Vampire for Christmas Read Free Page B

so human sometimes.
It had caught her off guard several times in the early days of
their partnership. It was no wonder vampires could blend so easily
into the unsuspecting human population. Seeing how he could move
through a crowd, could come close to so many people, within easy
killing reach, had boosted her resolve to protect the world from
his kind and the demons.
    Back
then, she had thought it even needed protecting from
Rafe.
    Now, she
could see that she had been wrong. It pained her to acknowledge
such a thing, but she was feeling strong enough to admit it to
herself. Rafe wasn’t out to kill anymore. He wasn’t one of the bad
vampires. He was one of the enlightened ones, those who had found
out they could co-exist with humans and only take what they needed
to survive. She still didn’t like it, but she couldn’t deny the
right to live to those who had fought their nature to become more
human. The moment they crossed the line though, she would be there
with a sharp stake to send them back to the grave, this time
permanently.
    Rafe
laughed.
    Was he
enjoying his game against the gale? Shannon huffed. This wasn’t a
game. There was a demon on the loose and she wasn’t about to let
the season of goodwill become the season of blood spill for some
unfortunate passerby.
    “ Rafe,” she called out to him but the wind stole her voice
again.
    Squinting, she braced herself against the wind and then took
a laboured step forwards, towards him. She ducked to one side when
the tail of his coat whipped the air and narrowly missed her face.
Edging around the grave he was standing on, she frowned and shook
her head when she saw the look of sheer elation on his face. She
couldn’t remember ever seeing him happy, but this was the closest
he had ever got to that emotion. If challenging the wind was
amusing him, then he could come back later and do it on his own
time.
    “ Rafe!” She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back
into the wind. It started to ease. “Get down here.”
    Rafe
raised a dark eyebrow and then opened his eyes and looked down at
her. She stood her ground, not caring if she sounded as though she
was scolding him. They had a mission to complete, and she wanted it
over with as soon as possible. Her head was filling with ridiculous
notions that she didn’t want to entertain and her guard was
slipping. She was certain that the moment he was out of her life
she would forget about him and her muddled feelings. The thought
that had crossed her mind earlier had been ridiculous.
Love?
    Never
going to happen.
    She
wasn’t in love with him and a clean break from him would prove
that. She wasn’t going to miss him or this town at all. She was
going to pack up, leave, and get on with her life, and maybe she
would even find herself a boyfriend.
    One with
a heartbeat.
    Shannon
cursed that thought. Rafe was not her boyfriend. He was a guy, and
sort of a friend, maybe, but he was so far from boyfriend material
that he stood in the next galaxy along from it. This was just some
strange form of Stockholm Syndrome. Rafe had been her closest
acquaintance for two years. He had helped her out of some bad
scrapes, had given her someone to talk to when she needed it most,
and had even protected her a few times.
    Although
he always said that he didn’t protect her out of chivalry, rather
it was done out of desire to end one night without having to bind
her wounds.
    A lie
that she didn’t believe.
    Rafe
sighed and started to move but then stopped. A look of pure
revulsion twisted his face.
    “ What the—” He wiped his cheek and she wondered what was wrong
until he hopped down from the tomb and she saw the clear jelly-like
substance coating his fingers. Trails of it stuck to his left
cheek.
    She
mirrored his face of disgust. The dying wind caused strands of her
hair to dance across her face. She clawed them back.
    Rafe
flicked the goo off his hand. “Someone seems to think it is funny
to go around throwing slime