The Fangs of Bloodhaven Read Online Free PDF Page A

twisted the name as she said it as though she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.
    “You heard that?”
    She gave him a meaningful look. “Werewolf, remember?”
    “Most people call me Rett.” He realized something. “I don’t know your name.”
    “Adrielle,” she replied.
    “Adrielle,” he repeated. “I like that.”
    She looked at the phone he had just hung up. “It’s the only thing my parents left me with.”
    Everett didn’t know what to say. If she had heard his name, she had also heard his mom inviting her to dinner. He had never brought anyone home before. He guessed Adrielle could surmise that from their conversation. The thought of inviting a werewolf into his home was unsettling.
    Despite his misgivings, something about the details of the paintings in Adrielle’s room stuck in his mind. He saw the beautiful faces of the children, the intricate work in the eyes to capture the smiles, the way the mother and father pushing the children on the swings looked as though they were having as much fun as their little ones.
    She had saved his life. She could have left him to bleed to death in the alley and no one would ever know. Her fear of vampires was clear, yet she had risked herself to save him. Everett made up his mind.
    “Come to my house for dinner.”
    Adrielle stared at him. “Are you crazy?”
    He shrugged. “That’s still under debate.”
    She kept silent.
    He realized the darkness in her golden eyes was actually fear. His heart went out to her. “Come on, Adrielle. They’re nice. You might enjoy it. My mom’s an amazing cook, and I owe you for saving my life. What do you say?”
    She lowered her gaze, shielding her emotions with her long eyelashes. “Is everyone in your family a vampire?”
    He laughed and shook his head. “I’m the only one, thank goodness.”
    His comment seemed to surprise her. She looked back at him with a curious expression, tipping her head to one side. “Are you so bad, then?”
    Everett gave her a small smile.
    She sighed and shook her head. “Okay, but I think this is a bad idea.”
    “As bad as you bringing a bloodthirsty vampire into your apartment?” Everett countered.
    She led the way to the street. “That’s still to be decided.”
    Everett glanced at the sky. The sun was setting; its gray light reached between the buildings with weak fingers, casting shadows on the people hurrying home from work before the curfew. Everett figured the light wasn’t strong enough to be a problem.
    He caught Adrielle watching him as they crossed a brighter patch between the buildings.
    “What?” he asked self-consciously.
    “Are you going to burst into flames or something?”
    At his questioning look, she gestured at the fading sunlight.
    Everett held out a hand, letting the light splay between his fingers. Mist began to rise with from his skin along with the burning sensation. He shoved his hand in his pocket and hurried to the shadows.
    “What do you know about vampires?” he asked, keeping the question quiet so the people flooding around them wouldn’t overhear.
    “Not much,” she admitted.
    He decided to humor her. “Vampirism is like a cancer. For those of us born with it, when we hit puberty, it begins to attack our red blood cells, killing us from the inside out. We’re forced to drink blood to replenish our bodies and keep our organs from shutting down completely.”
    “Does it hurt?” she asked quietly.
    Everett nodded. “A lot,” he admitted. He closed his hand into a fist. The faint blue lines that made up his veins stood out in contrast to his pale skin. “Because I have so little blood in my system, I also lack the melanin responsible for protecting my body from UV radiation.”
    “You sound like a professor,” she commented.
    Everett chuckled. “My parents are scientists. I think I take after them.” He gestured toward the setting sun. “I’m just trying to keep from looking like a thousand year old mummy.”
    That succeeded in