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

Langley house behind Jane, and I knew he meant Jane; she was just his type.
    “Pretty annoying” I said.
    “You sound jealous” Tino said.  I glared at him.
    “I’m not jealous” I said.
    “Wow, this place is beautiful.  It must be amazing to live here” one of the girls said as she looked around the room with apparent wonder.  I tried to see the house though her eyes, but all I could see when I looked at the room was a gilded cage.
    “Yes, it’s like a dream.  Isn’t that right Lily” Tino said, and I forced myself to smile and nod at him.
    Endora choose that moment to walk down the stairs.  I watched as all the eyes in the room turned to look at her.  Endora had an other-worldly quality that made her the center of attention in any room she walked into. 
    “Good, you’re back.  Are these the girls?” Endora asked.
    “Yes, these are the girls” I said as Endora looked over the girls.
    “They’ll do.  Show them to the room in the basement” Endora said.  “I’m going to rest for the remainder of the night, and I suggest you all rest as well.  Castor’s party will be here at midnight tomorrow” Endora turned to climb the stairs to her room and Tino followed her.
    I showed the girls to the set of non-descript rooms in the basement.  The rooms were only used when we had humans in residence.  Endora didn’t like the party snacks to sleep upstairs. 
    “So this Castor guy is the one ya’ll are throwing this party for” Jane said.
    “Yeah, he’s a good friend of Endora, and she wants to make sure he has a good time” I said.
    “And what is Endora to you?” she asked.
    “You ask too many questions” I said.
    “Yeah, I get that a lot” she said.
    “You should get some sleep” I told her.  They didn’t know it, but I locked the basement door behind me.  We couldn’t have the guests escaping.
    I climbed the stairs to my room, and I sighed when I opened the door to the pink room.  It wasn’t much, but at least it was one place in this world that was mine.  Once I was inside my pink room, I stripped off my clothes, like stripping off everything that had happened that night.  I stepped into a steaming hot shower, and I scrubbed my flesh until I felt like I had washed the whole night down the drain.  I stepped out of the shower into a big fluffy towel.  Then I changed into my favorite pajamas and crawled into bed.
    Every time I closed my eyes all I could think about was Matthias.  I didn’t know why he wanted me to come with him or where he wanted to take me, but I wasn’t going to let myself hope that he could give me a better life.
    With Matthias on my mind, I knew I wasn’t going to get any sleep.  The whole house would be closed up for the day so I wouldn't have to worry about the sun.  I walked down the hall to the stairs, deciding to take a walk through the house and let my thoughts wander.  I'm not sure how far I had walked, but I was brought back to reality as I heard a crash in what Tino called the training room.  Tino said that you never knew when a war between the vampire clans was going to break out, but the last vampire war happened in the early 1800’s.  I was inclined to believe that vampires had risen above the need for wars.  Tino said that it meant we were due for war soon.  I think Tino was hoping for a war.
    I stood in the doorway of the training room and saw Tino practicing with a wooden sword.  We used wooden swords because it was the only weapon that could kill a vampire.  I watched Tino for a while.  For someone who was used to killing with a gun, Tino had acclimated to using a sword very well.
    “Couldn’t sleep?” Tino asked when he noticed me standing in the doorway.
    “No” I said.
    “Well, since you are here you might as well train with me” he handed me a wooden sword.  I didn’t like to train, but after the night I’d had I thought that maybe a fight with Tino was just what I needed.  I picked up one of the wooden swords