Drip Drop Teardrop, a Novella Read Online Free PDF

?”
    Nodding, Brennus leaned
forward again, his eyes dark with sympathy. “I took the parents
easily. But the little girl…” He shook his head, his face alight
with wonder. “…she fought me. No one had ever fought me before. You
fought me, Avery. You fought me and won.”
    “ No.” She
quivered, pressing her spine against the wall, wishing she could
melt into it. Tears spilled over her lids but she couldn’t escape
the truth. No wonder he was so familiar.
    “ We made a
connection that day that can’t be broken. I knew I had to watch
over you. So I called up Edward who controlled New York and we
traded.”
    Her jaw dropped. “You
make it sound like you traded baseball cards.”
    Brennus shrugged. “After
eighteen hundred years as an Ankou you tend to be less sensitive
about death.”
    Avery ignored the
comment, staring at her bare feet in a daze. She’d painted her toe
nails black today. That wasn’t an omen, was it? “So you followed
me?”
    “ Yes,” he
whispered, his voice packed full of emotion she wished wasn’t
there.
    “ And now
what?”
    “ You belong
with me, Avery. I feel it in my gut.”
    Her head snapped up, her
stomach fluttering with butterflies. “When you say belong… you
mean…?”
    Throwing her a wicked
smile that would thaw the iciest of hearts, Brennus replied, “As in
belong with, as in my friend and eternal lover.”
    She dropped her head in
her hands, shaking uncontrollably. “This can’t be happening, this
isn’t happening, I’m going mad-”
    “ Avery,
stop,” he snapped and she felt the breeze of blurry movement as he
knelt before her, only inches from her now. He moved supernaturally
fast. His warm hand reached up and yanked her hands away from her
face so she’d have no choice but to look at him. All she could see
were his eyes; the paleness of his face and horror of his scar just
a blur compared to the sharp clarity of those eyes.
    “ You’re
warm,” she said dumbly.
    Brennus grunted, “You
expected different?”
    “ Cold. I
expected you to be cold.”
    He snorted. “I’m not a
vampire, Avery.”
    Her eyes widened. “Do
they exist?!”
    His eyes closed and he
shook with suppressed laughter. Finally his lashes fluttered and he
opened his lids, pinning her to the wall with his black gaze. “No.
They don’t.”
    Trying to pull her wrists
out of his grasp, Avery muttered, “So you really think I belong
with you, huh?”
    “ Didn’t you
feel it when we danced?” he whispered sensually, his hot woodsy
scent enveloping her.
    “ Stop that!”
she snapped, snatching her hands back.
    Brennus frowned in
confusion. “Stop what?”
    “ That.” She
gestured vaguely. “That intoxicating, drugging thing you do with
your heat and smell…” She drifted off at his languid grin. She
huffed, “You’re not doing anything, huh?”
    He shook his head
smugly.
    “ Look, I
don’t know what you’re expecting from me but you’ve got the wrong
girl,” she insisted.
    Brennus went back to
glaring. “I’m not wrong.” He heaved an exasperated sigh. “I know
I’m not much to look at, Avery, but if you gave me a chance…” He
gulped in a breath and shook his head. “I’ve lived a long time,
Avery, and I know that you’re the one. The Ankou are destined to
live forever performing the duties of their obligation to the dead…
unless…”
    “ Unless?” she
whispered.
    “ Unless they
fall in love with a mortal who loves them back. The mortal frees
them from their obligation and joins the Ankou in immortality. They
live forever together, the Ankou no longer tied to the world of the
dead.”
    Slowly realisation dawned
and for some reason she felt a stab of pain in her chest. “You’re
using me!” she hissed, her eyes narrow slits of rage. “You’re using
me to get out of being a reaper!”
    Brennus threw her a
disgusted look. “Of course not! I have to love you and you have to
love me. It has to be real. Or it won’t work.”
    “ Well I’m
sorry to burst