Dark Requiem (The Darkling Trilogy, Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

behind me any second...
    ...Now!
    I spun around. “Hold it
right there!”
    A black male dressed in
jeans, a grey T-shirt and brown leather jacket stood before me. His
deep set, piercing, dark eyes widened with surprise and then
narrowed. There was no mistaking the menace in his eyes or in the
slight sneer around his generous mouth when he spoke.
    “ You must be Dallas
Marshall. Maryse’s little psychic friend.”
    I appraised him for a few
moments, admiring his cool, ebony complexion, clean shaven head and
high cheekbones that made him look like a statue of an ancient
pharaoh. Were all vampires good
looking?
    “ No.”
    He stepped forward,
something which made me extremely nervous because I could feel
anger pulsing behind that sneer.
    “ But I suppose one must be
able to stand out in a crowd, so to speak, to be noticed by a
vampire. Normally it’s an exceptionally handsome face, such as my
own.” He gave a little self-deprecating chuckle. “But it can be
intellect or some other unique quality that will capture a
vampire’s interest and make them turn you into what they
are.”
    He took another step
closer.
    “ I don’t suppose you came
in search of us to listen to me talk about such things, did you, my
dear?”
    “ No.” I cleared my throat,
jutting my chin out. I can’t let him see
how scared I am.
    He smiled almost
derisively and arched an eyebrow. “Ah, but I can see and
hear—you're scared—and you should be.”
    The last few words were
uttered so low I almost didn’t hear them. He took a few steps
closer, and when he was at arm’s length, I placed my hand on his
chest.
    “ Stop right
there!”
    I brought an image of
Avery standing in the clearing under the trees, suppressed anger
darkening his vivid, blue eyes to a slate blue. I held it in my
mind for him to see.
    “ Don’t get any funny
ideas. He knows I’m here and if you do anything to me he’ll kill
you.”
    He rolled his eyes.
Placing his hands behind his back, he walked slowly in a circle
around me.
    “ Ah, yes. Him . Of all the people
Maryse could have chosen to try and feed on that night, she had to
make the mistake of choosing you. Your friend gave her quite a
scare. Do you know he stalked her for nearly a week after that
little encounter by your car? I suppose he wanted to let us, and
every other vampire we came across, know that the Marshalls are,
and always will be, off the menu. And it worked. It worked so well
we were too scared to continue staying at the home of a wealthy new
acquaintance of ours. So here we are in this hovel you
see.”
    He came to stand before me
again.
    “ He is the oldest vampire
either of us has come across so far. And he is far stronger than
us. But that doesn’t mean I won’t kill you.”
    In a flash he closed the
space between us. I could only peer up at him, frightened by that
small demonstration of his preternatural speed, but I wasn’t about
to back down. Too much depended on this.
    “ I have a proposition for
you,” I blurted out. “I want you to turn me into a
vampire.”
    It was as if he hadn’t
heard me. He took my sunglasses off my face and hooked them on the
front of my dress. Then he lightly brushed the hair away from my
face and grinned.
    “ You have such pretty
brown eyes,” he said.
    Curiously, his gaze had
been nowhere near my eyes when he said that, but was lingering on
my cleavage as he trailed his fingers down my arm to my wrist. One
of the rings he was wearing scratched my left wrist when he wrapped
his hand around it, but I ignored it.
    “ My eyes are up here,” I said, and
reached out with my free hand to lift his chin up so I could look
into his eyes.
    Before I could even touch
him, he caught my hand and pinned it behind my back. His smile
vanished and throbbing anger was clearly visible in his
eyes.
    “ I wouldn’t do that, my
dear. You don’t seem to understand you’re way out of your depth
here. Seeking out a vampire and offering yourself to him in this
way is a