A Vampire's Christmas Carol Read Online Free PDF

lead.
    The king straightened on the loveseat and
then stood. “Rise,” he said. “You bring someone new into our ranks,
Antoine?” The king gave Michael a long, curious stare.
    “May I present Michael Carpenter to you, Your
Majesty?”
    Michael dipped his chin again.
    “Approach,” the king ordered.
    Keeping his head down, Michael walked up to
him.
    The king stepped off the dais to meet him,
walked completely around him, and then, with no warning, slugged
him with a hard right fist to the jaw. Michael spun back and away,
slamming into the wall of the room, but staying on his feet.
    Anger sparked an aggressive instinct he’d
never known was there, and he stalked back to the middle of the
room, fists raised. Two of the king’s guards jumped down off the
dais to intercept him. Somewhere between the wall and the king,
though, his brain kicked back in. Michael restrained himself, just
glaring at the man rather than pummeling him. The guards stopped
and waited.
    The king stared at him for a moment, ignoring
the fists, then turned carelessly away. “He might do,” the man
pronounced after he stepped up onto the dais again. He waved a
hand, dismissing them.
    “Let’s go,” Antoine said.
    “But, what—?”
    “Let’s go. It was a test. You passed. There’s
another pair waiting.”
    Michael stepped back, making way for a
smallish man accompanied by a truly huge one. The larger one was
the newcomer. Michael hung back, wanting to see what happened this
time.
    The smaller man introduced the large one to
the king. The king repeated the sequence he’d visited on Michael,
circling the big man, then throwing a fist that drove him to the
wall. Instead of getting up, though, the giant slid down into a
crouch and crossed his arms over his head. It shocked Michael to
see such a big man cringe so. It didn’t impress the king, who
sneered and shook his head. One of the guards moved forward,
holding a stake. He stopped to glance at the king, who nodded.
    Before anyone could blink, the guard was on
top of the cringing giant. The stake flashed down, embedding itself
in the big man’s unprotected chest. The man’s arms flew up, eyes
and mouth opened wide, but the scream never emerged. Instead he
slid down further, then flopped onto his other side, and lay there,
very obviously dead. Truly dead this time. Two of the guards
dragged him out a side door.
    Antoine put a hand on Michael’s shoulder and
guided him out to the main part of the house. “He failed. Often
it’s the ones you least expect who fail.”
    Michael just shook his head, still in shock
from the way the man had been dispatched with such summary
judgment. The viciousness of it bothered him. The lawyer in him
wanted to protest the lack of any kind of trial, or even a crime
committed, for that matter. But this was a different world he’d
entered, a more ruthless one, obviously. He’d have to adjust to
it.
    They got drinks and talked to a few more
people before Antoine said, “I hear the interesting games are
upstairs. Shall we go look in?”
    The words sent a frisson of uneasiness along
Michael’s spine, but he couldn’t say why, so he followed Antoine up
a wide, grand staircase to the second floor. The crowd gravitated
toward a room at the far end of the hall. An acquaintance of
Antoine waved and said, “Good sport so far tonight. You almost
missed it all. They’re bringing out the last one now.”
    “The last what?” Michael asked.
    “You’ll see.” They had to push through a
coterie of milling vampires to get into the room, which held
nothing but a single four-poster bed, a small table and several
chairs. People stood around the room, mostly near the walls,
talking to each other. They went quiet as a cheer rose from those
out in the hall.
    A group of vampires entered, dragging a young
female into the room with them. She screamed and struggled, terror
turning her face into a rictus of open mouth, wide eyes and wild
hair flying. Despite her wriggling and