Crimson Debt: Book 1 in the Born to Darkness series Read Online Free PDF Page A

too
late.”
    “Uh, thanks.” I accepted the card and, with
his morbid goodbye ringing in my ears, I hauled Taylor out to the
car and drove us both home.
    I wished later I would have listened to his
warning. But he was right—by the time I was wishing that, it was
too late.
    I spent the night worried about my best
friend but she went to sleep naturally enough and the next day she
seemed fine. A little subdued, maybe, but nothing really out of the
ordinary. I had a job as an adjunct to one of the biology
professors—it wasn’t my field but all I really had to do was set up
and take down the labs—so I had to leave her alone for a night
class.
    “Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked her for
the hundredth time as I was walking out the door.
    Taylor made a face. “I swear to God, Addison,
if you ask me that one more time…”
    “Sorry, sorry. You just had me really freaked
out last night. It was like you were some kind of a robot or
something.”
    “Well, I’m fine now. So go on and go. You’re
going to be late and you know how much Dr. Pincer loves that.”
    “Well…” I had my hand on the knob and Taylor
made a shooing motion at me.
    “ Go. I’m fine and I’ll see you
tonight. We’ll order that pizza we wanted last night and drink a
gallon of Margaritas if you want.”
    “Extra salt on the rim.” I pointed a finger
at her.
    She laughed. “Like I would forget? You’re
talking to the queen of saltoholics here.”
    Hearing her sound so much like her old self
put me at ease. I gave her a grin and stepped out the door, intent
on getting to the class in time to set up that night’s lab. I told
myself that she was fine and that the effects of the vampire’s
glamour had worn off.
    How could I know that would be the last time
I saw my best friend alive?
    When I came back from my class, Taylor was
gone. Just gone. Her car was still in the parking lot and her
clothes were in the closet. Her cell phone was lying on her bed—she
hadn’t even taken her keys.
    I was frantic. It was clear to me that
someone or something had come into the apartment and taken her away
because there was no way she would leave without those things.
Unfortunately there were no signs of forced entry or a struggle and
Taylor was over twenty-one so the police refused to let me file a
missing person’s case until twenty-four hours went by.
Incidentally, that’s almost exactly how long it takes to turn
someone into a vampire but I didn’t find that out until later.
    Of course my thoughts immediately went to
Celeste and I was sure she had something to do with my friend’s
disappearance. But when I went to the Embassy Suites where the
Vampire Bedazzlement had been held, I found nothing. The show had
moved on and one of the hotel employees told me it was only held
there every other week anyway.
    I was frantic and so were Taylor’s mom and
dad. We scoured the city for days, putting up posters while I
continued to try and track down Celeste. I visited glam-sex clubs,
vamp topless bars and even a vampire-friendly nudist colony, which
is something I would so like to be able to forget, but no
one would give me more than hints. Then, finally, exactly a month
after she’d disappeared, I got a call.
    “I understand you’re trying to find me,
little human.” The sultry feminine voice on the other end of the
phone couldn’t be mistaken. It was Celeste.
    I took a deep breath. “I am, yes. My friend
Taylor was one of your vic…er, volunteers at a show you did about a
month ago. And the day after your show, she disappeared—do you know
anything about where she might be?”
    I expected her to deny it but Celeste
obviously didn’t believe in lying—or else I was so far beneath her
notice she didn’t fear any retribution from me. “The beautiful one
with long dark hair? Oh yes, I know where she went,” she said at
once.
    I felt my breath catch in my throat. “You’ve
seen her? Where is she?”
    “She’s here, with me.” Celeste let out