Blood Promise Read Online Free PDF Page B

seemed to hinge on this moment.
    “I’m looking for a village . . . a village of dhampirs out in Siberia. I don’t know its name.” Dimitri had only ever mentioned its name once, and I’d forgotten. “It’s kind of near . . . Om?”
    “Omsk,” she corrected.
    I straightened up. “Do you know it?”
    She didn’t answer right away, but her eyes betrayed her. “Maybe.”
    “You do!” I exclaimed. “You have to tell me where it is. I have to get there.”
    She made a face. “Are you going to be . . . one of those ?”
    So Alchemists knew about blood whores. No surprise. If Sydney and her associates knew everything else about the vampire world, they’d know this too.
    “No,” I said haughtily. “I just have to find someone.”
    “Who?”
    “Someone.”
    That almost made her smile. Her brown eyes were thoughtful as she munched on another fry. She’d only taken two bites out of her cheeseburger, and it was rapidly growing cold. I kind of wanted to eat it myself on principle.
    “I’ll be right back,” she said abruptly. She stood up and strode across to a quiet corner of the café. Producing a cell phone from that magic purse of hers, she turned her back to the room and made a call.
    I’d polished off my chicken by then and helped myself to some of her fries since it was looking less and less like she was going to do anything with them. As I ate, I pondered the possibilities before me, wondering if finding Dimitri’s town would really be this simple. And once I was there . . . would it be simple then? Would he be there, living in the shadows and hunting prey? And when faced with him, could I really drive my stake into his heart? That unwanted image came to me again, Dimitri with red eyes and—
    “Rose?”
    I blinked. I’d totally spaced out, and Sydney was back. She slid back into her spot across from me. “So, it looks like—” She paused and looked down. “Did you eat some of my fries?”
    I had no clue how she knew, seeing as it was such a huge stack. I’d barely made a dent. Figuring me stealing fries would count as further evidence of being an evil creature of the night, I said glibly, “No.”
    She frowned a moment, considering, and then said, “I do know where this town is. I’ve been there before.”
    I straightened up. Holy crap. This was actually going to happen, after all these weeks of searching. Sydney would tell me where this place was, and I could go and try to close this horrible chapter in my life.
    “Thank you, thank you so much—”
    She held up a hand to silence me, and I noticed then how miserable she looked.
    “But I’m not going to tell you where it is.”
    My mouth gaped. “What?”
    “I’m going to take you there myself.”

THREE
    W AIT—WHAT?” I EXCLAIMED.
    That wasn’t in the plan. That wasn’t in the plan at all. I was trying to move through Russia in as incognito a way as possible. Plus, I didn’t really relish the thought of having a tagalong—particularly one who appeared to hate me. I didn’t know how long it would take to get to Siberia—a couple days, I thought—and I couldn’t imagine spending them listening to Sydney talk about what an unnatural, evil being I was.
    Swallowing my outrage, I attempted reason. After all, I was asking a favor here. “That’s not necessary,” I said, forcing a smile. “It’s nice of you to offer, but I don’t want to inconvenience you.”
    “Well,” she replied dryly, “there’s no getting around that . And it’s not me being nice. It’s not even my choice. It’s an order from my superiors.”
    “It still sounds like a pain in the ass for you. Why don’t you just tell me where it is and blow them off?”
    “You obviously don’t know the people I work for.”
    “Don’t need to. I ignore authority all the time. It’s not hard once you get used to it.”
    “Yeah? How’s that working out for you with finding this village?” she asked mockingly. “Look, if you want to get there, this is the only