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

They were jaded. Fearful. Untrusting.
    She finished her fish, guided the dolphins back into their harnesses and pulled herself onto the boat. I joined her on the bench where she grabbed the reins and urged her pets forward. As the wind caught her long hair, it brushed against my face.
    “You’ve asked me questions,” she said. “And since we’ve still got some journey ahead of us, I suppose it’s my turn. So tell me, who are you?”
    Who am I?
    I could think of many descriptions for myself, for my life that had thus far been defined by my father. Murderer was the first word that came to mind, but clearly not the wisest choice of answer given the circumstances.
    “Just a man who had the misfortune of bumping into a hungry vampire,” I found myself saying.
    I was sure that Arron wouldn’t have had any reason to discuss my history with a slave. There was no way she could have known that I was putting on an act.
    There was no way she could have known that, in reality, I was an unpredictable monster who could have blackouts at any moment. Who could regress into uncontrollable states of violence that were still very much a part of my being, thanks to my father’s long reign over me. I recalled my last night with Natalie. She had tried to make me remember what we used to have. And her attempts to appeal to my humanity had made me break down and lose myself completely.
    I’d tortured her to death.
    No, there was no way Mona could have known that I was a bomb with a faulty fuse.
    Besides, I would be gone from her life soon, and she would never see me again.
    “How come you ended up in Aviary?” Her eyes turned on me suspiciously.
    “I’d been a prisoner at the hawks’ headquarters in the human realm while Arron was visiting. He brought me back to Aviary along with a dozen other vampires,” I said.
    I felt confused as to why exactly, but I didn’t want her to know that I was a coward. I wasn’t proud of stealing a newborn from his helpless mother, knowing that he would be of value to Arron.
    I had supposed that the only place I would be safe from my father was in the realm of his fiercest adversaries. So desperate was I to escape his clutches, I hadn’t given any thought to the quality of life I might have there. Any place away from the Elder’s reach would give my soul a gasp of air, no matter how toxic that air might be.
    “So you’ve been a victim of Arron too, huh,” she muttered darkly, gazing back out at the ocean.
    I didn’t need any imagination to guess the type of things he would have tried to get Mona to do. Because I wasn’t any less wicked a man than Arron.
    “Why did he list you as one of the vampires I shouldn’t give a last meal of blood to? What did you do to betray him?”
    “It was… over a human girl…” My voice trailed off. Pain settled in my chest just thinking of Sofia. “A human girl I cared for. Perhaps even loved. I let her escape back to the human realm before all the hawks’ portals were finally sealed off.”
    Mona’s deep blue eyes reflected the moonlight as she turned to face me, her eyebrows arched. “That was brave of you. Selfless even. I didn’t get the impression that you were capable of such finer emotions after what you tried to do back in the prison.”
    “I was desperate. And starving. I barely knew what I was doing.”
    What the hell am I doing? Why am I trying to defend myself?
    I felt shocked by my reaction. I didn’t know why I was trying to paint a picture of myself as someone decent and virtuous. As someone capable of love.
    Why do I care what she thinks of me?
    Or perhaps I don’t…
    Maybe all this is my subconscious showing through. Maybe, now that I might have a chance to carve out a life of my own away from my father’s shadow, it’s portraying the person I want to be. The person I had hoped the human girl could have made me.
    Perhaps I do prefer light over darkness.
    I couldn’t deny that my mood swings had reduced since I first escaped my