In the Face of Darkness (Lily Culpepper Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

forward to driving all night and having so much time to think about what would happen tomorrow night.  I had only met Castor one other time.
    It was right after I had become a vampire.  Castor had wanted to meet the new addition.  Castor had wanted me to make my first kill then, but Endora had told him it was better to wait.  I was glad for her interference then, but now I wished I had made a kill back then.
    There was something about Castor that unnerved me.  I had never asked Endora who he was before he was a vampire; I didn’t know if Endora even knew.  It was in his eyes and the way he looked at me.  The first time I met Castor I expected him to give me little more than a passing glance.  Vampire elders normally didn’t notice younger vampires, but Castor more than noticed me.  It was hard to explain the way he looked at me; it was as if he was looking at someone else.
    I drove for several hours until the GPS told me I was at the address Tino had given me.  I looked at the GPS one more time before I could believe it.  I sighed as I looked up at the sign that said ‘Baby Dolls’ with the silhouette of naked women painted on it.
    I sighed again as I walked thru the double doors.  The tackiness was oppressive and the music was too loud.  I could barely see because the lighting was low with a yellow tint.  The rest of the room, including the walls, was covered in red velvet.  And then there were the girls.  I realized that even though my sensibilities had changed over the last few years there were still things that shocked me.  I had never seen so many nearly naked girls before.  I wondered how they could be so free with their bodies.  I didn’t think I could ever walk around a room full of men in nothing but a thong.  Then there were the men; I didn’t want to think about the men at all.  All I wanted to do was find the person in charge, get the girls, and go home.
    “You must be Lily; you’re even prettier than Tino said you were, but then Tino didn’t say you were pretty” the voice came from a portly man dressed in all black.  I knew the moment I saw him that he was the man in charge.  I also knew that he was a vampire, but looking about at the humans around him no one else did.  He gave me a conspiratorial look that silently told me not to tell his secret; not that anyone here would believe me if I told them that their boss was a vampire.
    “I’ve got a long drive back” I said.
    “Of course” the vampire said.  “You have the payment I was promised?” he asked.  I handed him the white envelop Tino had given me, and he put it in the inside pocket of his jacket.  Then he led me into the back room.
    “This is Jane” he said as he pointed.  She looked like she was in her early twenties.  She had pale blonde hair that was curled to perfection.  Her hooded, deep blue eyes were framed with dark lashes.  She was wearing a pair of black, skinny jeans, and a low cut black lace top with a thin red ribbon tied around her waist.  Then he showed me Candy, Brigit, and Vanessa; all were blondes and all of them were pretty.  Castor would love them.  I loaded the four girls into the BMW.  All of the girls except for Jane fell asleep soon after I started driving back to Laurel.
    “So what kind of party is this?” Jane asked.
    “It’s just a normal party” I hoped I didn’t sound nervous.  I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to tell her.  “So how long have you been a…?” I attempted to change the subject.  I wished Jane would have gone to sleep like the rest of the girls.
    “An entertainer?” she finished my question.  “Not long.  The money is good, but the hours suck” she said.
    Jane continued to talk the rest of the way to the house.  I tried to tune her out by turning on the radio, but that just made her talk louder.  When we finally arrived back at the house, I couldn’t wait to get out of the car.
    “She’s pretty” Tino said to me as I walk into the