Embrace the Darkness (Darkness Series) Read Online Free

herself with quiet confidence and barely flinched when her partner failed to introduce her by rank. Gerard attributed it to class and sophistication. Then he met her direct gray gaze.
    Bon Dieu! Such fire and intelligence in those beautiful eyes.
    His body tightened as if an electric current passed between them.
    Tina was barely cold in her grave.
    Pain as sharp as the blade that took his life over two hundred years ago twisted his gut. Tina was dead because of him—viciously murdered because she’d wanted to help bring him out of the dark world he inhabited.
    Inhaling sharply, he fisted his hands at his sides and tried to calm his raging anger. His gaze shifted from Buckley to Sheridan. Perhaps the sensation he’d felt when looking at Buckley was nothing more than a warning. Between her and her partner, Buckley was the more dangerous of the two. She was open-minded and intelligent enough to discover things best left undiscovered. It didn’t take glamour to see that.
    Even with the “deer caught in the headlights” expression she wore when he glanced at her, he could see the wheels in her mind spinning. Then her spine stiffened and those shapely brows snapped down over deep-set eyes—as if she were trying to read his thoughts.
    Now, that was a truly frightening concept.
    Sheridan removed his sunglasses, drawing Gerard’s attention once more. “Where were you on the night of March 5, between four and five a.m.”
    Vincent bristled. “Hasn’t he answered those questions already?”
    Sheridan ignored him, keeping his gaze on Gerard.
    Gerard didn’t want mortals investigating the murders, but if he wanted to live among them, he couldn’t manipulate them—much. He folded his arms over his chest. His eyes narrowed. “Like I told those other two detectives, I was in Alexandria.”
    La beauté’s lips twitched in a smile that looked more like a sneer. Had he thought her a class act? Class A bitch was a role she played well too, and he didn’t mean that in a bad way. She was cool. Sophisticated. And she carried authority like a man.
    “Can anyone verify that?” she asked.
    His expression never changed. He’d invented cool before her great-great-great-great-great grandfather was even born. “Yes.”
    This time, Sheridan bristled. “What were you doing in Alexandria, Virginia at four in the morning? You weren’t sleeping. We didn’t find any record of a hotel reservation in your name for that night.”
    Gerard looked at Vincent who was now leaning casually against the conference table, his cool demeanor restored. Their minds briefly connected. Sonia, Vincent’s creator and master manipulator of mortal technology, had done her magic and covered Gerard’s ass. Gerard suppressed a smile.
    “Of course you didn’t. I used a corporate credit card to pay for a two-night stay at the Morgan Suites. As the major shareholder in Lifeblood of America, Vincent’s name is on the account.”
    Detective Buckley jolted as if caught off guard. Of course, she couldn’t have been prepared for his answer. He hadn’t given this information to the original detectives. Sonia had needed time to manipulate credit card records and flight logs. He’d needed time to manipulate Lifeblood’s pilot and the hotel night clerk’s memories.
    Anger twisted his gut. Safeguarding vampires hampered his efforts to investigate the murders himself.
    “Why haven’t you cooperated before now?” Detective Buckley asked.
    There was no practical excuse for an innocent man keeping such vital information to himself. An objective analysis of possible responses made him look guilty—or like an uncooperative ass.
    He adjusted his tie, hating the modern fashion accessory. The detectives watched his movements with suspicion, most likely interpreting his actions as the nervous gesture of a guilty man.
    Stifling a groan, he lowered his hands and shoved them into his suit pockets. “I answered the other detective’s questions. I just didn’t elaborate. I