The Siren Series 1: Ember Read Online Free PDF Page B

sole and Tarrin grunted,
spinning him and flat-palming Brandon dead center in his chest.
    His heartbeat stuttered in his chest at the
impact as Brandon flew, hoping to arrest his fall as he was thrown
backward, Tarrin was on him, his dagger tip at his neck, the pulse
of his throat teasing the deadly point on the upbeat.
    How could he get to him on
that foot? Brandon thought in a spastic lurch.
    “ Stop thinking, Brandon,” Tarrin's black eyes
searched his face. “Thinking is for vampires who wish for a quick
death.”
    He impaled his own chin on the dagger and
took the flat bottom part of his palm and rammed it into Tarrin's
nose. The pain from the blade that he'd stabbed into his tender jaw
and mouth was a searing spear of fire. Thank goddess the thing was
short.
    Tarrin howled and backed up.
    Fuck, that was
righteous , Brandon thought.
    He would have lingered on the brief victory
but Brandon was in writhe-worthy agony, managing to tear the blade
out and fling it away. He went after Tarrin in a head charge before
Tarrin had time to respond.
    Tarrin did respond, swinging blindly as the
blood from his nose jettisoned everywhere in a liquid spray that
spattered the floor where they fought. His fist caught Brandon and
he fell, slipping on Tarrin's blood.
    “ What the fuck is going on here?” Aubree
yelled with Lucia at her heels.
    The two popped their heads up from their
hands and knees, Brandon's cheek was swelling, a geyser of blood
exiting his chin. Tarrin's face was a smashed pancake on his
face.
    “ It looks like there was some sparring,”
Lucia said dryly, unperturbed by the sight of the bloodied and
broken warriors, one teacher and one student.
    “ Well fuck-on-ditty,” Aubree said, pissed.
“Nobody beats the tar outta my boy but me.”
    Shit, Brandon
thought, here we go .
    Aubree, who was far gone with child, came
alongside Tarrin and squatted beside him. She pushed a finger in
his chest. “Don't you wreck my boy like that again or I'll kick
your ass!”
    A heartbeat of swollen silence descended and
was shattered when Tarrin threw his head back and howled laughter,
Brandon clutching his abused ribs and rolled over on his back to
join him.
    Aubree awkwardly stood, pressing her hand to
the small of her back. “Are you both insane?” she asked
incredulously, her eyes darting between the two of them as they
rolled around, loving the comedy of the moment.
    Which she wasn't feelin' at all.
    Brandon felt the wound in his chin close and
smiled at his mom when his face would cooperate with the
expression.
    She worried too much, he thought.
    Lucia stepped up next to Aubree. “This is
the way of Druid males, everything gets handled physically.”
    Aubree craned her neck up at the taller
woman, taking in the deep oceanic eyes, the golden hair, the ramrod
straight back and suddenly she smiled, it was sunlight breaking
through clouds. “I am unique. When a sparring partner was needed,
sometimes there was no one else. This is typical of teaching
methods. And,” she spread her arms out helplessly, “ we heal.”
Lucia's eyes took on a slight sheen and she added quietly, “It does
not mean it does not hurt.”
    Tarrin frowned, standing. Lucia laughed when
she saw the state of his tunic. “That is beyond anyone's skills, my
love.”
    Tarrin looked down at his once-ivory tunic
and sighed.
    He had a way of ruining his clothes. It was
now burnt red, somewhere between bright and brick.
    “ Aye,” he said with that strange accent of
his and Brandon smiled.
    He was an excellent teacher.
     
    And now that Brandon faced the very one he'd
been warned about, he allowed that part of him he kept as second
nature, his Mer side, to come to the forefront now, becoming
first.
    Brandon was Druid.
    Vampire.
    And most assuredly Mer.
    When the second call of the maiden came, it
did not come from the one who stood in front of Brandon, with the
rich eyes like low burnt coals, skin that shone like the captured
moon. Whose hair was silvered