Last Bitten (The Emerald Night Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

dance.
    “What have you done to me? I can’t feel like this. This is wrong,” whispering to herself and her maker. She stood suddenly and punched through the glass hard, watching it crash to the wet pavement below. The moon watched her as she leapt out into the darkness, feeling the air beneath, cold yet not. She fell fast—the pavement looming.
    Rise now , rise into the night, the voice guided.
    “I can’t, I can’t,” Nia cried .
    You can . Feel the air. Take it into you. Let it push you up. Meet me now. Come to me!
    “I can’t .” Nia ignored the sense to rise, to float, to sail away on black clouds under the diamond sky and see those emerald eyes that she longed for, to see him, her maker. “Johnny.” She hit the pavement.
     
     

 

     
     
    I deserve this pain. Nia lay face down on the wet sidewalk amidst the sharp, broken glass. Steps crackled towards her.
    “Are you satisfied with yourself?” the voice said, strong and stern.
    “Yes , just let me lie here, whoever you are.”
    “No . You’re going to get up before you F this whole thing all up.”
    “I can’t move . I don’t feel so hot,” said Nia, grimacing under the many levels of pain. “I thought we types didn’t experience pain.”
    “ We do, it just doesn’t last as long as human pain. Come on now. Let me give you a hand.”
    “No .”
    “ So be it.” The man lifted her anyway.
    Nia kept her eyes shut , didn’t want to see, didn’t want to know what was going to happen next. All she knew is that the man was big—firm like he could toss a thousand pounds with one arm, picking her up like it was nothing.
    “Little girl, you’re trouble . I told him that. I knew it when I saw you standing there, looking guilty as all hell.”
    She squeaked an eye open . “Mr. Clean.”
    “Don’t call me that . I do clean, especially after the likes of you, but my name is Bruce. No more wisecracks either. I’ll dump you back there again, and you can answer for what you’ve done. They’ll lock you in a jail cell and leave you for the sun—ashes to ashes, my dear.”
    “I’m not your dear . I’m no man’s dear.”
    “Oh you are now . You’re marked prime beef , hun.”
    “No hun ’n me either. I won’t call you after swank housewife products and you leave your pet names for some other dumb broad.”
    “Feisty , you are. He likes feisty—always did. I don’t know why he bothers.”
    “What? This is something he does ? Am I a toy? He’ll turn me into a blood-sucking . . . and then what? . . . he plays with me a while and dumps me off somewhere?”
    “No , not you.”
    Nia cocked her head in curiosity finally opening her eyes all the way , just as Bruce shoved her in the backseat of a silver Hummer, black leather interior.”I don’t get to ride in the front with you?”
    “No .” He got in the driver’s seat and roared up the engine.
    B uckling up—realizing it didn’t matter a hoot—Nia arranged herself so she could stare at Mr. Clean’s shiny head. The intent was to somehow burn a hole through the back of his skull, but she guessed her newfound powers didn’t cover that. Instead, something shiny caught her eye. It was a silver-wrapped parcel right beside the big brut— I mean, Bruce .
    “What’s that?” she asked.
    “It’ s for you,” said Bruce, handing her the small, heavy bundle.
    Cautiously peeling it open, Nia discovered it was a ring box; the case was sterling, old, and slightly tarnished, engraved in some words that were in an unfamiliar language. Her heart skipped a beat as the excitement rose— never received a ring before from anyone . She clicked it open and inside was a large emerald, cut into the shape of a heart and surrounded by petite pave diamonds. The setting was platinum.
    “Ah!” Nia quietly exclaimed . “What’s this? Is this really for me?”
    “Yes . Put it on your ring finger, left hand.”
    “I can’t put it there . I’m not married.”
    “Um . . .” Bruce clicked his