Dark Passion Rising Read Online Free PDF Page A

sense, but what I meant was what Breed are you?”
    “I am a vampire.”
    “Vampire, really? ”  Sarcasm dripped from her words.
     “I am not what your popular urban legend professes me to be, but
the one grain of truth is that I do drink blood for my survival.”
    “So you’re on a liquid diet and I’m the main course?”
    He chuckled at that.  “The truth has been twisted beyond recognition. 
My heart does beat, ceasing only when I’m deeply asleep.  I can eat if it pleases
me to do so.  Sunlight won’t turn me to ashes, but it does weaken me to the
point of losing consciousness, so I try to avoid it.  I sleep in a bed with
sheets.  No soil.  No coffin.  Holy water just makes me wet, and I can visit
any church I wish, consecrated ground holds no danger to my kind.  We are long
lived and don’t die easily.”  
     “Okay, good to know.”  Tambra glanced warily up at him and
slowly moved toward the bed, her knuckles white from the strain of gripping the
comforter in front of her like a shield.
    “So you can you turn into… things?”  She didn’t even try to hide
her revulsion.
      “No, but I can blend into shadows.”
      She frowned in confusion. “Blend into shadows?”
     “I can mimic the shadows of my surroundings, making my form
insubstantial.”
    He smirked, watching with fascination as she worked out each fact
he revealed to her.  It was amazing to him how quickly she was adapting to his
world, even if she had not been aware of it.
    “And you’re saying that I can’t leave because I might kill
people?”
     “I’m an Enforcer of all species, including human kind.  It is my
duty to not risk anyone.  It is also of the utmost importance that we remain
hidden from humanity for our own protection.  And could you really live with
yourself if you harmed an innocent?”
     “Of course not!”  Tambra snapped.  “But I have to contact my
boss.  I have to find out what happened to my partner.”  A calculating gleam
sparkled within her eyes.  “I can’t just disappear, that would draw too much
attention.  You wouldn’t want that would you?”
     “Valid reasons, I agree, yet not valid enough to run the risk of
spilling innocent blood.  I’m sorry.  You will stay here.  It is the safest
alternative.  I will take care of your boss to your satisfaction.”
    He turned to leave, smiling as she sputtered in frustrated
anger.  He never heard her move as she slammed the bedside lamp over his head
and everything went dark.
     
     

 
    Chapter Four
     
    Tambra hurriedly stripped Marcus out of his black shirt, admiring
the silky material as she covered her nakedness with it.  She fought the twinge
of guilt as she eyed Marcus’s prone body.  She’d had no choice, she reasoned,
the man was obviously delusional, her best course of action was to get as far
away as quickly as possible.  If she hadn’t acted, he would have kept her here
as a prisoner.
    The man was gorgeous, his face chiseled perfection, thick
blue-black hair falling past his shoulders.  His eyes reminded her of dark
chocolate, and were framed by ridiculously long black lashes.  She watched the
even rise and fall of his bare chest, his skin stretched taut over the defined
muscles of his chest and hard ridges of his abs.  His olive skin was marked by
white scars that crossed over every inch of his bare torso.  A trail of thin,
black hair started at his navel and disappeared beneath the waistband of his
jeans.
    With deft fingers she undid his jeans, tugging them half way down
his narrow hips before she discovered the man was wearing nothing beneath
them.  Even unaroused, his package was quite impressive.  Forcing her mind back
to the task at hand, she finished pulling the pants off his long legs and
stepped into them.  She was swimming in them, but the alternative of wandering
the streets in only a shirt and panties was not an option. 
    She took one last look at Marcus lying unconscious on the