Marked: a Vampire Romance Read Online Free Page A

rudder… terrible tragedy.
    It went on and on, but Adam got the picture. Okano had just declared that Chicago was his. Adam doubted that Ms. Barrons was Okano’s first victim, and the fact that she’d washed up on the shore meant he was still making some effort to disguise his kills. If the corpse was so badly mutilated that the police thought she’d been killed by a ship, it meant that Okano’s cruelty and ferocity had increased a hundredfold.
    Was it the blood madness? In the olden days, it had nipped at Adam’s heels, the seductive call begging for death and destruction. Those that surrendered to it lost all semblance of their humanity. They transformed into beasts, growing out claws and fangs as big as a jungle cat’s. Adam hadn’t tangled with that beast since he stopped killing, but he could remember the darkest days when he almost gave himself over.
    Okano hadn’t completely surrendered to it, not yet. If he had, he would have never been able to come and speak to Adam. Was it a cry for help? A final plea before the darkness took hold? Or was it as he said, an invitation to the revelry?
    Adam took a seat and rested his head in his hand. He was old and tired. A small but growing part of him longed to see the sun one final time. And now he had to face a maddening vampire and a huntress who tasted like daylight and power.
    He pulled out Marigold’s phone and hit the home button.
    >>ACCOUNT DEACTIVATED<<
    He sighed and tossed it onto the counter. His talk with Okano had taken too long, and she’d bricked it, either using a computer at the chapel or calling one of her friends to do the job. Adam cursed. All he had was her name.
    But he was going to find Marigold Jones. After all, he knew of a dangerous vampire that she might be interested in learning about. They both had to keep their city safe.

Chapter Five
     
    At 5:00 AM, Gold decided to risk going home. She was going crazy cooped up in the Chapel. She couldn’t sleep, not only because Adam Luther might come back and set the place on fire, but also because there could be a security guard doing rounds at any minute.
    To treat the bite wound, she’d fashioned a bandage out of hand towels and tape, but it took more than an hour for the bleeding to stop. Damn vampires.
    After a frantic call home to get Lily to login and brick her phone, she was left pacing, boredom and exhaustion warring for dominant focus. Hours and hours passed and there was no sign of Adam Luther or church security. The clock struck five and the sun hadn’t yet crested the horizon, but it was probably safe to move.
    Vampires didn’t risk the light of day, finding their resting places long before the first rays of sunlight illuminated the Earth. But every step she took down the road back to her car was a cautious one. No one was out. Jasperton was a ghost town so early and would be for at least another hour.
    She made it back to her car and gave it a quick once over. It didn’t look like Luther had tampered with it. Satisfied, she started it up and drove off. It was a struggle to keep her eyes on the road. It felt like there were ten pound weights attached to each of her eyelids. If she didn’t get a few hours of sleep soon, she wouldn’t be able to function come nightfall. But the drive wasn’t long and she made it home in one piece.
    The Jones residence might be called a mansion by some, but they used every square inch of space. Gold, Lily, her mom, two aunts, her cousin Charlie, and occasionally her grandmother all called the place home.
    The house wasn’t in Jasperton proper, but was about three miles out and into the country. It sat on ten acres of farmland that had been taken over by forest. They kept the acre around the house clear, but didn’t tend to the rest of it, letting nature take its course. On the other side of their property, farms had sprung up, leaving the Jones house to feel like a magical house in the middle of the heartland.
    Gold lived in the most secluded room, a