Love Is in the Air Read Online Free PDF Page A

hand piece and went to run for the stairwell, but a strong hand caught her jacket.
    Sal tried to scream, but his hand grabbed her throat, choking her, picking her up off her feet and slamming her back against the wall.
    He brought his face so near that stubble raked her cheek. “Hold.”
    As much as Sal wanted to squirm from his grasp, she could not. The man lowered her to the ground, and then ever so slightly released the pressure against her trachea. She took in a harsh breath, then coughed.
    His grip cut off her windpipe again. “You draw him!”
    From under his coat, he drew his knife, the same blade she had seen earlier. The thin steel glistened at its impossibly sharp tip. Sal flailed as the light from the blood bank suddenly extinguished, leaving only inky black.
    This was it. She was going to die like Maria.
    Here, alone in the dark.

CHAPTER 9
    Was it lack of oxygen, or was there really a red glow emanating from the blood bank? Had the emergency lighting kicked in? Was there hope?
    Then a low growl rumbled from the room. Deep. Bestial.
    It echoed in her bone marrow. The only time she had ever heard such a terrifying sound had been when her family had gone to see feeding day at the zoo. Except the big cats’ meals had been delayed, and over a dozen angry lions rattled the bars until they shook dust from their moorings.
    Sal hadn’t been back to the zoo since.
    A snarl made every hair on her body stand on end, responding to a prehistoric cue. The same panic filled her chest that had filled a Neanderthal’s heart thirty-five thousand years ago. Adrenaline demanded that she fight, or give flight. Death was on the prowl.
    “Are you afraid?” he whispered as he showed her his knife.
    The red light pulsed steadily, like a heartbeat, and the sound from the beast’s maw filled the narrow hallway.
    Sal squeaked, “Terrified.”
    “May I?” The man reached out.
    The world no longer made sense. Had this man really killed Maria?
    And if he had, why not just kill her as well?
    If he wanted Sal dead, she would be dead, a dozen different ways.
    While she had no idea who this hulking man was, the fear she felt for him paled in comparison to that throaty growl emanating from around the corner. There was an evil that could have torn her friend to pieces. Now his sharp knife no longer seemed all that scary, instead Sal viewed it as an asset. It was the only weapon that stood between them, and… well, whatever was coming around the corner.
    The only thing she knew—their attacker wasn’t human.
    If she had to choose between it and him…
    Risking to trust him in this small way, Sal placed her hand in his, but he betrayed it. In a blinding flash, the man used his knife to slice her wrist.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed.
    A guff came from deep within the red glow. Paws padding through Maria’s blood made a sickening sucking sound. Sensing a meal in the making, it came. Her blood drew it.
    Panicked, she looked at the man. Why had he done such a thing? Did he, in fact, mean her harm? Was he going to throw her to that creature? But the man concentrated on dripping her blood upon his blade.
    To her amazement, with each drop, the steel glowed more brightly. When the length of the metal glistened white, the man raised it in defiance.
    “Smell her fear, beast. Know that my blade is rich with it,” he growled, almost as feral as the creature. “Come—if you dare!”
    A roar burst forth, shaking the walls as it exploded into a full charge.
    The man shoved her behind him. “Run!”
    She didn’t need his urging as she took flight down the hallway. Red permeated the air. An inhuman scream echoed off the walls as she heard the clash of steel, but still she ran, turning the corner of the hallway, sprinting for the stairwell door—only to find it locked.
    “No!” Sal pounded on the door as the fierce battle inched closer.
    The dark landing soon glowed an angry red. The man stumbled into view, his once-pristine