Coffin Girls (Elegantly Undead: Book 1 of the Coffin Girls Witch Vampire Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

that kind of love when she’d been human! Instead
life had kicked her in the ass, laughing while she floundered in its thick,
sticking mud. Finding her sisters, or rather turning them, had given her a
sense of purpose – of family. Anais’ maudlin thoughts were abruptly shut down.
Anger, cynicism, despair hit her suddenly and hard. Sucking her in, like the
sudden burn of stepping into a too hot bath.
    “ Mon Dieu , what the hell is going on with me?” Anais
thought in self-admonishment. What the hell kind of thinking is that at a
wedding of all places.
    Feeling strangely panicked and a little out of depth as her
emotional control began slipping, she hastily moved towards the house driven by
the need to pull together. With each step, she felt the panic increase, she
moved faster, careful not to move at inhuman speed. She went up the double
stairs that led from the lawn pass the ground floor gallery, through the
gigantic white wooden doors and into the house.
    The house was better, although the word, house, was used
loosely as mansion was a more apt description. It was empty, quieter and
calmer; the kind of serenity that came from large, well-tended spaces. If she
was going to lose control, she’d be better off doing so without an audience.
The party did not contract to use the ballroom, dining room or parlors that
they also offered as part of their venue options, preferring the exotic of the
summer outdoors on a historic plantation. So, except for the guests that would
be wandering in to use the bathroom, she was safe from inquisitive eyes.
    Anais push away the panic and sought asylum in the nearest
guest bathroom just off the hallway. Through the thick fog of that horrible
feeling, cynicism slipped in and she wryly noted that no woman, vampire or
human, seemed immune from the refuge offered by the tiled haven, especially a
toilet cubicle, which she confirmed by locking herself in one. The four sides
of the cubicle helped give her the illusion of containment and at that brief
respite she unexpectedly felt tears well in her eyes. Short-lived relief gave
way to self-frustration as she yanked at the three ply to dab at her eyes. A
stray pink-stained tear escaped and she wiped it away in further irritation,
wondering about the effect her emotional bout has had on her meticulous,
under-stated make up. She had to, after all, go back out there. She had a role
to fulfil and she needed to look the part. She couldn’t just stay locked away
in the cubicle forever.
    She really wanted to stay here forever though. Her
characteristic steel spine had all but melted in a messy bathroom puddle. She
now understood what was meant by wanting to crawl into a dark hole and remain
there. Contrary to many myths, vampires did not sleep in the earth. The idea of
sleeping in damp, worm-ridden earth had always grossed her out before. There
was no way her clothes would survive being subjected to nibbles from the
earth’s creatures. Her flesh may be even more alluring to the soil’s vermin.
Anais suppressed a shudder yet strangely, it was unusually appealing now. But
the solitary blanket offered by a dark, earthy hole or a toilet cubicle weren’t
options. If she stayed here, she knew the feeling would sweep her away. She
could already feel it wanting to claw its way out of her, ripping at her skin
from the inside. The feeling was awful and foreign. Not quite darkness. Not
quite sadness. It was panic and despair. A sense of desolation; of being
completely and utterly emotionally burdened. Lost. Alone. Wanting to give in
and embrace the tugging isolation and yet, fighting it because it felt so
horrible the more you fell as it sucked at you, pulling you in. No, being alone
was the easy way out and Anais did not lack courage. 
    “Where did this come from?” she wondered out loud as she
walked out of the cubicle towards the antique marble basin. Normally, she
relished in the beauty of every part of the maison, bathrooms included. The
basin was