Ember Learns (The Seeker) Read Online Free PDF Page A

visiting relatives when the king and his soldiers stormed his home. I don’t know all the details of everything that happened that day, but upon Edward’s order, Roselle and her child were to be killed and strung up in front of the castle as a warning to any of my kind who dared to procreate with humans again.”
    “Oh my God. He had his own daughter killed?”
    “Yes.”
    “And the baby?”
    “One of the kitchen staff managed to hide the child in a secret room beneath the cellar where Marco usually slept.”
    “What happened to your grandfather?”
    “He lost his mind and went into a fit of rage, slaughtering half the king’s court. He disappeared shortly after that, and wasn’t seen again for nearly a hundred years.”
    “Wait…what? So the stories are true. You’re immortal?”
    Angel chuckled. “Hardly. But we do have a very long life span.”
    She stood and approached him. “How old are you?”
    “Let’s just say I’ve written a few letters with a feather in my time.”
    A laugh burst from her. It wrapped around him like a warm blanket. One word came to mind. Home.
    “So, the child lived?”
    “Her name is Rosie. She’s my mother.”
    He watched the play of emotions on her face. She had expressive eyes that he could get lost in.
    “And your father?”
    “His name is Andrei. He and my mother travel a lot since Helen’s death.” The sting to his gut arrived right on cue. He wondered if he’d ever be able to speak her name without pain.
    Ember closed the distance and wrapped her arms around his waist. She touched her lips to a spot right above his heart, then turned her head and laid her face against his chest. “I’m sorry.”
    He hugged her back. “I wasn’t there to prevent her death, but I will protect you.” And he would, no matter what he had to do. He’d taken her blood. She belonged to him now.
    “Tell me about the Seeker.”
    “The first one came into existence after Marco took his revenge on the ones responsible for his wife’s murder. The Seeker single-handedly took out a dozen or so of our women and a few of the men.” Anger rose up, threatening to choke him.
    “Why did he go after the women?” He could hear the horror her voice.
    “Because it was easier that way. If he killed a female, it would most certainly bring down her mate.”
    “Do you mean bring him out in the open?”
    “Once one of my kind mates with another, it’s for life—a bond that can’t be broken, not even by death. So if she dies, he usually follows not long after, unless there are children involved. But once the kids are old enough to defend themselves, the last living parent will go underground to sleep for hundreds of years. Most never emerge.”
    “How is the Seeker able to kill Vampires? I mean, I’ve seen how fast you are…”
    “For years, mates didn’t sleep together if they had children. It made them less vulnerable to rest in two different places, and they changed locations often. If something happened to one, the other would have to survive to take care of the offspring.”
    “They are killed in their sleep?”
    Angel rested his chin on top of her head and nodded. “The Seekers have turned into some kind of secret organization over the years. We have no idea how many members there are or who heads it up. Some of the ones we have caught actually folded and gave up a name, but then that person would be dead by the time we got to him.”
    “How did he know to come after me? And why not just kill me instead of strangling those women?”
    “Because your blood is too diluted to bother killing you. His plan all along was to draw me here by using you as bait.”
    Ember leaned back and gaped at him. “He wants to kill you?”

Chapter Six
    Ember’s mind whirled with information overload. She’d just been told the nightmare she’d lived for the past year had been a series of events meticulously planned by the Seeker in order to kill a Vampire. Before tonight, she never would have