Tears of Blood (The Blood Chronicles) Read Online Free

your charisma, and your delicious accent, and those unsuspecting darlings of humanity will fall into your arms.”
    Amado didn't bother replying, realizing Declan made him feel he lingered on an obscene precipice. Defiantly lifting his chin, and attempted to ignore the stuttering beat of his heart. Frightened, he wanted to return to the overcrowded ballroom, mentally assuring himself there’d be safety in numbers.
    Unfortunately, it appeared the moments were ticking by at a speed defying reason. Amado’s world spun, the sensation resembling the effects of a Hollywood party stupor, his numb skin tingling. Incapable of catching a breath, he heard only the man’s silky enticement in his mind.
    “Come.” Declan beseeched, nearing his motionless body. As he drew closer, Amado's gaze filled with the image of startling pale flesh, nearly classical in shape. Vaguely, he thought the man was haunting beautiful, entranced by eyes that were an all-consuming black. “Join me.”
    “Join?” Amado could barely mutter the word, those eyes sucking the very ability to speak from him.
    “Say it.” His hands rose, the long and supple fingers lying on the actor's shoulders. Amado shuddered, incapable of holding back the betraying sign of fear, and an unmentionable coldness seeped through his jacket. “Say it, repeat the word.”
    “What word?”
    “Tell me yes.” Declan’s wintry breath fanned over Amado's heated skin. “I’ll grant you everything, if you do so. Join me, and you won't suffer the ridicule destined to befall you.”
    The offer was tempting, but a part of Amado's mind screamed in protest. He wanted to run, and leave this man behind, forgetting the temptations of his seductive proposal. Unable to move, his body frozen in place, his thoughts slowed with each tardy heartbeat.
    “Join my ranks, Gerino.” Balthazar crooned. “I can guarantee you everything you long for. I can offer life, beauty, youth, all the women you could love, and eternity.”
    Staring into those fathomless eyes, an inner part of him screamed No! Not a word slipped from his lips, and his lethargy increased ten-fold. Seconds passed, perhaps minutes, the silence only broken by the echo of Mamie Paul singing.
    The actor, his entire life spread before him, divorce papers still neatly folded in his breast pocket, felt his knees begin to buckle. His tormentor’s hands held him upright, a morbid chuckle escaping him as he bent forward. His black hued eyes glowed with an eerie redness, flickering where the pupil should have been, as his mouth opened wide.
    “Tell me yes.” He chanted, the words reeling around Amado’s numb mind. “Tell me yes, and I’ll rescue you from life’s horrors.”
    “I…”
    “Say it…”
    “ Si ….”
    He couldn’t control the single word that slipped from him, unseen fingers pulling his agreement from the depths of his soul. A low groan of horror escaped Amado, but he was unable to scream, frozen into place by the cruel meaning evident in Declan Balthazar’s gaze and the long canines declaring the man's intent.
     
    Chapter One
     
    The crowded living room of the apartment echoed with curses, a few harsh, others muttered. Despite the tone, Meghan heard the underlying similarity in each blasphemy. Hopelessness, disgust, and tears etched the gruff words.
    She winced, as the man bang his shin into another end table, upsetting three decade’s worth of collected figurines. The exquisite china wobbled, teetered, and then toppled to the carpeted floor. Thankfully, Meghan didn’t detect the sound of shattering glass, and exhaled a tiny but relieved sigh.
    “I c…can’t do this, Miss Stanley,” the elderly man stammered, staggering through the once familiar room. “My wife’s a hoarder, whether she wants to admit it or not. I can’t make it around her ch... chotskies!”
    “I don’t hoard, dear. Besides, you’ve always managed.” The woman sobbed, wringing her hands. “We’ve had this stuff since the kids