A Shade of Vampire 8: A Shade of Kiev Read Online Free

intoxicating scent before running my tongue along her bite marks, licking away the dried blood. It felt like no matter how much of her blood I drank, I would never be satiated.
    Standing up, I looked into her eyes again for a reaction. They looked docile. Jaded. For as long as I had known her, Sofia Claremont had never given into my demands without a fight. Now, her surrender to my darkness unnerved me.
    “You don’t want me,” I muttered after several minutes. “You’re just desperate.”
    She looked up at me, her eyes widening. Perhaps she believed it to be an act of mercy. If only she had known that what I had planned for her was the furthest thing from merciful.
     
    I woke up in a sweat. Night had fallen and the boat had stopped moving. I sat up, noticing that the pain in my body had subsided. I ran my hands along my skin. It felt smooth. Mona had been right. The sleep had done my body good. How long I had been sleeping, I could only guess.
    I stood up and looked around the empty deck.
    “Witch?” I called.
    Splashing came from the waters nearby. Over the edge of the boat, two shiny heads bobbed above the waves. And the witch. She sat with her legs on either side of one of the dolphins, her wet dress hiked up her toned thighs, blood around her lips, nimbly picking apart a fish with her bare hands.
    “They needed to stop for dinner,” she said.
    I was ravenous. Even the sight of fish blood made my stomach grumble. I slid into the cool waters.
    “How do you catch those things without a net?” I asked, swimming toward her.
    “Kai might be able to spare you one, if you ask him nicely.” She patted the dolphin on the head. It lifted its shiny face from the water, opening its mouth to reveal several squished fish.
    The smell made me feel nauseous. Ignoring her insult, I turned away and ducked beneath the waves. I opened my eyes, and immediately felt like a fool. The salt stung my eyeballs. Clearly it’s been too long since I’ve swum in seawater.
    I had no choice but to rely on my sharp sense of hearing. I held my breath and ducked down again. A school of fish swam about ten feet away from me. I kicked hard and pushed myself downward, my claws outstretched.
    I resurfaced with nothing.
    Mona eyed me. Unwilling to let her watch me make a spectacle out of myself, I swam to the other side of the boat where I was out of her view. I took a deep breath and dove deep once again. I continued failing. After several more attempts, I gave up.
    As I returned, Mona looked at me, a hint of amusement in the corners of her lips. She strapped what appeared to be a set of waterproof glasses over her eyes. I had no idea how she would have gotten hold of such an object. Withdrawing a thin dagger from her belt, she pressed her heels against the dolphin’s body and they both disappeared beneath the waves. Several moments later, they resurfaced, three large fish pierced through with Mona’s dagger. She handed the blade to me and I was too hungry to refuse out of pride. I dug my fangs into the fish.
    “That’s about as far as my hospitality goes,” she muttered, watching me drink.
    Once I’d finished, I dipped my head in the water to clean my mouth. Looking at her still eating, I was keenly aware of how much tastier a morsel she would have been. Thinking it wise to distance myself from the temptation, I swam back to the boat and lifted myself up onto its edge.
    “Why do you live like this?” I asked, staring at her.
    “Huh?”
    “Why don’t you live with your kind in The Sanctuary?”
    She averted her eyes to the water. A few moments passed before she cleared her throat, wiping blood away from her mouth with the back of her hand.
    “I prefer freedom over comfort,” she said.
    “Have you always lived this way?”
    “For a long time.”
    Although she appeared to be in her early twenties, her eyes told a different story. Something about them told me that she had undergone more suffering than any twenty-year-old should have.