Shadow Rising Read Online Free Page A

of what she’d done was simply watch. Even the vampires were full of a life and emotion that was far beyond anything she’d experienced in her long years in the desert.
    Could she become like them? In time, maybe. If they could accept her. In time…
    Ariane took another sip of her drink, enjoying both the chocolate flavor and the mild buzz she was getting. Actually, she was enjoying the city itself, as much as she could given the circumstances. Charlotte, North Carolina, was the last place Sam had been seen—that much she’d gleaned from Sariel before he’d turned her down for the mission to find him—so this was where she’d headed. Thus far, she hadn’t found out anything to make her leave. Actually, she hadn’t found out much of anything at all. And that was a problem. Hopefully tonight would change that, if the kind Empusa she’d met the otherevening had been telling the truth. If so, there was a man who frequented this place who might be able to help her.
    She certainly hoped so. The city might be lovely, but she wasn’t here for a vacation. Sam was out there somewhere; she knew it. And she needed to catch a break, because the longer he stayed gone, the greater the chance that he wasn’t coming back.
    The lights in the cocktail lounge cast a dim blue glow over the expanse of mahogany bar. A jazz trio filled the space with a warm, down-tempo tune from a raised platform at the other end of the room, and people chatted at the bar, at high, skinny tables scattered about the space, and in large, comfortable booths lining the walls. Waitresses and waiters glided through every few minutes, dressed smartly in black. Ariane watched them all, seeing not a single vampire. But she was patient. And finally, about ten-thirty, one appeared.
    Ariane had just ordered another drink to nurse when, from the corner of her eye, she saw movement by the door. She turned her head, curious, and at this point fairly certain that the man she sought wasn’t going to show. But instead of another couple or a knot of young mortals just starting their evening, she saw… him.
    He strode in as though he owned the place, moving with predatory grace. Ariane took in the broad shoulders, the sandy hair spiked up a bit in the front, the pressed jeans and well-cut sport coat, worn over an open-collared white button-down shirt. Everything about him marked him as the type she was growing used to seeing, a young blueblood with old money—everything except for the subtle signs only another vampire would pick up on when recognizing one of their own. He was just a littletoo pale, a little too graceful… and more than a little too beautiful to be mortal. When he turned his head to look at the jazz trio, Ariane let her eyes skim over his profile, enjoying the view.
    Of all the new pleasures she’d discovered outside the desert, watching the seemingly endless variety of male vampires was one of her favorites. As she’d so often been reminded, the Grigori wanted only warriors. She was used to big, muscular men who would have looked right at home swinging a sword or an axe. She’d never realized that it was only the Grigori who had such a narrow preference in type. This man was more how she might have envisioned the handsome princes in the fairy tales she sometimes read. Then his cool blue eyes, which had been scanning the room, settled on Ariane, and she realized something else about this particular vampire: he was dangerous.
    In the instant their gazes met, she saw nothing but cold calculation. He was looking for something or someone, and it wasn’t her. All the lovely warmth she’d experienced upon sighting him vanished… and yet she still couldn’t look away.
    Neither, it seemed, could he. His eyes darted away and then returned, catching and holding her gaze. Ariane didn’t know why she kept staring back. She’d known right away that this wasn’t the man she was looking for, who’d been described to her as slight and dark-haired. Another