Blood Wyne Read Online Free Page B

falling for Shade like I’ve never seen her fall before.” I had no intention of letting him put her on the spot later, forcing her to make a choice she thought she’d already made.
    He gazed at me, his eyes limpid, his expression torn. Then, slowly, he asked, “She really loves this guy?”
    “I think he’s the one, Chase.”
    “Then I’ll remain her blood brother, and I won’t interfere. Because I honestly don’t know what the hell’s going to happen in my life.” He paused. “Can I ask you something, now?”
    So relieved by his reply that I would have granted almost any favor, I nodded. “Ask away.”
    “Do you think someone like Sharah might ever see me in anything but an official capacity?” He sounded hesitant, almost embarrassed to be asking.
    I knew full well that Sharah was in love with the detective, but that was her place to answer, not mine. I gave Chase a soft smile. “Listen, you’re a catch. You’ve had your share of screwups, but, Johnson, you’re okay, and I think you’re going to make somebody happy someday. Could someone like Sharah be interested in you? I don’t see why not.”
    He thought for a moment, then led the way to the morgue. “We’ve kept the bodies. We still don’t have IDs on three of them. The other one, we know who she is but can’t find any family to notify. But word is getting around on the streets. I’ve got to warn the streetwalkers soon. They deserve to know if there’s some nutcase out there targeting them.”
    I stared at the brilliant white walls of the morgue, the shimmering stainless steel of the sinks and tables. This was my domain—the domain of the dead. Had Dredge not brought me back to life, I’d have walked the hallowed halls, crossing over to the Land of the Silver Falls.
    Every time I came face-to-face with mortality, I remembered my own immortality and once again had to face the fact that I was a predator. A creature who belonged in the shadows. Never again would I walk under the sun, not until the day I was ready to give it all up and go home to my ancestors. Until then, there was only the moon for me.
    Four bodies were laid out on tables, covered with white sheets. Spotless sheets, like freshly fallen snow against a barren background.
    “I take it you’ve watched them for any signs of rising?”
    He nodded. “Yeah. Nothing. I think they’re truly dead.”
    I approached the first one and pulled back the sheet. She was unearthly in her silence, in her stillness. Like a statue, or a figure frozen in ice, she lay there, pale from the lack of blood. I leaned down and examined the puncture wounds on her neck. Vampire. I could feel him. Smell him. The vamp who’d killed this woman was male and fairly young—at least as a vampire . That much I could tell. Quickly, I checked the other bodies, startled by the similarity of their looks. They could have been sisters.
    In a way they are , I thought. Sisters in death. They were killed by the same vampire. I could smell him on them, his breath, his scent, his . . .
    Oh crap. I jumped back, trembling. Very little set me off, but this—this was too familiar, still too stark in a memory that I’d never, ever shake.
    “Did you check to see if they were raped?” My voice was sharper than I meant it to be, but I couldn’t help it.
    Chase looked at me, his expression slipping from neutral to pained. “Yeah, we did. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to tell you. I know what that does to you.”
    “They were, right? You wouldn’t find semen, but they were torn and bruised. I can smell it. I can smell the blood-lust . . . not just around the puncture marks.” As I felt the room spin, my fangs came down and I began to panic. I had to get out of there. “Chase, I have to get up to the surface. Now.”
    “Come on.” He guided me out but wisely didn’t touch me.
    When we came to the elevator, I held out my hand. “You’d better not ride up with me. It’s too dangerous right now. I’ll meet you out