The Vampire's Reflection Read Online Free Page B

that’s how Charlotte perceived it, though she was sure none of her human victims would have agreed with her. Now, she felt used. Bait. Mentally, she grumbled.
    “It aches a little,” she admitted, and frowned. The reality of it was, since they’d begun their journey home from the clearing, the pain had been steadily getting worse. It was intensifying, like it always did that particular time of day, when the sun hung low in the sky. She shivered.
    Valek’s gaze touched the ground for a moment before he brought it back to her face. Releasing her hand, he ran his claws once through her dark red curls. “I will join you in a moment.” His smile turned tempting and dangerous in an instant.
    It made Charlotte’s heart thud at the front of her chest. With the slight gush of an unnatural breeze around the hem of her dress, he was gone, and she was alone. She treaded up the cockeyed steps of her house, its spired roof lifting toward the sky, a bronze weather vane spinning atop in the freezing air. Mr. Třínožka’s giant burrow, just a few steps around the back of the house, had a new tunnel leading straight up into Valek’s office, which allowed the half-spider to come and go as he pleased. Many new bewitchments adorned the house now as well, thanks to Sarah. Vines extended from one corner of Valek’s study. Stars glittered near the ceilings in all of the bedrooms.
    Charlotte entered, knowing many others now called that place home. The Rogue Coven had mockingly named themselves after being in hiding from the Regime for so long.
    She noticed the new, polished quality along the staircase and the banister. Sarah must have tidied up while they were out. She was fairly sure the Witch was now busy in the kitchen, probably baking something for later on when Charlotte would need it. Jorge would be studying something fervently in the library. Dusana and Lusian…well, Charlotte was fairly sure she knew where they would be. Charlotte’s newly adopted family had changed a lot about living in that house. It used to just be she and Valek, peaceful and isolated. But she decided she liked having them there. It made everything warmer and definitely more interesting. And Valek would at least have some backup whenever Aiden finally decided to show up again.
    It was strange, she thought, that the need for her to go out and hunt her own kind in order to satisfy Valek no longer existed. That used to be such a large part of her life. She thought back to something that Lusian said once in Francis’ basement, a couple months ago. The hunters have become the hunted. Yes. That was precisely how she felt now. Reaching up to her throat, she realized she’d left her red scarf hanging on the tree branch in the clearing.

Chapter Two
     
    Mysterious Man
     
     
    Eyeing the wall clock every so often, racing that second hand, Nikolai rapped his keyboard violently. Tick. Tick. Tick . If he didn’t finish his mythology paper by the end of class, the professor would fail him. It would be the second time. There wouldn’t be a third. It was enough to drive him insane. Nikolai glanced up over the top of his computer screen.
    As if he could smell the sheer misery from the other end of the room, professor Kotala’s beady little eyes glinted maliciously at him through the fluorescent reflection in his glasses and off the top of his bald head. His face carried that smile that seemed to say “ got you .” Nikolai knew the professor was always secretly plotting against him. But not today. He had his number.
    This was it. Perspiration collected on Nikolai’s forehead. Three minutes remaining and not a second to spare. Nikolai’s fingers darted along the keys faster than they ever had. He fought against satisfying a nagging itch along his eyebrow and struggled to tie up the final paragraph of this wretched term paper. Last line. He had this. He would make it.
    “Whatcha workin’ on there, Nikki?”
    The sickening sound of Jindrich Novaček’s voice