Kissed by Moonlight Read Online Free PDF

end ring. And ring. Finally she picked up.
    "You better be dead. Do you know what time it is?" Her voice was scratchy with sleep.
    "Not quite dead, but close. I've got a scene that needs cleaning."
    "This couldn't wait until a decent hour?"
    "By the time a decent hour rolls around, this place will be crawling with tourists," I said. "Can you imagine how we'd spin a giant blood pool and a lost machete?"
    A long-suffering sigh. "Where are you? You sound like you're at the bottom of a well."
    "Uh, yeah. I kind of am."
    There was a pause on the other end. "Why me?"
    ***
    "You smell like a dumpster."
    "Gee, thanks. Good to see you, too." I scowled at Kabita, who was using a hand vac to suck up vampire dust.
    "I'm serious. When was the last time you showered?"
    I thought it over. "I honestly can't remember." I know, gross. But it wasn't like personal hygiene had been on my list of priorities.
    Kabita turned off the vacuum and twisted her hair up in a bun. Then she pulled out a spray bottle and started spraying liquid over the bloodstains. The reek of bleach stung my nostrils. "You can't wallow and take a shower at the same time?"
    "I am not wallowing."
    Kabita paused her spraying and gave me The Look.
    "Okay, maybe a little."
    She sniffed delicately. "By the smell of it, a lot. You drown out the bleach."
    That really was bad.
    "And when was the last time you ate?"
    I had to think about that, too. "Um, last night?"
    "I mean something besides pints of chocolate and peanut butter gelato."
    Damn. She knew me too well.
    "That's what I thought." She nodded toward the ladder propped against the side of the reservoir. "Now you go home, get cleaned up, and eat some real food. I expect to see you in the office this afternoon."
    I turned to go. I had no intention of going anywhere near the office. I gave a slight sniff. I might take a shower, though. Kabita was right. I smelled like a dumpster.
    "And Morgan."
    "Yeah?" I glanced back to see The Look had returned.
    "If you don't get your shit together, I'm calling your mother."

Chapter 6
    One month later.
    I'd been to Nevada once before. Las Vegas, to be precise. The usual: gambling, drinking, dancing, male strippers, and way too little sleep. That had been back when I'd had a normal life, with a normal job and normal friends who had normal bachelorette parties.
    This particular trip was anything but normal. But then, so was my life these days. I slid a sideways glance at Trevor Daly in the driver's seat of the government-issue SUV, his eyes shaded by mirrored sunglasses. Part of me wondered if this little adventure wasn't something Kabita and my half-brother had cooked up just to get me out of Portland for a while.
    "Are you sure you're ready to do this? You don't have to, you know. I can handle it," he assured me for about the hundredth time.
    "I know. I'm ready." More or less.
    I turned my gaze back to the scenery, such as it was. The Nevada desert was just about as exciting as the one in Central Oregon. The dirt was red, the bushes half dead, and everything was dry as a bone. It was a lot warmer, though. Surprisingly so, for early March.
    I knew he wasn't talking about the trip itself. It wasn't the trip that bothered me. It wasn't even the reason for the trip that bothered me. It was the fact that the body of the man I loved lay wrapped in a cocoon somewhere in a cave in Scotland, guarded by the Dragon King's men. Dead, but not dead. Just... mostly dead.
    I knew dwelling on the situation would only send me on yet another downward spiral. I'd already spent enough time on that not-so-happy train. Even after a month of focusing on my job and pretending everything was hunky-dory, I was still perilously close to going over the edge. So I changed the subject.
    There was something that had been bothering me ever since I'd dusted that soul vamp a few months ago, back before everything went to hell in a proverbial handbasket. I decided now was as good a time as any to bring it up.
    "Trevor, have