Dreaming Of A Blood Red Christmas (Kindred, Book 8.1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

venom. "But it's complicated." She nods for me to go on.
    "Petra is my blood-kin, Amicus her Sire." Lucinda looks suitably shocked. I've never mentioned this vampyre before. Remiss of me. Stupid of me. Pride before the fall, she'd say.
    "OK," she voices slowly, dragging out the word. "What's the catch?"
    Having a connection to Amicus is more than enough of a catch and she knows it, but Lucinda is intelligent, a master of political games at such a tender age.
    I am so proud of her.
    "Often blood-siblings are sworn to pacts that retain the bloodline should the Sire meet the final death," I say, the words hollow, coming from somewhere inside me I never thought I'd have to go. "Blood is what keeps us strong. What protects us. Our blood-family is often all that stands between us and annihilation. In times past it was considered a prudent political move to maintain those blood connections. Most vampyre today do not adhere to it, but Amicus was Old World Vampyre. He insisted we have a pact."
    She stares at me, the cogs of her intellect spinning inside her mind. I can see the calculation behind her expressive eyes.
    "So, within days of turning you against your will he made you sign a deal with his daughter," she surmises, rather accurately. I nod. "Tell me," she adds, and I know the tone. It's Lucinda winding up, gathering her armour, preparing for attack. I just don't know if she plans to attack me or Petra. "Was it a non-breakable pact? An accord?"
    I am both relived she has come to the correct conclusion and ashamed I have not told her of this part of my past before. It affects us both. It affects Auckland. Merde , it affects the Iunctio now that I am the Champion.
    "An accord," I hear myself say.
    She doesn't make a sound. She doesn't sway on her feet, or pale. She palms her stake, from God knows where she managed to claim it, and settles hard eyes on my face.
    "She can't have you," she declares and I realise it's my Light that bathes the room. The part of me that is so inextricably entwined with Lucinda, through the rejoining the Ambrosia performed. The magenta of my vampyre-within and the white of my Light, makes an intriguing display of mauve spread throughout the room.
    "I think I'll go introduce myself," Lucinda adds and I'm instantly blocking her path to the door. "Oh no you don't, vampire," she grinds out, between gritted teeth. "Stand aside."
    I can't help it. I love her when she is like this. I offer a smirk, a chuckle accompanies it, and for the first time since Petra walked back in my life I feel... not exactly happy, but calmly and readily prepared to face whatever the bitch has brought.
    My hand slips into my kindred's and we both walk out the office door.

Chapter 3
Blood-Kin Pacts
    Fear is getting the better of me. We'd discussed my tendency to be overprotective when we found out Lucinda was pregnant. My vampyre-within equally capable of caging our kindred as I. But with a concerted effort I can often counteract his desires. Overrule them with logic.
    Logic tells us Lucinda will not be contained. Logic tells us that life with a kindred Nosferatin kept locked behind safe doors would be hell. So, it has been with logic that I have battled my vampyre-within, allowing Lucinda to have a normal amount of freedom for a pregnant woman in today's society.
    It has been hard. But I am comforted by her ability to fight back. This morning, however, watching her despondent mood almost overwhelm her and witnessing the difficulties her larger shape has created in mobility, I am finding logic a poor argument.
    Yet, here we are walking through the halls of the Iunctio's quarters in The Plaza, heading towards a vampyre I consider an enemy with my heavily pregnant kindred at my side.
    My heart beats a frantic rhythm vampyres are aware of as I pass. Some of the vampyres are not mine. I need to get a handle on this and the only way I can adequately manage that is to summon Amisi and Gregor to us. As the Champion I can do so with relative