Taken (Ava Delaney #4) Read Online Free Page A

elections had
really pissed off the British Vampire Association. The BVA had
hoped to gain a chair and power for the first time in decades.
    Headed by a
creepy, but smart, ancient vampire known as Winston, the BVA had
returned home and made a huge stink about the elections, which
caused some not-so-friendly fire. Travel had been pretty much
forbidden until further notice. Not that I knew how I was going to
sneak the twins out of the country even if I did make it over. I
covered my wrists with my sleeves, deciding I didn’t want to be
reminded of my failure.
    I gazed at the
moving dragon tattoo on Finn’s stocky forearm as he worked,
wondering what would happen when the links got inside me. The
wailing of guitars playing Led Zeppelin’s Dazed and Confused caught my attention. I turned to watch the performance, and my
breath caught in my throat. All eyes were on the woman behind the
microphone, and I realised the wailing guitar was actually her
voice.
    Her mouth
barely opened, but her song whipped at my skin as if her passion
couldn’t be contained, as if it would burn right through me. Her
hips moved ever so slightly in time, and there was something
hypnotic in her heavy-lidded eyes. I couldn’t look away.
    “Something
else, isn’t she?” Finn asked.
    I could only
nod. She was beautiful. Not just beautiful. As she sang, I wanted
to go to her, to sit at her feet and wait for her to tell me what
to do next. She seemed vaguely familiar, but that might have been
due to the fact that she resembled a blond Jessica Rabbit.
    “Don’t look
right at her,” Esther advised.
    I nearly jumped
out of my skin. “I wasn’t.”
    She snorted.
“Yeah, okay. Just don’t look at her while she’s singing. Trust
me.”
    I turned to
concentrate on Esther, but it was hard while the song was still in
my head. Oddly for her, she didn’t have on a scrap of makeup, and
she looked even younger than usual, her dark skin gleaming under
the bar’s lights. Her hair was scraped back into a tight facelift
bun, and her nails were bitten to the quick.
    She glanced at
me. “Thanks for coming tonight.”
    “You okay?” I
asked, concerned by her bloodshot eyes.
    “Yep. We’re
here for her.” She nodded toward the singer.
    “What do you
mean?”
    “She asked to
see me, and I figured you would come in handy.”
    I should have
been used to that. “What’s going on?”
    She sighed and
took a sip of the drink Finn dropped off in front of her. “She’s
Illeana’s big sister. Another siren.” Esther had always been so
light-hearted, apparently incapable of taking anything seriously
for more than a minute, but losing two members of her team had
affected her deeply. She had been covering it up for a while, but
the damage was beginning to show.
    “Did they want
to talk to you about… about what happened to her?”
    She shook her
head. “No. I’ve been looking through records at headquarters,
making sure Illeana’s belongings made it back to her family. There
are a lot of… inconsistencies in her reports and sign-ins, so I
spoke to the sister, and she said we needed to talk in person. So
here we are.” She shrugged. “I’ve no idea if she’ll tell me
anything of interest, but I didn’t want to talk to her without a
witness.”
    “Thanks for the
warning.”
    She rubbed the
bridge of her nose. “Sorry, I just… I need to figure this out
without everyone hearing about it. I don’t want Illeana’s name
turned to mud if she happened to do something a little… shady. I
owe her that much.” Illeana had died to save her, and the pain in
Esther’s eyes at the memory was heart-wrenching.
    When the song
ended, the siren beckoned us over to sit in the corner. She was
only slightly less fascinating since she had stopped singing. I
caught Gabe’s eyes on me and turned away. No way was I inviting
conversation with him.
    “I’m Callista,”
the siren said in a huskily deep voice. She reached out to shake my
hand, but Esther stayed my hand