The Devil & Lillian Holmes Read Free Page A

appear strong and nonchalant. She asked in truth, “You were teasing, were you not? Our bargain remains: Innocents are verboten?”
    George looked away, annoyed or worse. “You have lost faith?”
    “George, look at me. Have you killed anyone innocent since we made our bargain?”
    “I have hunted only with you.” He turned accusing eyes on her. “You, however, cannot say the same. Was that not also part of the pact?”
    “I…” What to say? He was right. And he had warned her that she was unready to hunt alone, that her education had just begun. He hadn’t gone as far as forbidding her to hunt without him, but that quick push at his hair told her he was angry. She thought of the chatty stranger at the dock, wondering how he had spent his night. She was glad she had not killed him.
    “One mistake, Lil, one step in the wrong direction, will bring forces down on us that you cannot imagine.”
    “What forces? Marie, you mean? Lady Lucifer?”
    “She is rogue, insane, a cannibal. The forbidden drinking of vampire blood has made her supremely strong, but there are those stronger still. I told you of them.”
    The Elders. She had almost thought them a legend. Hoped it, perhaps. “Yes, you told me of them. So, they are real? They are the ones that rule the Houses? You said we had no House in Baltimore.”
    George snorted. “The Houses are ruled by families who like to believe they have a stranglehold on a city, puffed up peacocks with an interest in wealth and position who have carried the worst of mortality into their new lives. No, the Elders are ancient. They are the ancestors of us all. And I have told you their rules. Marie breaks them regularly, and it seems you are flirting with breaking them, too. Where did you go without me?”
    “I ate a rat, George! Are you satisfied? I ate a flea-riddled, scrawny rat. I was so weak I didn’t even try to catch the cat who vied for the very same meal.”
    He stared at her for a moment. Then he stood and pulled her to her feet. “Oh, love, I’m sorry. I have had such times.”
    She bit back tears and forced her body to stay still as he caressed her hair. Do not let him see you shake. She said nothing.
    “Please, Lil. I know you are a strong woman—it is one reason I love you so—but you must trust me in matters of our ways. Perhaps I’ve been remiss, wanting to shield you from…”
    “Self-loathing?”
    He didn’t answer but closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. “Those first years are so hard. I remember them. It is onerous for me to see you in pain.”
    She verbalized her recent decision, wondering if he would want to flee Marie soon. If he would force her to choose him or her daughter. “I am in no pain. I simply want to find my child. You will still help me, will you not?”
    George paused. He was worried, she saw. He was strong but practical. Where was Annaluisa Pelosi? Their friend had purportedly gone to New Orleans to lead Madam Lucifer on a merry chase but had taken too long to return. The woman claimed some knowledge of Lillian’s mother also, but she had quit Baltimore before revealing her secrets.
    I must find my baby, Lillian vowed.
    George kissed her hand and nodded. “I want to help you find your child, dear. Just…please be careful.” He indicated the desk drawer where she’d stowed her letter. “So, what does your hero write?”
    “Nothing of great import.”
    “I know that tone.” George leaned in, kissed her ear, and nibbled playfully at her neck. “What are you hiding? Let me see.”
    “He is my personal friend.”
    She stood to distract him with a kiss, but he pushed her back, holding her a foot away with a hand on each shoulder and staring into her eyes. “Am I to be jealous? What further secrets are there between us?”
    “You should be quite jealous, for he is a great man and does not pen letters to you! Oh, you will be disappointed to hear that he no longer writes stories. I cannot bear to believe it is true.”
    “That is