Survive the Dawn Read Free Page B

and I know where my diploma is. Where’s yours?” Sebastian closed her eyes while Alex grinned evilly. “Counting to ten?”
    “Yes, in Romanian.”
    After being cleared for takeoff, the private jet lifted off the runway as the airport faded out of sight. Alex unbuckled her seat belt. “This is interes —” She stopped when the lone flight attendant walked up to them with two glasses of champagne.
    Alex sat there, mouth gaping as Sebastian took both glasses. “Anything else, Doctor?”
    “No, thank you,” Sebastian said. “I think she’s stunned enough for now.” She handed a glass to Alex.
    “Champagne?” Alex asked. Sebastian grinned and touched her glass with Alex’s.
    They sat in silence, drinking the bubbly spirits. Alex gazed out the window thinking of what lie in store for her and Sebastian.
    After all that had happened in a few short weeks, Alex understood life as she knew it was over—falling in love with the undead will do that to you. She glanced over at the object of her love; Sebastian looked deep in thought sporting her patented scowl. Alex leaned over, laying her head on the strong shoulder, extremely happy that she still had the shoulder and the rest of Sebastian.
    It was touch and go there for a while. Alex shivered when she remembered how she woke, finding herself shackled to a wall with disgusting—what did Sebastian call them?—ah, yes, minions pawing at her. She still couldn’t remember how she got there. The last thing she remembered was standing in Sebastian’s living room and someone… She shook her head, trying to remember. She almost had it, then the vision was gone. It was driving her nuts. She took a deep exasperated breath.
    “Stop thinking about it,” Sebastian whispered and kissed the top of her head.
    “I can’t help it. How the hell did I get from your house to that warehouse?” She recalled seeing the helpless look on Sebastian’s face when she saw her in that corridor. “You saved my life,” she whispered and held onto Sebastian’s strong arm.
    “We saved each other, love,” Sebastian countered. “Now get some sleep. It’s a six-hour flight.”
    “Never been to England,” she mumbled with a yawn and snuggled closer. “Will we be left alone?”
    “I don’t know, but I truly hope so. Maybe Nicholae will leave me alone when he realizes I’m no threat to him.”
    “Your very existence is a threat to that old vampire,” Alex said. “I hope this friend of yours, what was his name?”
    “ Gaylen Prescott.”
    “Sounds like a member of Parliament,” Alex said dreamily and grinned when she heard the chuckle. “I hope he can help.”
    “I do, too,” Sebastian whispered.
    “Explain again how you know him.” Alex sighed and yawned again. “Is he as old as you?”
    “Older, but not by much, only a hundred years or so.” Sebastian sipped her champagne.
    “Is that all?”
    “Keep still. I thought you wanted to hear about him.”
    “Sorry, continue.” She settled in for the story.
    “I met him in the early 1800s when I traveled to England. It was right before I met Dr. Blundell. Gaylen was, and is, a very wealthy man. The hierarchy respected him, which might be one of the reasons they let me go so easily—that and Tatiana.”
    Alex knew she was talking about the ancient vampire who ruled with Nicholae for a thousand years. She sired Sebastian, knowing she would one day take Tatiana’s place. Sebastian had said many times she didn’t want the responsibility; she wanted what she couldn’t have—her humanity. She’d been searching for it, and although it was unattainable, Alex vowed to make Sebastian as human as possible. She still couldn’t get over the fact that Sebastian was a vampire . Alex remembered her relationship before Sebastian, with Carey; the two relationships were not in the same ballpark. However, there was one fundamental difference: Carey was human and so was Alex. The image of Sebastian looking the same after fifty years or so,