his heel to the sofa cushion, rested his elbow on his knee. His smile was as lazy as his posture. “I’d no need for such drastic measures,” he told her. “Would you kill such as me?”
    Her lips parted as her gaze slid over his features. For an instant, she stopped breathing…then shook herself out of it. “Yes. If you didn’t follow the community’s rules.”
    Delighted by her response, Colin laughed softly. “Your elders found that they could not kill me. And why should they? When I first came to this city, there was no vampire community here, and worldwide the requirement of partnerships and bloodsharing was in its nascent stages; our numbers weren’t high enough to warrant it.”
    As the vampire population rose, it became a requirement of most communities that each vampire have at least one blood-sharer, so that they’d not feed from humans. Almost all vampires paired up in twosomes or threesomes and exchanged blood between themselves. It was an arrangement that had evolved from the need for secrecy; even a single vampire would be found out if he needed to hunt each night.
    But for Colin.
    He agreed with the reasoning behind bloodsharing, though he could not do it—and he would not tolerate being told how to live. “Why should I submit to a rule that didn’t exist when I was born?”
    â€œFor our protection,” Paul said, as if it were that simple.
    â€œYou’ve been watching me feed for months; have my activities drawn human notice?”
    â€œNo.” Once again, the bold vampire with the wolf tattoo spoke. This time, Colin caught a hint of frustration and bewilderment in his psychic scent. From his inability to understand how Colin could feed undetected, unremembered?
    Even Colin did not fully understand it.
    â€œBut that doesn’t mean you won’t be discovered in the future.”
    â€œI have not in two hundred years,” Colin said with a careless shrug, and returned his attention to Paul and Fia. “I’ve no intention of bloodsharing, or discontinuing my hunts. I’ve no intention of leading you. I fear I don’t have what you’re looking for.”
    â€œYou have answers.”
    Yes, but most of these vampires were too eager to fall into line, to follow. He couldn’t imagine what they’d become if they received some of the truth. Individually, it might be safe, but a group would likely become a cult, speculating on realms they’d never see: Caelum, Hell, Chaos.
    Participating in rituals, carelessly playing with curses and symbols.
    â€œI also have a tan,” he said as he rose to his feet. Several vampires took a step back; Paul and his human did not flinch. “If there is anything else I can provide you, do ask it of me.”
    Fia’s mouth flattened with her disappointment. “Maybe you could lower the thermostat? You’ve got the air-conditioning on at the bar and in the DJ station, but it’s blasting heat everywhere else.”
    â€œI’d hate for my employees to suffer discomfort. Are you uncomfortable?”
    â€œNo, but—” She waved toward the vampires, her partner. Their skin glistened with perspiration.
    â€œI daresay no human here is. More to the point, neither am I—so I’ll not likely adjust it. I find that seventy-two degrees is a near perfect temperature.” In the nightclub, at any rate. Colin lifted her hand from the table, pressed a kiss to the back of it, and left