Night Reigns Read Online Free PDF Page A

all male and almost all Eddie’s age (twenty-five) or younger, lounged by the dozens, laughing, bragging of the night’s kills, and watching one of two big-ass flat screen televisions.
    “’Sup?” Henry asked from his position at the front window. He must be one of the four lookouts tonight.
    “Is Dennis here?” Eddie asked, nerves still jangling.
    “Yeah. He’s in The Hole with some new recruits.” The Hole was the only bedroom that had been left standing. All four walls, as well as the door, had been reinforced with a butt-load of concrete and steel, then outfitted with manacles. The ceiling had been removed, and the walls extended up into the attic, where Dennis had replaced a large portion of the roof with glass supported by steel bars, allowing the mid-day sun to bake any vampire left in there who had gone so psycho Dennis could no longer control him.
    Or any immortal unfortunate enough to be captured.
    They’d yet to manage that one.
    “Why?” Henry asked, gaze sharpening. “Somethin’ happen?”
    Nodding, Eddie sidled closer to him and lowered his voice. “I think I found Roland.”
    Henry’s eyes bugged out. “Roland the Immortal Guardian Roland?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You’re shittin’ me.”
    “Nope.”
    “Daaaaaaamn. We been lookin’ for him for months.” He looked past Eddie’s shoulder, as if expecting to see Roland standing there, then met his gaze. “What’d ya do with him? Where is he?”
    “Chapel Hill.” Eddie fought the urge to squirm. He didn’t relish telling everyone he had been unable to defeat the immortal.
    Henry’s eyes narrowed. “You left him in Chapel Hill?” Eddie grimaced. “I didn’t exactly have a choice. Me, Skinny John, Walter, and Kurt met up with Jason, Max, Big John, and Karl over at the Walmart off of 15-501 and were headed for UNC to see if we could find some fresh victims when this Immortal Guardian comes out of nowhere and ...” He shrugged. “It was on.”
    “Are you sure it wasn’t Bastien?”
    “Yeah. This guy had a woman with him like Roland did.”
    “Did she have brown hair?”
    “I think so.” It had been hard to tell with her hiding in the trees.
    Henry nodded and slapped him on the shoulder. “Good job, man.” He glanced through the window for a second, then once more abandoned his duty. “So the guys are holdin’ him in Chapel Hill?”
    Eddie swallowed, stomach souring. “No.”
    “What do ya—”
    “I’m the only one who made it out alive.”
    Henry stared at him. “What?”
    “The others are all dead. Roland and his woman destroyed them.”
    “They’re dead? ” he exclaimed, voice rising.
    Eddie looked around as every eye in the house focused on them. “Yeah.”
    “Who died?” he heard someone mutter.
    Henry shook his head. “You outnumbered him eight to one!”
    Eddie bristled at the scorn in his voice. “He had the woman with him. She was armed and—”
    Henry sputtered and waved a hand. “The woman doesn’t count. She’s human for shit’s sake! If you can’t kick a human woman’s ass, what the hell good are ya?”
    “Well, she sure as hell didn’t fight like a human!”
    “Are you saying she was immortal?”
    “No, but—”
    “Then you should have killed her and kicked Roland’s ass.” Some of the other vamps rose and strode forward to form a semicircle around them.
    “Look, you weren’t there,” Eddie snapped. “You’ve never even seen an Immortal Guardian. They aren’t like us.”
    “What do you mean?” Wes asked, his butt-ugly mug alight with curiosity. He was a fairly new recruit, turned by Dennis himself only a few months ago.
    “Yeah,” Howard tossed in. “How’re they different from us?”
    “They’re faster,” Eddie began, his apprehension falling away now that Henry’s contempt had been overshadowed by the other guys’ awe and eagerness to hear a firsthand account of a fight with an immortal.
    “How much faster?” Norm asked.
    “Like ... fifty times faster,” Eddie