Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 98961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Eliza has the door open several feet and is standing in a typical Eliza stance: arms crossed and looking bored. She’s anything but, though you couldn’t tell unless you really knew her. Scarlet is standing by her side, letting out a low growl. Pandora is shadowing behind, eyes flashing.
“Ahh, Mrs. King,” whoever is on the porch says, and the familiarity in his voice sends a chill through me. I know exactly who it is, and I do not have fucking time for this. The fact that he got past the wardings means he actually has no intention of causing me harm…or whatever happened with the Horsemen messed up the lines of magic and my wardings aren’t working as they should be.
“Eamon Ó Clêirigh,” I say, coming up next to Eliza and opening the door the rest of the way. I rest my hand on Scarlet, fingers touching her collar. I’ll take it off and let her rip this ancient vampire to shreds if he annoys me enough.
“I was just telling Eliza here how nice it is to finally meet the protégé of my dear friend Lucas King. I can see his influences already. And my, he did a fine job selecting a human to seek revenge on. It’s a shame it’s taken three centuries to meet.”
“What do you want?” I ask, cutting to the chase.
“You didn’t respond to my invitation, and it’s been a while since Lucas and I were thick as thieves but the lack of response is simply rude. I came to inquire as to why I didn’t get even a simple yay or nay.”
“Look dude,” I huff, remembering all too well the night I got his stupid letter. It’s the night War appeared, and the night that proved how outmatched I am to go head-to-head with Paimon. “I had more important things to attend to, okay? The world doesn’t revolve around you or your stupid little plan to overthrow the humans.”
“It’s more than that, Mrs. King. Why don’t you invite me in, and we can discuss this civilly over a glass of wine. For you, of course.”
“Hah. Nice try.”
“I didn’t think you’d be one to fear vampires.” Eamon laughs, flashing his fangs. In the back of my mind, I know a two-thousand-year-old vampire is bad news. He can cause horrible damage in just a matter of seconds and massacre an entire town overnight. Yet, compared to the end of days shit I’ve been dealing with, I’m not scared of him.
And that should scare me, but it doesn’t.
“I’m not scared of vampires, undead asshole. I just don’t want you in my house.” To prove my point, I step onto the porch. Scarlet and Binx move right along with me, and I see something flicker across Eamon’s face. Fear? No…I think it’s more curiosity. “Now, why are you really here?”
“I had hoped to speak to my old pal, but he isn’t here, is he?” Eamon turns his face toward the door and inhales. “No, he’s not. Yet his scent…it lingers but smells of…of fresh blood.”
Juliet. He’s smelling Juliet. Which means he didn’t know I was pregnant the last time he saw me and instead was talking about sensing my divinity. It’s all been unlocked now, and I’ll happily let my angelic powers vibrate around me. It was enough to knock Lucifer on his ass, granted he wasn’t trying to attack me.
“Not at the moment,” I reply, refusing to let emotion get the better of me.
“When do you expect him back?”
“Not before sunrise, so you better get going.”
Eamon smiles again, making a deal to show his fangs. They look a little longer than Lucas’s, making me wonder if their fangs grow in a sense once they cross the two-thousand-year mark. “I won’t be far. I believe we have a mutual friend who’s renting the quaintest little brick house down the road.”
Oh, shit. Not Betty.
“You touch her, and I will burn you from the inside out,” I sneer, eyes flashing bright blue.
Eamon’s eyes widen, but he doesn’t back away.
“I’ve never come across something like you.”
“Consider yourself lucky.”
“It’s odd.” He leans in, inhaling deep. “You smell of Lucas yet…not. And there’s something about you.” He reaches forward to touch my hair and I smack his hand away. Eliza comes onto the porch, putting herself between Eamon and me.
“Listen, asshat, in all my time with my maker, he never mentioned you,” she starts. “So, you need to stop being so obsessed with him and move on like Lucas did.”
Without warning, Eamon speeds forward, grabbing Eliza by the throat. He slams her against the side of the house. Eliza is no match for a vampire his age and is powerless against him. Opening his mouth, light from my porch lamps illuminate his fangs as he goes to bite Eliza’s neck. I throw my hand out, trying to telekinetically stop him, but he jerks his head around, strong enough to fight back against my magical hold.