Phoenix Rising (Book 5 The Kindred Series) Read Free Page A

it was him she loved, make her stay with him . He so desperately yearned to, and yet he knew that he never could. It wouldn't be real and he loved her too much to abuse and manipulate her in such a way. He could keep her, but he would hate himself forever if he decided to do so.
    "Julian! Julian!"
    His eyes flew open and he blinked Annabelle into focus. "Julian stop! She has enough for the change. She is not yours!"
    Anger and hurt tore through him as a small growl escaped him. He knew that she wasn't his. He knew that. It didn't mean that he had to like it though. Gradually he got enough control over himself to pull away from her. She moaned and her eyelids briefly flickered up to reveal the striking amethyst azure color of her eyes.
    She was still alive, even if she couldn't be his she was still here with him. She wasn't dead as they had all feared and that was all that mattered even though they didn't know what this change would do to her. No Hunter had ever been changed, and Cassie had already been an oddity amongst The Hunter race. She was volatile and extremely powerful as a human, as a vampire she could become something truly unstoppable.
    He knew that he couldn't keep the apprehension from his face as he met Annabelle's gaze. Cassie's cries and screams increased in intensity, he covered her mouth again as he tried to keep her as silent as possible. No one outside of these walls could know she had survived; The Elders would try to destroy her if they did.
    "It's essential we keep her quiet. They'll come in here if we don't," he told Annabelle.
    Annabelle nodded; she held Cassie's legs more firmly to the ground as Julian tried to stifle her cries without harming her.
    "We have a bigger problem."
    Julian had completely forgotten about Chris. Now the boy's hushed words drew their attention to him. What could possibly be a bigger problem than this? Chris's eyes were as big as saucers; his face had taken on the hue of a corpse. A crushing sense of impending doom settled over Julian. He'd never seen the kid look like that before and they'd been in some pretty crappy situations.
    "What is it?" Annabelle whispered.
    "Devon doesn't realize that she's not dead, well not completely dead anyway."
    Annabelle exchanged a confused look with Julian. "That makes no sense," she mumbled. "They have shared blood, Devon should know that she's not truly dead."
    "That may be so." The hoarse tone of Chris's voice scared Julian more than the terrified look in his eyes. "But as I told you before, that thing outside is not Devon."

CHAPTER 3
     
    They remained unblinking as they stared at him. Chris was once again reminded of the fact that they were feral and savage as their eyes seemed to shimmer with a strange inner gleam. But even at their worst, they could never be as savage as that thing out there was. Chris shuddered at the word thing , but that was exactly what it was. Devon wasn't out there anymore; Chris couldn't sense his essence amongst the vengeance that consumed him.
    "How bad?" Annabelle breathed.
    Chris refused to look back outside; there was nothing there that he cared to see again. "He's trying to get to Robert, I think."
    "Yes," Julian said. "Robert's all that he'll want now." Julian's attention was drawn back to Cassie as a series of convulsions rocked her off the floor. Chris's hands fisted at his sides, he hated feeling so impotent but he didn't know what to do to help either her or Devon. The force of her seizures was enough to shake the floor, and he was surprised when he didn't hear the cracking of her bones accompanying them.
    She limply fell back to the floor, her hands uncurled at her sides. Her eyes began to move rapidly behind her eyelids as a small moan escaped her. For now she was calm, simply because it appeared that she had been broken beyond repair. A new concern boiled up inside of Chris as he stared at her unmoving form.
    "Is she going to survive this?" he inquired.
    "Yes," Julian said briskly. "We all went