Don't Kill Dinner (The Rules Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page A

mind, “Remember Kenna, use your Romanian, try not to be your cute sarcastic self and do not look her in the eyes.” I nodded, and he gave me a quick kiss on the lips that sent my stomach into a tizzy. I took a deep breath and opened the door.
    This room was decorated far different than the rest of HQ, as I affectionately named it. This room had white walls and stainless steel sculptures hanging from them. The floor was bamboo plank with a green carpet running down the center stopping at a large white wing back chair. I walked slowly with purpose towards my Sef, yet another person who would tell me what to do. Once I approached the base of her throne, I bent on one knee as was the code for being in the presence of the Sef. “Creste,” she said to me with a voice much kinder than I expected. As I came back to standing Sef Ihrin spoke to me in Romanian, “How old are you young one.” I responded as rehearsed, “I was born into this life 35 days ago.”
    “You are but a young one. Are you ready to swear your oath to this coven and your brethren?”
    “It is both my honor and my duty to protect you and ours.”
    “You will test two weeks from today for your ranking. I trust you will be well prepared?”
    “The better to serve you, my Sef.”
    She waved her hand to dismiss me and turned to Arthur who had been standing behind me the entire time. “She has studied well the code and hierarchy. I know she had a good teacher, are you sure she is ready to test?” She asked. He nodded just slightly and replied, “With my life I can attest to her readiness for the test.” After this she dismissed us and we raced back home.
    Right when we walked in the door I turned to Arthur and asked, “So, How’d I do?” I wanted to badly to do well, to be told I was perfect. It was something I hadn’t heard out of anyone’s mouth since high school. He walked past me stoically and I felt my heart deflate. He moved into the library and I followed behind him like a sad lost puppy hoping for a crumb. He reached for an old red leather bound book that with “Carte Mare Viclean Razboinic” written in gold down the spine. It took me a second to translate the text from Romanian to English, but when I finally did my mouth was dry and my eyes wide. The book was called the Ledger of the Cunning Warriors. It was a list of all the highest ranked vampires in the New Orleans coven since its inception in 1718. He walked back over towards me and interlaced his fingers with mine as we sat on the couch. He opened the book and I could instantly smell the history. The crisp pages smelled of sweet ink and smoke. As the pages turned you were able to smell the history of the city, the floods, the fires and the food. He stopped on a page about two thirds in and I read the page. Five names up from the bottom I found “Arthur J. Harrison 51 days granted V.R. by Sef Ihrin sired by Karlis Arave.” I lightly fingered the page where his name was expertly scribed into the history of our coven. He took my hand and placed it within both of his and looked directly into my soul. After a pause that seemed to last a lifetime, Arthur took a deep breath and said, “What did you notice was different about your meeting with Ihrin?” After replaying my introduction in my head, I cocked my head to the right and replied, “She addressed you. It is supposed to be a conversation between mezin and the Sef, not the sire. Why did she break tradition and speak to you?” Arthur disappeared in the blink of an eye. Moments later he returned with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate and a story.
    We leaned back on opposite arms of the sofa with our Cocoa in hand and legs tangled together as he told me about himself. He was raised the son of a merchant entrepreneur. His father brought the family over in 1885 to find wealth in the America’s. They had lived in peace for eight years before the night that changed Arthur’s life forever. While his father worked at the docks, Arthur’s