Branded Read Online Free PDF

at the tips. He had fed recently. Which would make him strong.
    I checked the others and noticed the same darkness at the tips of their fangs. They all had had a fine meal before coming over to my house. This was not a social visit. Nor was it an empty threat.
    These vampires came here to dance.
    And still, until they showed obvious violent intent, I had to stand there and do nothing. Well, except shoot my mouth off.
    “You know, you really should brush your teeth after meals. I’m sure your breath must stink.”
    The female spokesperson took another step forward. “You are weak.”
    I wrinkled my brow. “Is that supposed to make me cry? If I didn’t know any better, I would think you’re trying to provoke me. Is that how you plan on getting away with this?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “You need to get off my property, or I make a call to the regional prefect’s office, and you can take this up with the Ministry.”
    “Fuck the Ministry,” the grumpy male said. “Let’s just do it.”
    I tucked the crucifix into my back pocket and crossed my arms. I could smell my body sweat overpowering my deodorant from standing out in the humidity. Nerves may have been a factor in my perspiration as well. I’d never stood against a quartet of angry vampires before. Usually, they kept away from types like me. While the Ministry laws protected them as much as anybody, vampires naturally suffered a heavier burden of proof than sorcerers. After all, sucking blood was their thing, not ours. It kind of made them look bad.
    “What, exactly, are you here to do ?” I asked.
    The female’s lips pulled back so far she was almost all gums and teeth. She tilted her head from side to side while she stared at me, as if trying to figure me out. Or trying to decide which side of my neck to chomp on.
    “You are afraid,” she said.
    “Not afraid,” I said. “But I’m not stupid either. And if you show me anymore of your teeth, I’m going to take that as an official threat and dust you with fire. I’ll skip right over the crucifix phase.”
    “I dare you,” she said.
    What the hell? They really did want to pick a fight. Yet they weren’t willing to start it. So, in theory, I could turn around and go back inside and ignore them completely. They couldn’t follow me in without an invite, and eventually the sun always rose, and that would force them to make themselves scarce.
    Problem with that was I had a maybe-date with Fiona, and I was loathe to pass that up. Especially since I’d have to offer some lame excuse. Telling her there were four vampires camped out in my front yard waiting to eat me probably would doom any chance of a reschedule.
    I gritted my teeth. “Enough, freaks. Get out of my way, or suffer consequences.”
    The female’s lips curled up giving her a huge clown-faced kind of smile.
    A green sickness wormed in my stomach.
    “Please, make us suffer,” she said. Her voice sounded like the combined hiss and rattle of a desert snake.
    An idea occurred to me. I climbed back in my car, pulled forward a bit, then looped around in reverse, riding onto my lawn, which forced the female vamp to scoot aside. I did my best not to dig my tires too deeply into the sod by not spinning the wheels any faster than necessary. Luckily, besides the humidity, the weather had been dry, so I wasn’t sinking into wet sod. No matter what, though, I’d be leaving tire tracks on the lawn.
    “Sorry, Mom,” I said under my breath and put the car into drive.
    Before I could pull forward, the crabby male vamp jumped onto my hood and snarled at me through the windshield.
    I officially took that as a threat.
    All bets were off.
    Throwing the car into park, I gathered my mojo. I held my hands up more to guide my spell than conduct it. Focusing on the air around the vampire on my hood, I pulled it to my will. The air coalesced around him. He must have sensed the magical energy growing. His red eyes went wide.
    Too late