Burning (Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy #1) Read Online Free PDF

Gabrielle asked.
    I laughed. “Like that’s going to happen, but yes. I’m an optical engineer with a few patents to my name from commercial and military work, so, in theory...yes.”
    “We have the financial resources, Rand.” She held my eyes for a beat or two. “And we’ll get you the vampire. If you develop the prototype weapon. For us . And join our team.”
    “ You’re going to get me a vampire? To test on?”
    “ Yes. This is not a promise. It is in the works.”
    “ Gabrielle, you’re crazy.” I paused. “I only know one decent vampire and that’s Samantha Moon, but I sure as hell am not going to test any vampire-killer weapon on her. She’s a mother!”
    “ Moon is not an option, of course. We view her as an ally. For now, at least. Rand, we have the financial resources so you can continue your research, and we’ll get you a vampire to test on, so you can develop your prototype weapons.”
    “ Not Samantha Moon.”
    “ Not her.”
    I thought about it, rubbing my temples. “Development could take months, years even. I’m not going to be separated from my family that long. That’s why I mustered out of the military. Mostly, I hunt vampires, which is an unpaid job, but to keep the groceries on the table, every couple of years, I take some highly paying corporate contract work or I invent something under a government science grant. And then, when I can afford it, I go back to vampire hunting.”
    She glossed right over that and said, “We will find you a vampire, Dr. Rand Sebastian, optical engineer and vampire sniffer.”
    “ I don’t like the idea of capturing a vampire and keeping it for a test subject, torturing it. That’s creepy, Gabrielle. Not to mention dangerous. Would chains hold a vampire? No. Would drugs put him out? Unknown. A just-fed vampire can break into a bank vault.”
    “ I didn’t know that,” Gabrielle said.
    “ I watched it happen once, and ran. I was a new vampire hunter then and wasn’t armed at the time. I was shadowing a bloodsucker, practicing my stealth mode, and what I saw from a just-fed vampire’s strength scared the hell out of me. They robbed a bank. Punched through inches of the steel-walled vault. With their bare hands.”
    “ Jésus .” She crossed herself. “Still, we need a vampire to test on. I’m not denying that it’s torture, but it’s not like the vampires show us any mercy,” she replied. “Nor would they, if given a choice.”
    “ Samantha Moon did.”
    “ She’s an exception and she was working for us when she snagged you.”
    “ Formally? Interesting. Well, I have no explanation for her compassion and mercy, except that she wanted me on this bizarre mission of yours and made it so. But vampires killed my parents and my brother. That makes them fair game for my revenge. On my terms.”
    “ Just think about our offer, Rand. But, for tonight, will you please help me?”
    “ Yes. I’m going to take down this vampire the old-fashioned way, with silver to the heart. I’ve still got silver-tipped arrow bolts in my arsenal, but no bow. I can use them at close range, like a bullfighter sticks a bull.”
    “ This bloodsucker travels with an entourage, too.”
    “ He does?”
    “ Oui , but they are human, as far as I know. The palest of blood slaves, wasting away, serve him a drink at a time and then re-up to do it again, as he rotates between them.”
    “ What a sick, selfish existence, dragging around a live smorgasbord. What’s this leech-on-society’s name?”
    “ Vlad Tepes.”
    Now I think I went pale. “Wait, wait , wait . Are you saying that Vlad the Impaler is one of Rudolph’s murderers, and is our mark tonight?”
    “ Yes, Rand. The one-and-only Dracula.”
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
     
                  I had another adrenaline surge that made me see stars before my eyes.
    “ This is extremely dangerous, Gabby, and I’m gonna call you Gabby, so get used to it. Vlad is one of the oldest, most powerful