Moonlight and Diamonds & The Vampire's Fall Read Online Free PDF Page B

what a moment.”
    Would he ever see her again? If he returned to the gallery would she give him the time of day? Acknowledge they’d shared that moment?
    Probably not. A woman like Blyss probably picked out a man to please her then tossed him aside without a glance over her sexy, bare shoulder.
    Yet she hadn’t gotten off. He’d come so quickly. Hadn’t been able to stop himself. He felt bad about that. Normally he tended to a woman’s pleasure before allowing his own. But the moment had jumped on him and he’d been swept away. He should have dropped to his knees and...
    The assistant had banged on the door, ruining the whole thing.
    Stryke paused at an intersection and glanced back the direction from which he’d come. A brightly lit Ferris wheel spun through the Paris sky to his left.
    Why had he walked away? He should have waited around for the guy to leave and then got her phone number.
    Was his hasty retreat because he’d felt as if she’d rejected him by pulling away from him so quickly? Probably. The woman defined classy. So out of Stryke’s universe. Probably ate caviar and champagne for breakfast, then skirted around Paris in a Lamborghini painted pale pink, the color of her lips.
    Rubbing his brow, Stryke shook his head and walked across the street on the green light. Smirking, he shook his head again. “It was a hookup,” he muttered. “Let it go.”
    But with the lingering scent of flowers imbued on his skin, letting go was easier thought than done.

Chapter 3
    T orsten Rindle was an interesting fellow. Stryke met him in a parking lot on the left bank down the street from a vast city park. The man drove an olive-green van, and he’d opened up the back doors to reveal some boxes sitting in the stripped-to-the-framework interior.
    Tor was tall, slender and dressed in a tweed vest and pleated trousers. A polka-dot tie tightened about a crisp white dress shirt, of which, the sleeves were rolled to his elbows. A cicada was tattooed on the underside of one of his forearms, but otherwise, he appeared a dapper Englishman.
    Stryke liked his accent. So
Downton Abbey
. Not that he’d ever watched the show. Okay, maybe once on a date a girl had suggested they cuddle on the couch and watch TV. The things a guy did for a little snuggling.
    â€œSo Hawkes Associates is strapped for help?” Tor asked as he carefully peeled back the packing tape from the top of a cardboard box.
    â€œActually, Rhys Hawkes is busy with a family wedding. Which is why I’m in town. The bride is my aunt.”
    â€œAh yes, Johnny Santiago and his girl are tying the knot. Good couple. Vampires.”
    â€œYes, indeed.” And this guy worked for a secret order that hunted vampires. “You, uh...ever try to stake them?”
    â€œMe?” Tor grinned, exposing a boyish charm. “I don’t do the stake. I’m spin. Someone has to make sure the mortals didn’t see a vampire bite a person’s neck, but instead, just happened upon a couple actors rehearsing for a show at the Moulin Rouge. You know? The Order of the Stake only pursues those vampires who are a danger to humans. Like me. I’m human.” He turned and offered his hand to shake. “Sorry, didn’t do this properly. Torsten Rindle. Human.”
    Stryke shook the man’s firm grasp. “Stryke Saint-Pierre. Werewolf.”
    â€œI like werewolves,” Tor offered, folding back the flap on the box. “But you guys can be a challenge when pissed off.”
    Stryke tilted his head in acknowledgment. “Nothing wrong with being a challenge.”
    â€œSo.” Tor gestured Stryke approach the back of the van to peer into the box. “This is what I’ve got.”
    â€œRhys said your knights sometimes pick this stuff up from a slain vampire’s lair?”
    â€œThis artifact came from a vamp who was trafficking in magical accoutrements. Most of the