Sire Read Online Free PDF Page A

what anyone tells you."
    Caitlin was back peddling toward the door now. "Look, I don't know what you think is going to happen tonight, but I told you, I just wanted to look around the club. Actually, I didn't even want to do that, I just wanted to get my friends back stage."
    "Poor girl," Liam said, almost to himself. "You still think you have a choice in all of this."
    Caitlin turned and ran, jumped down the stairs, and yanked on the heavy door. It didn't move. She pulled again and again, throwing all of her weight into it, but it it didn't even budge.
    "It's locked, Caitlin," Liam said. He descended the stairs slowly, one at a time. He was waving a ring of keys at her.
    "I'll scream," Caitlin said.
    "Yes, you will. Eventually." He reached out, and Caitlin turned away, but he only took the phone from her. "And you won't need this," he said, and crushed it in one hand.
    For a moment, fear froze her. A single tear welled up in her eye. But then she hit the door, gently, with one hand. Hit it again, a bit harder. Then she turned and slammed it with both fists. "Help! Help me! Help!"
    Liam took hold of her wrists, and turned her around. "Look me in the eye, Caitlin."
    She did, and the world swam around her. Liam's eyes were as deep as Michael's. Deeper. And she had the same sense of losing herself, of drowning in the pools of his eyes. She wanted to scream, to fight, to hit him and tear the door open and run away, but her body wouldn't cooperate.
    "That's a good girl," he said. "That necklace. Is it silver?"
    "Yes," Caitlin said. She was terrified, but the words came out mechanically.
    "Take it off."
    She felt her hands move up to her throat, felt them undo the clasp. Felt them drop the silver chain on the ground.
    "Good girl." He ran his fingers gently over her now-bare neck.
    "What, what do you want from me?"
    Crimson circles appeared around his irises, and a slow smile spread across his face. "Everything."
    And then the circles expanded, filling the whites of his eyes with blood, and his irises became as black as his soul. The color drained from his face, leaving it as white as death. His teeth became sharp points, and the canines lengthened into gleaming fangs.
    He lunged at her, and she felt his teeth tearing into her flesh.
    Caitlin tried to scream, but her body wasn't listening to her any more.

Chapter Two

    Alexis snapped her cell phone shut. "Nothing," she said. Her lips were pursed, and her eyebrows were knit together. "Where the hell did she go?"
    "She probably took off with that guy. Hell, I almost wanted to take off with him. The guy was hot." Evan said.
    Alexis raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because that raises some interesting possibilities."
    Evan cracked a smile. "I like to keep people guessing."
    "But, if you were to wander off to have hot, sweaty mansex, you'd at least call before you ditched me, right?"
    "Hell, I'd invite you."
    "That is the correct answer. And apparently a courtesy Caitlin doesn't feel the need to extend." Alexis made a frustrated little grunting noise. "Dammit, I want to get out of here. Where the hell is she?"
    "Look, she's not your responsibility. The college runs a bus here until three AM. It comes by every half hour. She might have to sit in someone's vomit, but she'll make it home."
    Alexis looked around, trying to decide what to do. Finally she said, "oh, all right. Are you guys ready?"
    The band had finished, and there were people scurrying across the stage, tearing it down. But there was still recorded music playing, and people out on the floor. Bethany and Garret were out there, too, Bethany with her arms around his neck, and Garret with his hands on her waist. They were staring into each other's eyes.
    "We'll take the vomit bus home," he said without looking. "You guys go ahead."
    "Everyone's abandoning us," Evan said. He was grinning.
    "I feel so alone," Alexis said, smiling back.
    "Hungry?"
    "God no. I just want to get home."
    There was a lot more room in the front seat, which was