Blood Lily (Lilith Adams Vampire Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

and meetings. Attractive scenery perhaps, but still scenery.
    “Well as much as I enjoy swapping dating horror stories with you, I should see what Gregor wants. “ She pushed off the counter and grabbed her kit again.
    “Oh come on, kitten. Swapping would imply that you had any stories to share.” He winked and strolled past her through a double swinging door. She stared daggers at his back. Somehow that didn’t seem very effective.
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 2
    T he open dining room was just sad. Dusty linens clung desperately to abandoned tables. Dead, decaying flowers drooped sadly from glass vases with only remnants of moldy water left in them. Chairs were knocked over or tossed carelessly on top of one another. The big plate-glass windows were filled with cracked holes behind the plywood. Some were the size of rocks, others looked suspiciously like bullet holes. Whoever thought a fine dining restaurant would go over in this kind of neighborhood definitely discovered how wrong they were in a hurry, not that any of them really lasted all that long. There were at least 5 restaurants opening each week, and just as many closing down. It was the social cycle of New York City that extended equally to nightclubs.
    Chance led her to a flight of stairs in the rear of the dining room and started jogging up them. Lilith glanced down at her dark green heels with a sigh and slowly made her way up the stairway. She loved her collection of high heels and stilettos, but they weren’t always practical. Her father often argued that since Lilith was five foot nine barefoot, she didn’t need the heels anyway. They agreed to disagree. The wooden boards creaked dangerously as her pointed heels clicked against the surface. She looked up to see Chance leaning against a wall at the top of the stairs with his arms casually crossed and a Cheshire cat grin.
    “The price you women pay for those things , and I don’t just mean the outrageous price tags either.” He nodded at her shoes and laughed as she flipped him off and stepped onto the landing. Lilith shouldered past him with a glare and opened the only door, closing it firmly behind her.
    “Lily.” The warm richness of Gregor’s voice rolled over her easing everything else away. No matter how bad things got, Lilith’s father always made her feel better. She was definitely a daddy’s girl, no doubt about that, but Lilith made no apologies for it either. There was nothing wrong with having a good relationship with your father just because it’s about as rare as a movie vampire in a polo and khakis.
    She smiled and turned to see her father leaning against an old desk. Lilith took a second to glance around, taking in the rusting file cabinets and layers of dust everywhere except the desk and a chair in front of it. A huge glass window covered in dusty spider webs looked over the restaurant floor. The diffused light from the remaining fixtures downstairs filtered through the dingy window giving Gregor a sihlouette effect that made her chuckle under her breath.
      “You two arguing again?” There was a distinct humor in his voice. He was very aware of the friendly banter, but there was a fleck of concern in his face that she never quite understood. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen it, of course, but it was always fleeting. Besides, she didn’t usually make a habit of pressing her father for information that he didn’t volunteer, especially when it was probably something inconsequential. The most likely he just didn’t want her pissing Chance off. Gregor had a backup bodyguard in the extremely rare and elusive event that Chance might take vacation time, but good people were hard to find.  Gregor had never been what you would call openly trusting.
    The thing that amazed her was how Gregor always looked natural, handsome and forgettable all at the same time. For as old as he was, he never looked dated. As he sat there dressed in charcoal grey slacks and a casual grey polo,