Vampire Eden Read Online Free

flecked with gold. She had what looked like dancing flames in her eyes that took my breath away. Around her neck she wore a gigantic emerald, surrounded with diamonds and hanging from an engraved platinum chain. ‘Family heirloom,’ she told me. She had a stack of reds and greens, maybe about five hundred dollars total, and she put her money on the Don’t line. In craps, most people play the Come line and bet that the roller will hit their point. One guy grumbled and said playing the Don'ts is against the American way. The lady stood quietly at the corner of the table, watching seven after seven after seven roll and winning, tossing a black chip my way every so often." He set my hand upon my lap, patting me gently.
    “Then this yahoo came and cleaned her out. He rolled points like mad. I advised her to switch over to the point and catch the wave, but she refused. ‘It’s against my beliefs,’ she said. ‘I only root for the dark side. The only good reason to switch would be to spend more time with you, Paddy.’
    “ ‘You’ve got it bad for this one,’ a fellow dealer laughed. The lady with the emerald lost all her chips and left the table. My shift was just about over, so I called out to the pit boss that I was leaving. Before he could protest about the ten minutes I had left, I ran to her side. She tried to brush me off, but I insisted on getting her a drink. At the sound of the offer, she sat down at the bar with me. I ordered a Seven and Seven and she waved the bartender away, waiting for me to finish my drink as I asked her questions.
    “She was kind of a drifter , too, going from place to place. ‘Not leaving any tracks,’ she joked. Her beautiful hand, with its long, pointed nails, felt so soft on my arm when she leaned over to touch me. My heart started beating like an angel’s wings. She asked me to follow her and so I did, down an alley much like this one. She could’ve asked me to jump off a building. I’d do anything for her. I never felt that way ever again, until I saw you. I've been watching you for weeks now. Seeing you at the Mardi Gras. Watching you leave with a different man. Never noticing me. Never seeing me. At first, I thought you were with your husband. Some sweaty business guy in a suit. Then it was a guy in flannel, then guys in T-shirts and club clothes. Any hour. Almost everyday. A different man. Every. Single. Time.”
    He paused. I gripped my knife as his expression turned dark and morose. Fear gripped me by the throat and made my voice strain. “I need to go now.” I stood up. “It was a pleasure talking with you.”
    He rose to his feet. “Before you leave, let me finish my story. And then just one kiss. Just one. To say good-bye.”
    “Make it quick,” I snapped. I pressed the knife blade into his rib cage once again.
    “We walked right to an area like this one and she leaned toward me. I was so eager, so excited to feel her soft, beautiful lips on mine. I closed my eyes. All went black. I felt the most delicious feeling throughout my entire body, a feeling that comes close to the rush of cocaine and heroin but was far more intoxicating. It was paradise. And then I was in an emergency room and nurses were cutting off my clothes. ‘Another OD,’ I heard them say as they hooked me up to tubes and placed a respirator over my nose. Then I left my body and went up into the lights. That’s all I can remember.”
    “What did she do to you?” I whispered.
    “I don’t know,” he said, his voice breaking. He grabbed my upper arms and growled softly. "You should leave. I've never done this before, and I'm sorry I brought you here."
    "There's nothing to it," I said in a soothing voice. "I can't return your money."
    "Run away now," he said quietly. "Please. You'll come find me again at the Mardi Gras Saloon, won't you?"
    "What?"
    "Forget it." The wind in the alley picked up, blowing my hair all around. "Just go now. Go!"
    "Fine." I shoved my knife back into my purse and