Forstaken Read Online Free Page B

new
world. Shadee had also heard rumors more than a few times that Dagger was
indestructible. That he was so full of pure evil and a royal vampire bloodline
that he’d even killed off all his ancestors so as to remain the most powerful
vampire on the planet.
    Shadee had
always been suspicious of the myth, and he seriously had his doubts after
meeting the monster in the girly-man type cape. Now that he’d worked the case
for Dagger and met him face-to-face, he really didn’t know what all the fuss
was about.
    The man was a
joke, and he’d only taken the case out of curiosity. Well, that and for the
huge paycheck, of course. He didn’t know what Dagger wanted with the girl, but
it had been an interesting bit of research to find out what it took to kill a
merman. He only wished he could have hung around longer to watch him slither
around on the floor. He enjoyed a good death scene. But, truth be told, he’d purposely
lessened the dose of poison. He’d had an inkling of an idea that this fish
fella might just come in handy.
    And earlier
tonight, when Dagger had royally pissed him off, had been the moment he’d made
his final decision. He would destroy Dagger if it was the last thing he ever
did. It was time for him to make a name for himself in the vampire community,
and he knew just where to start.
    ****
    “So, you knew
my birth parents?” Nadia voice quivered with excitement and hope.
    Could this possibly be true?
    Dagger paced
back and forth in the small room. He seemed full of nervous energy as he filled
her in on the details.
    “It is all
down to you to focus and make the right decision now.”
    Nadia couldn’t
believe what she was hearing. This day had gone from beautiful to normal to odd
to downright unbelievable in a matter of mere hours. It was simply too much
information for her to take in.
    “How did you
find me? Make the connection?” Questions rolled off her tongue in rapid
succession.
    “Well, I hired
that – that so-called investigator Shadee. You met him.” Dagger seemed
irritated with himself.
    “What is he?” Nadia knew she’d
seen something that looked like fangs protruding from the man’s mouth. All of
this was starting to feel somehow normal to her. She couldn’t explain it, but
some long lost information was niggling at the back of her brain, trying to
come to the forefront.
    Dagger stopped
his pacing and turned to look at her.
    “You don’t
remember your real family, do you?”
    She wanted to.
She’d tried many times to remember, but it always seemed the more she tried to
recall their faces, voices, essences, the further the details shifted from her
brain and into the dark coils of her mind.
    As if sensing
her struggle, he walked over and knelt down before her. He reached out and
delicately touched her cheek with his fingertips. She started at the contact.
    “Don’t be
afraid.”
    She knew she
shouldn’t believe him, couldn’t trust him. But then she looked deep into his
eyes and found herself lost. Those eyes were deep brown and penetrated her very
soul. Dizzy, she tried to force herself to look away but couldn’t do it. She
couldn’t make herself break free.
    Flashes of
pain jabbed behind her eyes as flickers of images assaulted her cerebral
cortex. She cringed, moaned, tried to stop them, but the images kept coming. Her
mother. Her father. Her real life.
    ****
    He held her in his arms and lowered her onto the
feather-topped mattress. She sighed with delight as his lips lingered on the
curve of her collar bone. After weeks of flirtations and dinners, they would
finally make love for the first time. He would show her how much he wanted her,
but he’d take his sweet time. He wanted it to last forever and he wanted her to
know – she was the one.
    Making love as a human man was completely different
and yet just as all consuming as sex under the sea. He’d had a couple of
meaningless flings when he’d first arrived on land. He’d acted like one of
those doltish college frat