Austin's Lost Bride (The Sterns) Read Online Free PDF Page B

soul knows the truth and betrays you to me.”
    “Go to hell.”
    “Oh, I’m already there, child. I have no doubt about that. But you are a wonder. You have your parents’ spirit, but not their skill or sense. Neither of them would have been so stupid to call a challenge to me and you have done it twice.”
    Rebecca was stunned he brought up her parents and hoped she hadn’t let it show on her face. “Like I said, go to hell. I’m not afraid of you.”
    In the dark she could see Mannus shake his head, “No, your sense and skill is nothing like your parents. When I had captured each of them, they both showed great patience and they were both rewarded for it in the end.”
    Rebecca’s head spun.
    He’s just trying to screw with your mind .
    Mother was dead for years before father was captured and her father certainly wasn’t rewarded for being Mannus’s prisoner. Father died. Austin killed him and she hardened her face at the memory.
    “It was long before you were born,” Mannus said. “She was near your age, and her hunter team had been stalking what they thought was a younger vampire, but it was me. I tore into her partner, satisfying myself with his blood. She was wounded, but I took her prisoner and left her alive to feed later. It was a mistake. I should have killed her instantly, but I didn’t realize how dangerous she was.”
    Rebecca’s instinct told her he was being truthful, but she didn’t understand why. She didn’t know, but her control was beginning to crumble and her face showed it. Was that the plan? To break her control? She wasn’t sure but tried to reassert herself mentally without success.
    “In three hundred years your mother was the first to escape me after having been captured. She collected herself mentally and never spoke a single word unless I spoke to her and forced her to answer. Unlike you, she certainly never would have stalked me alone or called out foolish challenges that practically beg me to kill. She wielded her own power and that of the dagger with skill you simply will never have. That dagger is nearly as old as I am, forged by your ancestors who had converted to the early Christian church. It has power you can’t imagine, but someone like you, who believes in nothing, who loves nothing, can never truly command it.”
    Rebecca knew he had to be lying, just saying these things to keep her mentally off balance. Mannus was hurt badly. She had seen it herself only last night. Austin had shot him with a bolt and she got him with her dagger. He would be practically helpless against an attack now. The whole act, everything he said was just to keep her from realizing his weakness, finding some way to escape and acting against him.
    “I had expected so much more from you than just being a fool,” said Mannus. “As for me, I am so very far from being practically helpless.”
    Rebecca’s face drained of all color at the impossibility of what just occurred. He read her mind.
    He shouldn’t be able to pass through my defenses so easily .
    But he had. In a quick motion, Mannus moved over to the light and threw the switch.
    Light flooded the room and blinded Rebecca for a moment. He eyes adjusted and she looked on Mannus. If it were possible to look more shocked she would have, but it didn’t matter. She was very wrong. Mannus wore no clothes except a pair of shorts. Muscles rippled along his body and there was no evidence of any wounds on him from the night before. He was completely healed.
    She was in serious trouble.
    Austin .
    He didn’t know. What if he came? Mannus had more thralls than they expected and he certainly wasn’t hurting as they expected. How could he heal so quickly?
    “I told you, child. You can’t command the dagger as well as your mother. The dagger has some passive power and it did hurt me, but nothing like it would have in the hands of a competent owner. In your mother’s hands I wouldn’t have survived last night, but in yours I could still