The Ninja Vampire's Girl Read Online Free Page B

"I want to know you."
    "It's the persuasion. Nothing but."
    She gut-punched me. I doubled at the surprising force of her right hook pummeling below the kidney. Mother of—
    "You call that persuasion?" she challenged.
    "Apparently not," I croaked.
    "I do what I want, when I want, with whomever I want. You're not making me do a thing, vampire. So get over it."
    I smirked, loving that if I had to go a few rounds with anyone tonight it was this particular hotheaded chick with the chocolate blood and sinful kisses.
    So she wanted me, scars and all? Made a bloke's shoulders straighten and I lifted my chin a notch.
    "Fine. I'm Anakim, or was. After the vamp bit me I joined the tribe because I didn't know what else there was to do. Besides, I needed some direction on the whole avoiding-the-sunlight thing."
    "The Anakim tribe is weak," she said. "They won't stop until they get a Nephilim."
    "Exactly. They—we—got our hands on an angel and his muse recently. It wasn't pretty. They are trying to breed helpless mortal muses to vicious Fallen. Much as I want to walk in the sun, I won't do it at a woman's expense. I'll stick to the shadows, thank you very much."
    "Noble."
    I shrugged. Monsters didn't do noble, either.
    "So what are you going to do with the dead angel?" she asked.
    "One less Fallen is one less horror for all the muses, wouldn't you say?"
    She narrowed her eyes, seeing into a part of me I barely knew. "But you want something more."
    This bird was not stupid.
    "Yeah? Well, that's the part you don't get to know about. So you take the bloody halo and bring it to your sister. Give her a kiss for me, and I wish you all the luck avoiding her Fallen. Best advice I can give you is to run if you ever see another. Meanwhile, I'm going to trip on over to the angel across the way. He's only got iron wings and steel muscles to fight me now. Wish me luck."
    "I'm coming with you."
    "This is no longer a partnership, Coco. I let you toddle along—"
    "Toddle along! You wouldn't have found the angel if I hadn't led you to the muse's place."
    "A dead muse. Luck happened us upon the angel."
    She did not pout, nor try to cajole my tender slice of heart with big sad eyes. But she did thrust back her shoulders and stare me down. Ninja vampires were supposed to be impervious.
    I wasn't ninja. I possessed some wicked martial skills, learned during my military service. But who'd a thought I'd need emotional skills to fend off my most challenging opponent yet? Unfortunately, I hadn't received that particular training.
    "Fine." I had a feeling I was going to regret this, but it was the better option than simply walking away and never seeing this lovely bird again. "You can stick around, because arguing with you will only piss me off. But you are not going in that building. You stay outside and keep watch, okay?"
    She touched me before I even saw it coming. Her palm flattened over my heart. A heart that beat and wasn't as black as I thought it should be, and a heart that remembered what it was like to be mortal. Mortality had been tough—I'd served the British army a decade in combat and secret black ops missions that had brought me to the brink—but I'd never lost the capacity to need, to want, to pine for love.
    Monsters don't get to love.
    Right. Almost forgot.
    "Let's go."

Six
    The evening had taken an odd turn. I'd thought to find the halo, stick it in a brown padded mailer and send if off to my sister, Cassandra. Task complete. Back to the grind. The grind being nine-to-five detail behind the desk at a travel agency.
    Adventure being my thing—albeit, on the glossy pages of a travel brochure—I preferred this altered version of the evening. Land in the arms of a scary-looking man, who happens to be a vampire, who happens to bite me—twice. Chase an angel. Dodge angel's deadly weapon. Win back the halo. The day is saved and the girl gets the guy!
    Except whatever was going on in the warehouse across the street