MIDNIGHT CAPTIVE: Book 2 of the Bonded By Blood Vampire Chronicles Read Online Free PDF Page B

Judging by the spiced apple aroma, he spied cups of hot cider steaming before each of them at the trestle table. Straddling the bench beside his wife, he kissed her neck as she leaned against him. “Good evening, Blossom.”
    She nodded and hugged his arms as he wrapped them around her.
    “Good evening, Rosselyn,” Broderick greeted with a gentle voice. “’Tis good to see you.”
    Rosselyn stared at him a moment, her mouth agape and eyes wide. Though he refrained from listening to her thoughts, her astonishment over his agelessness swirled around him like a breeze.
    Davina squeezed his wrist in their silent signal, giving him permission to hear her thoughts. I have explained all to Rosselyn. She knows the nature of what you are.
    He kissed the top of her head as a response.
    Once Rosselyn cleared her throat and straightened her posture, she tried a smile. “’Tis good to see you as well, Broderick. I wish the circumstances were more joyful. How do you fare?” She slouched a bit and her hazel eyes glassed with tears.
    He offered her a wilting grin. “I’m saddened at the loss of our friend, Amice, but that is all I know. Pray tell me what happened.”
    His wife’s sister sighed and nodded. “As I told Davina, she passed this last winter. She was very insistent we make it back to you to deliver this.” Rosselyn pushed a small, wooden box he hadn’t noticed across the table to rest in front of him. “An amulet of some kind, I believe.”
    The box was simple and the size of his fist, banded with iron hardware and beaten with age and use. Opening the box, an odd, yet familiar, oppression radiate from within. The interior, including the underside of the lid, seemed lined with doeskin. He tilted the box. A thick, coin-like medallion slid to the corner. Broderick narrowed his eyes at the strange writing and symbols gouged into its surface. A leather cord laced through the ring linked to the piece, indicating it was to be worn about the neck. He reached in to pick up the amulet…and hissed as it burned his fingertips, his hand jerking back involuntarily. A wave of weakness traveled up his arm and caused his eyelids to droop. Shaking the drowsiness from his head, he pushed away the box.
    Davina sat forward and scooted along the bench to give Broderick some space. Both she and Rosselyn stared at him with large eyes and raised brows.
    “What did Amice tell you about this?” He glared at the box, uncomfortable with the sense his energy drained from his body. Standing up, he put some distance between him and the medallion and a measure of relief seeped into his muscles.
    “Nothing. She actually handed the box to me right before she died.” Crimson mottled Rosselyn’s cheeks and she cast sheepish eyes at him and Davina. “In all the years we spent with her, I never learned much French. As she passed, she said a number of things in her native tongue I wish I could relay to you now. I know only that she mentioned ‘family’ and your name a few times. I am sorry.”
    “Please come to me, Rosselyn.”
    She glanced at Davina, who nodded with assurance, and scuffled to stand in front of Broderick.
    Placing tender hands upon her shoulders, he radiated a calmness to his sister-in-law. “Please close your eyes and think to the moments you had with Amice before she died.”
    Rosselyn nodded and her eyes fluttered closed.
    Framing her face with his palms, Broderick also closed his eyes and opened himself to the images whirling in her mind. Seeing the world as if he were Rosselyn, feeling her sadness, he saw Amice in his arms on her tiny bed in her caravan.
    Age had broken her frail body and her time on this earth drew to a close. “Broderick, my son” she rasped in French. “I am sorry I could not deliver this to you myself.” Amice grabbed the box from the floor of the cramped space and held it to her chest. “This is to protect your family from other Vamsyrians. The wearer of this medallion cannot be harmed by an