Cloak of Deceit: An Alex Moore Novel Read Online Free Page B

pressed tight. I wiped back my tears, studying him as he settled on the floor.
    “Who the hell are you?” What’s happening to me? Am I crazy? Dreaming? Dead? I can’t really be dead…
    He studied my face. “I’m an Undead, like you.”
    I can’t be Undead either . I had my whole life ahead of me — graduation, travel, med school, a career, a family of my own — I just had no pulse. How was I supposed to explain that one to my mother, the heart surgeon? This was not something I could change, no matter how hard she pushed me. How was I going to make the team at Stanford if I couldn’t pass a physical? I shook my head. “This is impossible.”
    “Your idea of what is possible is going to have to change,” Julian said. “We are what the myths and legends of vampires are based on. Less than alive, more than dead. This is real.”
    I inwardly cringed at his words, but his voice seemed like the only normal, friendly thing in a world where nothing I had ever counted on or believed in was for sure.
    “I don’t understand. I’ve known Cody for six months — he’s not a vampire. We’ve sunbathed naked together!”
    “Your boyfriend is newly made, barely a week ago. And the sun doesn’t kill us right away, it merely weakens us.”
    I chewed the inside of my lip, sizing him up. He looked completely serious. “For argument’s sake, let’s say I believe you. How do you fit in to all of this?”
    “I’m…an enforcer.” He shifted as if he couldn’t get comfortable. He looked odd — all brooding darkness and powerful muscles hunched against my Hawaiian print hamper. He sighed and fixed me with a blank look.
    Not a conversationalist, I guess. And him the only person who could tell me what the hell was going on. Figures . I had to get a grip on things quick, or I was going to check myself into the loony bin. “Okay, you’re an enforcer, and you’re here because Cody is in trouble?”
    “No.” His voice was suddenly gruffer. “You’re why your boyfriend is in trouble. He got carried away with you. An Undead as new as he is shouldn’t have had enough venom to turn someone completely. When they do, their victims usually go manic. You were surprisingly lucid afterwards. I thought you might survive, otherwise I wouldn’t have left you. You haven’t gone through your final transformation yet, but you appear sane.”
    “Ex-boyfriend,” I corrected, raking my hands through my hair. “And I’m not so sure about the sane part.”
    Of course, next to a man who broke into womens’ apartments claiming to be an Undead enforcer, the sanity bar was low enough that I could probably hobble over it. How was I going to tell anyone what had happened to me? Mom would have me on an operating table in ten minutes flat. I shuddered at the thought. I could never tell her.
    Julian unfolded from the floor and held out a hand to help me up, which I accepted. His skin was warm, just like before. I realized how cold I was. Shock? Or just having no blood flow? I stood, silently pondering, until he cleared his throat and drew his hand away from where I’d been holding it in both of mine.
    I studied his shielded gaze, wide mouth, and the scar on his cheek with a new importance. Julian was now the only person I knew in this nightmare come to life, the only person who knew me, besides dick-face Cody. Maybe he read my mind, because his features softened, and his shoulders relaxed.
    “The Code is strict on someone as new as your ex-boyfriend making another Undead. He doesn’t have any rank and he didn’t have a license. If he was smart, he went to his Sponsor, who will probably take him before the Cloak for judgment. If he was stupid, he’s running, and someone like me will have to hunt him down.”
    “Rank?” Code? Sponsor? The Cloak? I slumped onto the foot of my bed and rubbed my temples to keep my impending headache at bay. It was a lot to take in: not just my missing heartbeat, but an Undead enforcer in my bedroom