Born in the Shadows (In the Shadows Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

ground.
                  She smiled up at him, soft and serene and then closed her eyes. He could sense her faint heartbeat and he knew that she wouldn’t make it. Even if he got her to the hospital in the next minute, there was nothing they could do for her. She was going to die.
                  It wasn’t fair. She didn’t deserve to be murdered. She was young and healthy; she didn’t deserve to be cut down like this and then left to die alone.
                  As he stroked her hair, she turned her head and nuzzled her cheek into the palm of his hand. That peaceful smile was still there. She knew what was happening and she accepted it, just content to know that she wouldn’t be alone when she went. He couldn’t let her die. It wasn’t her time. He had to give her back her life. She deserved it.
                  The problem was that he had never done it like this before. He had always given the humans the chance to decide for themselves if they wanted to become like him. It was not a decision to be made in haste or due to coercion. For some the thought of eternal life was scarier than natural death. He had to give her the chance to say no and accept death.
                  He reached out to her mind and quickly sorted through her memories. Her name was Cordelia. No husband, no children, estranged family and few friends in her life. That was good. There would be no one for her to leave behind.
                  He lightly slapped her face until her eyes opened. “Cordelia, can you hear me?”
                  Her eyes rolled around a bit before focusing on his and she furrowed her brow as she looked at him.
                  “Cordelia, do you know what happened to you?”
                  She stared at him for a moment before looking down where the angry steel was poking out of her chest. She looked back at him and nodded her head weakly.
                  “You are dying.”
                  Her eyes closed briefly, as if she could not look at him as she acknowledged the truth of his words. Her thoughts were a raging storm but he could make out one thought in the centre of it all: It’s too soon . When her eyes opened, he saw the tears that gleamed there and the hopelessness that reached to her very soul.
                  Nicky cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing away a falling tear. “I can offer you life again but it will be at a cost. You won’t be the same.”
                  Her brow furrowed in confusion and he struggled to find a way to explain it as best he could in the short time that was left.
                  “You won’t be a human anymore. You will be like me.”
                  He let his teeth lengthen and bared his fangs for her. She studied his mouth for a moment, her eyes clearer than they had been since he found her. She reached up to the hand on her face and he worried that she was going to push him away. Instead she grasped it in her own and squeezed. 
                  “Do you want me to change you?” he asked, his voice just above a whisper.
                  She nodded her head weakly and squeezed his hand again. 
                  “Close your eyes and it will be over in a minute.”
                  She did as he instructed and Nicky sat back on his heels, studying her body and the rebar. He needed to drink from her and then feed her the mixture of his blood and her own for it to work. If he pulled her off of the rebar, she would bleed out before he got a chance to drink enough. If he left her on it during the change, there was the chance that her body would not revive properly with the metal still inside her.
                  He quickly evaluated possible actions, creating a workable plan in his head. It would take finesse and exact timing to work. He prayed he