The Vampire's Consort (Undead in Brown County) Read Online Free Page B

chest.
    “Unfortunately, yes.”
    She leaned back a little to look into his face. There was more he hadn’t said. “What else? I know you. You’re holding something back.”
    He sighed. The sound of it rolled through his chest where Sarah felt every vibration. When he spoke, his voice was heavy with mourning. It sent another chill through Sarah’s body. “I’m going to have to go with them, my love.”
    Her heart felt as though it were being pried from her chest. “Just you?”
    Avoiding her question, he continued. “There are threats right now, within the council—situations that could put the girls in jeopardy. Teddy has promised they will be protected, but I don’t think it’s going to be something she can control.”
    “Then why take them back at all? It makes no sense!”
    “There are so many issues to be handled. The situation in Arizona is becoming a nightmare. Teddy said that there is now a government investigation into what happened at the farm.”
    Sarah dropped her arms from his waist and stepped back. “And she can’t handle these things? She needs you? What can you do now, Michael? Your vampire days are over.”
    That was when she noticed his hands trembling. With a woman’s well-tuned intuition, Sarah knew. If the girls were in danger, Michael would do anything to protect them.
    “You’re thinking of being turned.” It came out as a whisper.
    He nodded. His face was steeped in shadows. There was a kind of suffering in his expression that Sarah had never witnessed before.
    “I can’t leave them with her and know they’ re in danger,” he said. “I can’t protect them as a human. Not effectively.”
    She sat back on the swing, her face ashen.
    “Sarah, I have to become vampire again. You know what that means.”
    Her gaze was still unfixed, drifting across the nothingness t hat she saw in her future—without Michael. It stretched out before her in ceaseless ebony waves. She would drown in a world without him. She would be lost.
    Sarah would want that —to lose herself as she lost him.
    What Michael saw in her expression was defeat. He was determined that they would spend their last night together being loving and intimate, feeding each other the food that soon he would have no need to consume.
    He reached out a hand for her. Perhaps she was stunned senseless by his news. Drawing her inside the front door, he began to employ every single skill known to man (and vampire), which would render a female lover helpless against his onslaught. Sarah hadn’t quite wrapped her mind around their conversation on the porch. But soon, it didn’t matter.
    The instant his lips touched hers, her body felt as if it were drifting on some cloud in the middle of nowhere. Without fail, that gentle wave of sweetness that she always tasted on his lips would transform into something far more carnal and desperate. No man ever wants to be seen as desperate, but ultimately between the long, slow wet kisses and Sarah’s body pressed against his, the word desperate became relevant. His grey eyes closed, he tilted his head back and moaned, a chord that rang of loss and lust. That was enough to derail Sarah’s thoughts. All she could feel was desire, melting her on the inside and lighting up her skin with bursts of carnal electricity.
    He began to unbutton her cotton shirt. It was something crisp and clean. It was Sarah. Her innocence, her spirit, her giving heart. As gently as possible, he manipulated the little circles away from their slots and drew Sarah’s shirt open at the waist. He didn’t resort to gentle with the bra. He ripped the back of it when it didn’t unfasten during his first attempt. Michael’s fingers were trembling.
    They had managed to get as far as the stair landing leading up to the bedrooms. He was holding her wrists above her head with one hand. With the other, he was grazing the curve of one breast with the tip of his thumb. The nipple contracted and grew stiff before his touch even