Bloodlust Denied Read Online Free PDF

strains of Thanatos’ violin.
    “You have to forget him.” Sorrow tinged Thanatos’ voice. “Even if we found him again, you could have no future together.”
    She knew that. She had always known that. But it made no difference to the aching void within her breast.
    Her fingers tightened around the stem of her glass, the only outward show of frustration she allowed herself. Together, she and Thanatos lured a vampire to its destruction, but since that night in the alley, she had second-guessed her every instinct and questioned every glint of intuition, crippled by the knowledge that her infallibility was a lie.
    She glanced around at the swirling throng of silks and muslins, fluttering fans and becoming blushes that teased the cheeks of the innocents. They were so young. So unaware of the malevolence that skulked beyond their trammeled vision. An ache sank through her soul at the knowledge of how long it had been since she’d been that naive. That trusting.
    And now she could no longer even trust her own judgment.
    “I need clarification.” She took a deep breath, knowing how Thanatos would react to her next words. “I want to read the contract. There must be something in it that explains my lapse. Could help me see clearly again.”
    Unease flickered over Thanatos’ face. His fingers toyed with his exquisitely crafted bow, a bow that enticed heartrending beauty from his violin yet concealed its true deadly purpose within its slender frame.
    “You’re making too much of this. You desired the man and took him. He showed not the slightest interest when you offered him unfettered access to your throat. It was obvious he wasn’t a vampire, Morana. He was never in any danger from us.”
    Three times since that night, she’d tried to persuade Thanatos to split open the blood-soaked contract they’d signed with Death so many centuries ago, and each time he talked her out of it.
    She understood why. Not only would such an action temporarily drain their powers, but Death had warned them that by so doing, the very creatures they hunted would be able to track them when they were at their most vulnerable.
    But she had to discover why she questioned every thought, why her single error haunted her so destructively and why her obsession with their crusade to eliminate those bloodsucking vermin was being insidiously replaced by that dark, enigmatic stranger.
    “I fear I’m going insane.” The words were scarcely audible but Thanatos heard, and understood. He swallowed, and his fingers tightened around his beloved violin.
    “Tonight.” His whisper curled through her senses. “We’ll find sanctuary and rip the contract to shreds if we have to. But I swear we’ll find something to help you, Morana.”

Chapter Four
     
    Morana smiled and flirted with the young gentlemen who vied for her attention, but her mind had already left the cloying confines of the assembly rooms. Thanatos, now back in the orchestra, would play two more dances and then they could unobtrusively disappear into the night.
    They would read the blood contract, discover a hidden clause, and this fog of impending disaster that refused to release its spectral grip on her soul would vanish.
    A ripple of movement around her drew her reluctantly back to the present. The elderly Lady Harriet, her unwary mentor tonight, fluttered like a flustered schoolgirl as the young gentlemen retreated and Mr. Shaw, the Master of Ceremonies, approached, unaccountably beaming with delight.
    The breath strangled in her throat and her heart collided against her ribs. The tall, broad-shouldered man being introduced to Lady Harriet was the reason she questioned her purpose, her existence, her sanity.
    She tried to relax her fingers before they shattered her fragile fan, but it was her only lifeline. The only thing preventing her from doing or saying something so outrageous, the ton would gossip about her for innumerable Seasons to come.
    They turned to her. She heard Mr. Shaw