Love Bites Read Online Free PDF Page B

A hell-breathing bloodsucker. I have to dispatch him.”
    Rachel grabbed the gurney to keep from stumbling, her eyes wide as the man unstrapped his ax and hefted it over his shoulder with both hands. She couldn’t believe it. The fool really intended on cutting the head off her corpse. If he was a corpse, she reminded herself. She had heard a heartbeat. Her gazeshot to the man on the table to see that even more of the charring had flaked onto the table. Rachel could make out his features more clearly and he appeared familiar to her.
    Without stopping to consider the action, Rachel threw herself between them and shouted “No!” even as the crazy man brought the ax down. She realized her mistake at once. It really would have been smarter to have pushed the man off balance or something. His swing barely slowed, and Rachel’s breath left her in a stunned “Unh” as the ax struck. It happened so fast, she hardly felt any pain.
    Her attacker cried out in shocked horror and pulled his ax free, but it was too late. Rachel knew as she sagged back against the table, it had been a killing blow. She would bleed to death very quickly.
    â€œI’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” The man shook his head in horror, then stumbled forward.
    Despite herself, Rachel instinctively flinched away from his reaching hands. Regret and sadness covered his face.
    â€œLet me help you. I want to help you. I really never meant to hurt you. Why didn’t you stay out of the way? It’s him I…”
    The man’s voice died abruptly as a familiar squeak reached Rachel’s ears. She recognized the sound of the door to the hall opening, and guessed by the gasp that sounded—not to mention her attacker’s expression—that she was right. The squeak sounded againand was followed by the tap of rushing footsteps in the hall.
    â€œI am sorry,” her attacker said as he turned a tortured expression back to her. “I really am. I never meant to hurt you. Help is on the way, but I have to go. Hang in there,” he ordered as he stumbled away. “Whatever you do, don’t die. I couldn’t live with that.”
    Rachel stared after him, wanting to cry out, but she didn’t have the strength. A moan from behind made her instinctively try to turn. She managed, but that was where her strength gave out. She found herself slumping over the explosion victim’s face.
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    Blood, sweet and warm. Etienne sighed as he swallowed. It eased the agony cramping his body. He needed the nourishing fluid trickling into his mouth, and even his guilt at this woman taking the blow meant for him didn’t stop his enjoyment of it. He needed her blood desperately and was grateful.
    â€œEtienne!”
    He recognized his mother’s voice but couldn’t seem to see where it was coming from. Then the warm body lying across him was suddenly lifted away, and he opened his eyes in protest to see his mother bending over him.
    â€œAre you all right, son?” Worry crowded her face as she felt his cheek. “Give me one of those bags of blood, Bastien,” she ordered. She turned back to Etienne. “Bastien insisted on stopping at the office onthe way to pick some up. Thank God he did.” She punctured the bag with one long fingernail, then held it over his open mouth. She did this with three bags before he felt strong enough to sit up.
    Grimacing at the sight of his charred flesh peeling away and shedding all around him, Etienne swung his legs off the table and sat up of his own volition. He hadn’t lost any blood in the explosion, but his body had used a lot to repair his flesh. A couple more bags and he would be fine. He accepted the next bag his mother handed him and chugged it. As she opened the last for him, Etienne spotted the woman Bastien knelt beside.
    â€œIs she going to be all right?”
    His older brother frowned and shook his head. “She’s