Forbidden (The Preternaturals) Read Online Free PDF

and yet it expanded
as he moved through it, growing bigger and more impossible to travel
its circumference with each stride he took.
    Each door he encountered was locked. He banged on a few, yelling for the
old man to let him in. He was like a gladiator left alone in an
amphitheater with an angry lion. But the demon didn’t look angry.
He looked amused. In fact, he no longer chased Hadrian. He just stood
near the podium, his arms crossed over his chest.
    “I could chase you down, but it’s too schizophrenic for me. You’re
smart. You’ll figure this out and get tired of trying to bust down
the gates. The rules won’t be ignored or changed for you. You
aren’t that special.”
    Hadrian paid him no heed and continued to go from door to door
praying someone might have left one unlocked. There were an uncountable
number of doors, growing ever more uncountable by the minute. One had
to be unlocked. It was a statistical certainty.
    “Okay. I changed my mind. I am chasing you down. I’m not spending
three days in here like this with you. It’s like watching a tiny
puppy chase his tail.”
    Hadrian turned in time to see the demon charging toward him. He felt himself
slammed against the door he’d tried to get through. The priest
expected the demon to tear him apart, but he was still standing, and
the demon was gone.
    Guess again.
    It was his own thought in his own mental voice but sounded suspiciously
like something the demon would say. Hadrian looked down at his hands
and could see his human hands, but also the coal black hands with
dark gray claws. Both seemed merged into one being, one laid on top
of the other.
    Father Hadrian feared possession and wondered why the exorcism ritual had no
effect. Then he almost seemed to feel a sarcastic eye-roll inside
himself.
    I’m YOU. Don’t you get it yet? This is the infection. You’ve been
infected, not possessed. This is just how a human mind processes the
change.
    Then, something turned over and clicked, and new information was suddenly
available to him.
    Vampires can’t be in the sunlight. Regular glass needs to be blacked out,
but a dark hole or windowless room is preferable during the day.
Stakes kill. Holy water and crosses are problematic but not fatal.
Garlic: myth. Mirrors: reflection, yes, but you want to avoid them;
it shows the demon, too.
    Vampire fact after vampire fact filled his head, until, exhausted from the
overload, he curled into the fetal position on the floor and closed
his eyes, shutting out the vision of the doors and the yellow light.
    ***
    One more night before Hadrian rises.
    Angeline had been careful to avoid drunks and druggies while feeding. It was
important she keep her wits about her if she was to find a good first
meal for her mate. She felt the warmth still in her cheeks from her
last meal as she wandered the strip.
    She’d considered a few showgirls. With her dark one’s recent religious
repression, a showgirl might please him very much. Then her jealousy
had won out. No, she couldn’t be that generous. Besides, she had
her heart set on a witch, but how would she find one?
    It wasn’t as if witches were listed in the yellow pages. The closest
thing to a witch that one could easily find in Las Vegas was a
fortune teller. Many of them were fakes, but some truly had the gift
and other gifts as well. It was the kind of power she wanted to give
Hadrian to make sure he started out strong. She wanted him under her
power, of course, but she hadn’t created a minion or a servant.
She’d made someone to love.
    Angeline looked up. Madame Tam’s Fortunes flashed in neon pink,
giving off a humming noise like the light was about to go. She pushed
a blue-beaded curtain aside and moved into the comfort of the shop.
    A raven gave her a dirty, beady-eyed look, growing upset inside his
cage. A familiar perhaps? Surely a therian wouldn’t allow himself
to be kept in a cage, unless it was for show and he could come and go
as he pleased.
    As if on cue,