Vampire Assassin League Bundle 4 - Eternity Read Online Free Page B

of flight while in the arms of a solidly muscled guy claiming vampiric powers was probably not covered under the group health plan. Besides, she didn’t use medicinal panaceas for anything that happened to her. Regardless of how depressed she’d gotten over her divorce. She’d seen enough of the mile-long stare coming from the zombie-creatures that got created by using the new wonder drugs. She’d rather be insane.
    ...which did bring her to the third option: Embrace it.
    Sure. She could accept this bit of psychosis. Pretend it really was happening. Play-act through it. She was a fine actress. She’d taken a year of drama in college, pondered a Minor in theater to accompany the Major in fine arts that got her nowhere jobs. Acting was something that came naturally. She was very good at it... because acting was akin to living a lie and she excelled at those.
    And why was she now quoting her ex?
    “You can open your eyes now. We’re here.”
    Okay. That voice was enough to curl leather when it was just an auditory sensation. Feeling it reverberate from the chest she was hugging was just beyond necessary. The effect sent her heart into circus antics and her hormones into shock. Or something. Shivers rippled down both arms, her legs, and modified her spine into an icicle. And that’s when she decided that embracing this bit of insanity might actually be worth it.
    And it would make a hell of an entry in her memoir later.
    “Um. Where... is here? Exactly?”
    She managed to answer although her lips didn’t function properly. And her voice was breathless. That’s what came from trembling that just wouldn’t cease. His arm tightened.
    “My abode.”
    “Look. Mister Per—”
    Her voice stopped. Not because she didn’t want him to know what she called him, but because she’d opened her eyes, and her jaw dropped and words failed her. They were standing in a foyer. Or rather, he was standing there. She was in his arms, with her legs wrapped about his hips, and she didn’t know how she’d managed that without at least noticing it. And then she factored in the space they stood in. Holy smokes. The guy had space. The area looked cavernous. It even felt large. Echo-inducing large. The entryway was in the usual antebellum style, wasting square footage with the width of it, while an elegant staircase climbed the left wall, curving at the top into the second floor some eighteen to twenty feet above them. An enormous chandelier blocked the view as it dangled down from what looked like the second floor ceiling. Or third level floor. Or attic. Sweetness. The foyer was amazing. Totally.
    “Devereaux.”
    “What?” she asked.
    “My name is Devereaux. Not Mister anything.”
    “Um. You should put me down.”
    “As you wish.”
    No. She was wrong. He shouldn’t have put her down. The moment her feet touched what looked like marble floor, things changed. Sydney stepped back a step. Another. She gained a little of her common sense back. And sense of propriety. Heck. She might be in the Big Easy, but the last thing you could call Sydney Ross was easy . Or cheap. Or available. Or open. Free. Uninhibited.
    She repositioned her thick rimmed glasses to the correct position atop the bridge of her nose and looked across and up at him. And felt her heart quiver. Or something that gave her voice the same affliction. “Listen... uh Mister... you have a last name?”
    “Why don’t you just call me Dev?” he offered.
    Now. Episodes from reality weren’t supposed to include gorgeous guys with devastating smiles that included equally devastating accents. Nor were delusions to have decadent, old-world, romantic-sounding names. This sort of combination was inducing more than insanity. The next thing she knew she’d be envisioning him... naked. Against her... hmm. In the same state of undress. What a nice dream. Way too nice for psychotic episodes. Then again, what did she know? Maybe this was why folks in a mental ward were so happy. And