Cause of Death: Unnatural (The Cause of Death Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

He started down the steps. "Take some
drugs," he said.
    "What?"
    "For
your headache."
    And he was gone.

 
 
 
 
 
    She knew he was there the second she turned the key in
the lock.
    Her apartment wasn't empty. She knew it, and
he knew she knew it too. She didn't bother turning on the lights. There was an
orange glow coming through the window from the street light outside her
building. She heard Robert's car drive away and a siren in the distance. She
heard a breath, and felt the air move softly, slipping under a piece of paper
on her hall table and wafting it to the floor.
    A shadow slinked from the corner of her
kitchen into the dark space at the end of the hall.
    The human in Em sensed his hunger and his
violence and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. The vampire in Em
sensed his hunger too, and sneered at his weakness.
    Em let out a long slow breath and pushed it
against the roof of her mouth so it felt like a growl. The shadow in the hall
coalesced into a black cat shape and hissed at her.
    Em rolled her eyes and smothered a laugh.
Always up for sparring, that one, even when he was on her father's business.
Whatever that was this time.
    "Okay, enough's enough," sighed Em. "Come on out."
    The cat crouched down low, then pounced directly at Em. In midair the cat seemed to fall apart into black smoke
and swirl for a moment. The mass of smoke grew larger and solidified into the
shape of a man standing taller than Em and so close to her there was barely an
eyelash between them.
    He had black hair, dark eyes, a pale face and
a long black coat that swept the floor. There was just the right amount of
muscle in those shoulders to fill out the coat. Underneath there was a black
silk shirt unbuttoned at the collar. On his face there was a scar that ran down
his cheek to his jaw, but aside from that his complexion was smooth. Beautiful. A little clichéd perhaps, thought Em, but
stylish. He always chose this form, at first anyway. He knew she liked it.
    He stared at her, his eyes inches from hers.
    Em blew a piece of hair out of her face and
directly into his eyes. He stepped back with a satisfying fit of blinking.
    Em allowed herself a smile and turned back to
locking the door behind her.
    Jarek was here. Her father was lord of the
clan, but Jarek was his commander in chief. And Em's one time
lover. Powerful, ruthless, lethal and irresistible.
    Em's smile slid a little as she wondered why
he was here.
    Em walked down the hall to the kitchen but
stopped as Jarek stood to block her way. Again they were nose to nose. Em
froze. She felt Jarek breathe in. She saw the corners of his mouth turn up in a
long, slow smile. He tilted his head to gaze down at her body. The dress she'd
worn to the burlesque club was short, revealing. He raised a hand and with the
backs of his fingers brushed away the collar of her coat revealing more of her
throat. The hand moved again and a finger, cold as ice, trailed its way down
her chest to the neckline of her dress. His smile grew broader.
    Em let go of her hold on her body's matter and
mass. She spun into smoke as quickly has he had, and walked directly through
him. It was like swimming in fog. Jarek's dark energy had none of the human
touches hers had. He was cold to the core.
    She pulled her frame back together on the
other side, and walked into her kitchen. She switched on a light.
    Jarek snarled and spun around.
    "What are you doing here, lover"? she asked.
    Jarek's form flickered a little, as if he was
having trouble holding it in. A few wisps of black smoke curled around his hair
- for a moment his eyes blacked out.
    Em grinned. "Temper," she said.
"What did you expect? Two hundred years of silence and then you break into
my apartment."
    Jarek watched her for a moment, then followed her into the kitchen. He prowled around it
restlessly, poking at the fruit bowl, fingering the knives in their wooden
block, frowning at the toaster. Em pulled some painkillers from the cupboard
over