Blood Crimes: Book One Read Online Free PDF Page B

wait. They didn’t have an inkling what hell really was.
          Juliet heard him approaching and gave him a slow disapproving look.
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aritza didn’t bother acknowledging his presence.
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aking a face, Juliet said, “If we gave them some meat occasionally, maybe they wouldn’t get so anemic so fast.
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aybe they’d be able to last longer.”
          
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etcalf forced a smile.
          “Fuck that. If I can’t eat steak, neither can they.”
          “I’m just saying—”
          “Your suggestion is noted. Okay?”
          Juliet’s brow furrowed, her eyes turning to hard angry slits.
          “I’m just trying to be practical,” she said. “They need more iron in their diet. It doesn’t have to be steak. We could feed them liver.”
          
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etcalf stared coldly at her. Without being aware of it he was clenching and unclenching his hands, the annoyance building up in him.
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onths earlier he had given in and started buying them bushels of apples because Juliet claimed they needed the extra vitamins. He figured he’d be magnanimous—if he were willing to feed his horses that, then okay, he’d feed the livestock the same. Oats and apples, a few carrots. But this was fucking ridiculous.
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aybe before being infected he wasn’t a big fan of liver, but he’d cut off his right hand now to be able to enjoy a plate of it with some bacon and onions.
          “What would be the point of having them last longer?” he asked, his tone artificially flat and even-keeled. “Would that be doing them any favors?”
          Juliet’s mouth closed as she tried to think of an argument.
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aritza stood quietly stirring the oatmeal, her eyes cast down and staring into nothingness.
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etcalf noted how she pretty much had the same look about her as the livestock.
          “I need to get outside,” Juliet muttered at last. “It’s been over four months…”
          
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etcalf saw nothing but a flash of red. He’d been hearing hints of her grumblings for a while now—and not just hers but others too—and this was the final straw. The red flashing inside his brain blew up into something raging. Deaf and dumb to her, he grabbed her by the wrist and jerked her off her feet.
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aritza started to cross herself but caught herself midway. She stared back into the pot and continued to blindly stir the oatmeal as if nothing out of the ordinary were happening. In his mind’s eye,
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etcalf spat fire as he dragged Juliet out of the kitchen area and into the vampires’ housing quarters.
          “This isn’t fucking enough for you!” he roared, waving a hand at the Olympic-size swimming pool and three Jacuzzis that he dragged her past. She pleaded with him to stop but he didn’t hear her over the inferno burning inside him. He dragged her along the Italian marble tiles as if she were nothing but a bed sheet.
          “Everything I bought you fucking ingrates is top of the line!” he continued to roar as he dragged her through the gaming area which had a simulated golf course, two racquetball courts, ping-pong tables and pool tables. Several of the vampires were watching the movie Sideways on one of the large-screen home theatres and looked over with a mix of curiosity and alarm. None of them bothered to get involved. They knew better than to try to calm
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etcalf down.
          “There are people spending a grand a day to stay at spas not as nice as what I built for you fucking ingrates, but nothing’s ever enough, is it?”
          “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean anything—”
          “Shut up! You’re so fucking anxious to go outside, well fuck you, I’m taking you outside!”
          He bent her arms behind her back and dumped her on his shoulders, carrying her as if she were a sack of grain.
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oving fast, he ran through the compound and then out the titanium security door. Juliet was wailing, trying to fight back, but in