Blood Vengeance (Blood Curse Series Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page A

and I’m sorry.” She bent her head to look over her shoulder, to stare down at the perilous drop-off, and in that brief, telltale moment, something dangerous flashed in her eyes: decision, determination… resolution. The willingness to end her life.
    Ramsey licked his lips and took a measured step forward, not far enough to frighten the horse, but close enough to lunge if he had to. “You would kill that beautiful animal?” he asked, appealing to her conscience. “What would Phoenix think of that?”
    Tiffany blinked back her tears and steadied her resolve. “Phoenix is only thirteen and a half months old.”
    “And you’re what? Twenty-nine or thirty? You would end it all right here, right now?” He glanced up at the sky and gestured with his chin. “Over that moon?”
    Tiffany’s features grew strained. “It’s not the moon, Ramsey, and you know it. It’s the Curse and all the blood. The violence and the endless threats. It’s the sacrifice and the fangs . You’re a vampire, Ramsey, one that can hunt and maim and kill without hesitation, and I don’t want to be what you are. I like being human, and I still have a soul… as well as free will. So, don’t speak to me like I’m an idiot or a newbie. I’m neither.”
    Ramsey nodded slowly, acknowledging the fact that he had heard her words. “You took on this entire world when you stayed in Dark Moon Vale, baby girl,” he said without mincing words. “When you chose to keep your memories and serve our king. You knew the deal back then, and you knew you could never go back—but you stayed. So, what’s changed?”
    Tiffany sighed deeply. “That was for Brooke… and Phoenix… for me.” She shrugged, almost apologetically. “But that’s not the same as giving up my humanity, giving myself to you .”
    Ramsey considered her words carefully—way too deep of a subject to get into at this juncture—there was no point in having this discussion now, not here, not while they were balancing on the edge of a cliff, quite literally. He chose to take another tactic. “Okay, well, look at it this way, then: If you back that horse off that cliff, I’ll just have to jump over and catch you.” He raised his shoulders in a matching gesture. “But the real question is: Could I catch both you and the horse?” He toggled his hands up and down as if pondering the possibility. “Possibly… probably … ” He sniffed. “It’s not so much the weight as the size that might be difficult, trying to hold you and the horse at the same time. More than likely, you would have to go back and tell Phoenix that Viking didn’t make it—that you killed his pony.”
    “Would you shut up!”
    Ramsey chuckled low in his throat, and the corner of his mouth turned up in what he knew was a wicked smile.
    “Is this funny to you?” Tiffany asked, her voice filled with anguish and maybe even a little regret.
    “It’s a little bit funny,” Ramsey retorted, though his voice was as serious as a heart attack, “in a tragic sort of way.” He narrowed his gaze, and he felt his eyes flush with heat. He knew they had flashed crimson before settling back into their normal hazel hues. “But I’ll tell you what isn’t funny, Miss Matthews… ” He drew a deep breath and practically growled the words. “Underneath us right now, about two to three miles beneath the surface, is a colony of vampires from a very different house, and if they could get to you, they would, just to eliminate me. And I’ll tell you something else, baby doll: The shit they would do to you if they caught you would make jumping off a cliff look like a real good option. And while I can jump over the side of this mountain and catch you before you die, I don’t know if I can fight more than a couple of Dark Ones at a time. So I’m going to ask you once more, nicely , to get off that horse and back away from that cliff. And then, I’m gonna come get you.”
    *
    Ramsey’s chilling words brushed over