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

the microwave and popped a handful through their foil wraps.
    Jarek exploded with impatience.
    "What are you doing here, Em?" he
said. "What is all this... this...? Do you like this human stuff? What are
you doing hanging around people? Why are you doing this?"
    A dart of his dark energy shot out of his
mind and flew at hers. It was a surprise attack, designed to cut through her
defences and open up her thoughts to him. But Em knew Jarek of old. She
shrugged off his thrust as simply as if she was brushing away a leaf that had
fallen on her shoulder. She'd always been a match for Jarek, no matter what he did.
It was something she didn't even need to think about. While others were
powerless in the face of Jarek's mastery of dark energy, Em was like a mirror.
It infuriated him, and excited him.
    Em snorted. "Is this what you came here
for? This old argument? Jarek, we've been over this a
thousand times. I like it here. I like humans."
    She waited. She knew this wasn't why he was
here. She guessed it would have something to do with Alina. Her father had
probably learned Alina was here and sent Jarek to bring her home. If that was
the case, both her father and Jarek would want to know why Em hadn't told them
his runaway wife was hiding out in her city. They'd want to know if Em was
sheltering Alina.
    To tell the truth, she hadn't known Alina was
in the city. These headaches had masked her usual ability to feel out the dark
energies around her. The pounding in her head had been going on for week or so
now, maybe even three. Had Alina been down at the harborside all that time? What else had Em missed in that time?
    One thing she did know, she certainly wasn't
going to explain that little weakness to the second most powerful vampire in
existence.
    Jarek seemed to relax a little. He'd smiled
when she'd thrown back his attack at him. "Just like old times," he'd
said, and he'd reached over to the fruit bowl to select a plum.
    "It's a nice town you have here,"
he said casually, all the silent challenges of the last few minutes seemingly
forgotten. "Love the view. The locals look friendly." He gave her a
pointed look and arched an eyebrow in the direction Robert's car had taken.
    Em swirled her glass of water and downed her
painkillers. Funny, her head wasn't as bad now.
    "So what do you do here, Emilia?"
    "I have a job," she said bluntly.
    Jarek gave a short bark of laughter. "A
job?" he said incredulously. "You are working for a human? For money?" His lips curled into a sneer. "Oh,
that is too much, even for you. The Lady Emilia, slaving for a mortal in one of
their crowded stinking cities, living alone in an empty apartment, and..."
he laughed as a look of realization crossed his face, "... and screwing
the boss!"
    He crossed the space between them and took
the glass out of her hand. "What would daddy say?"
    "What do you want, Jarek?" Em said
angrily.
    Jarek's face turned expressionless, like a
blind covering a window. Em had seen that look before, thousands of times,
usually when Jarek was at his most vicious. She braced herself for whatever was
coming.
    "Alina is here," he said, plainly,
and then he purred, "and you knew."
    Em ignored the threat in his voice and the
promise of violence in his eyes. She smiled and leaned in to kiss the scar on
his cheek. He stiffened and his head tilted away from her ever so slightly.
Good, thought Em.
    "Of course I knew," she said
injecting what she hoped was just the right amount of scorn into her tone.
"She's opened a club down by the harbor, though you probably know that.
And she's been terribly naughty. She's made herself a whole host of vampires -
her own little entourage."
    "And she's been killing, outside of cull
protocols," said Jarek.
    "Well, yes of course she has," said
Em. "Who doesn't?" She shrugged. "You'd like her little club,
Jarek. Some of her followers are just your style."
    Jarek was still fingering the plum he'd taken
from the fruit bowl. "You know what the lord will do to her,