Embracing the Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page A

hell.
    I woke up the next day to a boom of thunder.
Rain was pouring down, and weather reports said it wouldn't let up
for a while. I checked the Planner and saw that, because water in
the tunnels would be high and fast, my chore schedule had
changed.
    First on the list was a daytime task to wait
for a delivery at a warehouse and take the supplies back to my
place for the time being. After that, I had to go make any
necessary repairs to the pipes in a long steam tunnel under UMKC's
college campus. The flag note pinpointed an obscure access grate
for me to use to get down there, and suggested a few types of metal
patching material.
    Six hours later I was spraying a crack with
specialized sealant, wondering what was in the small crates that
I'd picked up earlier. I was so caught up in my own thoughts that
when a woman's voice said, "Well, hello again" just a few feet away
from me, I jumped about a foot off the ground.
    "Aw, did I scare you?" she said with a
chuckle as I turned to see who had somehow snuck up on me. Shit, it
was the derelict, Audra. The tunnel was lit, so I could see her
much better this time. She was wearing all black - sneakers, sweats
and a hoodie. Her glossy black hair was pulled into a tail, hanging
over the backpack slung on her shoulder. She had a mischievous
glint in her green eyes, and lips curled into the grin that I
remembered. And that body . . . Dammit, she looked better than the
first time I saw her.
    "What - what are you doing down here?" I
stammered.
    Audra put a hand on her hip and answered with
a rhetorical question. "Did you think your boss is the only one who
knows all the ways to get into the admin building?"
    Why in hell would a hemo care about student
records? "No, I mean . . . I just didn't expect -"
    She reached out with a fingertip and softly
grazed it along the scar on my cheek. "Hmm, nice; did you get this
as a normal human, or was it caused by Deviant blood?"
    "What? No, uh, I was wounded in combat, in
Afghanistan. My unit was on a mission. We tripped an IED. Uh,
that's a kind of bomb." Holy crap, I was talking like a dork.
    Audra's grin widened. "Calm down, handsome.
No need to be nervous with me. Your boss is a good customer; I
won't do anything to ruin that." She moved closer and said with a
sultry voice, "Too bad you already belong to Stone. We could've had
some fun."
    "Uh, fun?" Getting freaky with a hemo? I
hadn't really thought about it. Okay, that girl Macie with the big
tits crossed my mind a few times, but that was before I found out
what she really was. I was getting warm and sweaty; I blamed it on
the steam tunnel.
    She gave the slightest of shrugs and ran her
hand down my arm. "I don't normally play with my food, but yeah -
fun." I guess Audra saw the confusion in my eyes. "You haven't been
told about vampire sex yet, have you?"
    I gave a shrug of my own. "To be honest,
ma'am, no, but I figure it involves blood. Uh, no thanks."
    I had no idea what Audra's response was,
because I suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to reach some
destination. I wasn't sure where, but the intense need to
immediately go blotted out any other thought. Audra forgotten, I
turned and ran back to the ladder at the near end of the tunnel. I
didn't just lift the heavy access grate, I tossed it. Luckily, no
one was between me and the van or else I would've run right over
them. I burned rubber off the tires peeling out and gunning it
every chance I got.
    Once I got onto an inner-city highway, I flew
north toward downtown. It slowly became clear to me where I was
headed: the Realm Management building. Specifically, I was being
pulled toward Emmeline Le Meur. There was no way in hell I wanted
to go there or be anywhere close to her again, but I couldn't stop
myself. I was on a collision course with trouble. Ah, deep shit, we
meet again.

    BECKONING
    If the downtown streets weren't so empty at
that time of night, I would've killed someone . . . and without
much dignity. Death by panel van and a