Silent Night: Vampire Holiday Romance (The Night Songs Collection Book 4) Read Online Free Page B

to wait for me. I was coming. I couldn't lose her, too. I needed to have her with me always. I'd have plenty of time to make her understand later.
     
    I held the open book against my chest and stared into space, thinking about what I just read. I'd read this book before. David had just become a vampire and watched Marielle mourn his death from the shadows. The pain of not being able to comfort her was worse for him than the pain of dying. He'd begun visiting whorehouses in Quebec City to ease the pain. David knew that he didn't need blood to survive, he just needed to be around people. Not only did he fall for Talis, a fiery little prostitute, but she felt the same about him. She trusted him enough to share blood with him. In David‘s world, the blood exchange was purely sexual. The vampires could survive on energy. The relationship went places neither of them knew was possible.
    I wanted that with someone. A bond that could never be broken. Someone who would never leave me.
    When I read this a few years ago, it was just an incredible love story. Now that my life had taken a few unexpected plot twists of its own, I understood it on another level. It was about survival. I couldn't do it on my own. I kept wandering from place to place, expecting one of them to be home, but I had yet to find it. I always thought I identified with Marielle, but now I realized it was really David I had more in common with.
    And today, I felt more at home than I had since I lost Memere. Maybe home wasn’t a place, but a person.
    "Found something you like?" Aidan had come out from his bedroom, I jumped at the sound of his voice. He'd already dressed in jeans and a gray sweater, but his hair was still mussed from sleep. I felt sloppy and lazy still in my, well his, pajamas. I adjusted my ponytail as if it would make a difference.
    "Yeah," I said more to myself than to him. "You know, these are a lot deeper than just simple love stories. They’re about finding a home. I never realized that before."
    "They are." Aidan pushed back some of the blankets on the far end of the couch and sat down, crossing his long legs out in front of him. "Everyone just focuses on the sex and the blood, and their romantic notions about being a vampire. But those things are really just the tip of the iceberg."
    "What happened to Marielle?" It flew out of my mouth before I realized it was probably a totally insensitive question. "I'm sorry, if you don't want to talk about it, I understand. People say it gets easier, but that's bullshit."
    Aidan seemed amused with my crassness, but he didn't exactly look comfortable with the question. "I had to leave her."
    "What? Why?" That seemed crazy to me. If these books were to be believed, he was still pining away for this woman. Why would he walk away from her?
    He sighed. "My life changed abruptly, and I couldn't explain it to her. It was kinder to walk away from her, even if it was the last thing I wanted. I had to do what was best for my family."
    "What did you do?" I mean, first this guy tells me that he's masquerading professionally as a woman and now he tells me he's got some secret worthy of walking away from the love of his life? What had I gotten myself into this time? Goosebumps rose on my skin. I drew closer to the arm of the couch, away from him. I don't know if he noticed or not.
    "I did nothing. It was done to me," he snapped as he stood up, raking his fingers through his hair hard enough that I thought he might pull a clump out. "I don't want to talk about this right now. When the time is right, I will tell you everything you need to know."
    I stared at him, slack-jawed, as he went into the kitchen. I couldn't see him anymore, but I could hear him banging cabinets. Tea and a tantrum. Sexy. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Did he kill someone? Was he in the witness protection program? He had a secret identity. What would make him have to walk away from his family? Maybe he really did think he was a vampire.
    I shook my