Bloodcraft Read Online Free Page A

path to his stomach kept his raging emotions at bay. “You’re wrong about him. He won’t help.”
    “He will.”
    “You better be right,” he said and stalked out of the room. The door crashed into its frame behind him.
     
    †††
     
    Christian stared at the silver phone in his hand and wondered what Lena’s game was. He pocketed the device, releasing his mental hold on the animal he’d fed from earlier. The deer bounded off on shaky legs into the woods. He debated what Lena really wanted. There was a chance that she wasn’t playing one of her usual games and his brother really did need his help, but with either of them, he could never be sure. The last time he’d seen Lena, she’d been clear that her … affections for him hadn’t changed. But Christian wasn’t interested in Lena. Not anymore. Not when he had Victoria.
    As he ran back toward his house, he felt the soft brush of Victoria’s voice in his mind. Lena called. Christian understood her hesitancy.
    Yes, I just talked to her, something to do with Lucian. I’ll be back soon.
    You’re going to see her?
    I have to. I love you.
    Okay, she said after a long pause. I love you, too.
    Christian felt her withdraw, sensing the coolness at the end of their mental conversation. He sighed. Victoria had nothing to worry about. His courtship with Lena ended a long time ago, but he knew that Victoria agonized over the fact that he had made Lena into a vampire. It was something she could never expect to become. But what Victoria didn’t seem to get was that Lena represented everything he hated about himself—her fierce love for killing went against everything that he believed. Lena belonged with someone like Lucian.
    Christian didn’t bother to head back into the house, instead sliding into the sleek car parked out front. He made the drive to Lena’s apartment in Puteaux, a western suburb of Paris, in exactly half an hour. La Défense touched on the northern part of Puteaux, which made it a convenient location for Lena as most of the Council meetings took place at their headquarters in the Tour Areva in La Défense. Christian also owned a home in the nearby suburb of Le Vésinet, but he rarely used that residence, instead preferring the château in Fontainebleau where he and Victoria were temporarily ensconced. Lena’s apartment was in a modern development overlooking the Seine River, and she was waiting for him out front as he parked.
    “Lena,” he said as he stepped out of the car. As always, she was impeccably dressed in a chic black suit. Her face was guarded as she leaned forward and kissed him in the French custom on both cheeks.
    “Thank you for coming, Christian,” she said. Lena’s voice was melodic and contrasted sharply with the ruthlessness she was known for. Although she certainly appeared it, she was the furthest thing from delicate. Like the perfect predator, her beauty and her voice were the things that drew people to her. But for Christian, the soft tones of her voice only served to put him on edge. “There’s a café around the corner. I was thinking we could go there. Unless you want to come up.”
    “The café is fine.”
    They walked in silence to the café and sat down at an outdoor table. The bruised twilight sky was clear and the streets buzzed with activity as the local Parisians enjoyed the balmy summer evening. Christian ordered a café au lait and sat back, his bearing impassive, giving no quarter to Lena. Whatever she wanted, she would have to come right out and ask for it.
    “You look well,” she said after ordering a black coffee. He inclined his head, but did not return the compliment, and waited for her to continue. Lena took a deep breath as she stared at him, her fingers drumming on the table’s edge. “You weren’t at the last few Council meetings,” she began. “I am sure you are aware that the Council is close to convicting Lucian on murder charges for Enhard’s death.” She glanced at him, but he kept