The Undead Kama Sutra Read Online Free PDF Page A

sexual appetite. Was he her research partner for The Undead Kama Sutra ? A bandanna covered his neck, advertising his status as a chalice to those in the undead family. He didn’t say much and smiled politely.
    Carmen carried the botánica bag and stooped to enter the boat’s cabin. She came out empty-handed and ordered that we shove off.
    Moving athletically on his sturdy, hairy legs, Thorne cast loose from the moorings. Her hungry gaze followed him.
    Thorne took the helm. He flipped switches across the instrument panel. The navigation lights flicked on. The engine coughed to life. Above the cabin, the radar antenna on the mast began to spin. He adjusted the volume of the radio so the squawks of harbor traffic faded into the background. The Bayliner cruised slowly away from the dock.
    A woman’s shriek—a cross between a drunken sorority girl and a hyena on fire—echoed from the pier. An orange glow streaked toward us. Jolie.
    She bounded from the edge of the pier. Our boat was a good hundred feet away. Jolie sailed through the air and pumped her arms to keep the momentum. She used vampire levitation to land softly beside Carmen and me.
    Jolie raised both her arms in a triumphant salute. “Ta-da.”
    “Yeah, great,” Carmen chided. “Where’s your motorcycle?”
    Jolie’s aura dimmed. “Shit. I knew I forgot something.”
    I introduced myself, then asked, “How was the fight?”
    “Totally awesome. One of those assholes got the drop on me and nailed me good.” She pointed to the shiner on her right eye. “I’ll bet it’s a beaut.”
    “Looks…wonderful,” I said. “Hurt?”
    “Stupid question.” Jolie touched the swollen tissue aroundher eye. “’Course it hurts. Too bad it’ll heal by the time we get home.”
    “Which is where?” I turned to Carmen.
    She loosened her braid. She closed her eyes in a blissful trance as she raked her fingers to untangle the tresses. Leaning against the railing of the gunwale, Carmen silhouetted herself against the lights of Key West. Her hair shimmered like a lacy halo. “Houghton Island. It’s in the Snipe Keys northeast of here.”
    Once in open water, Thorne opened the throttle and the Bayliner rocked on its wake. Jolie yanked off her boots and socks and scrambled barefoot to the prow, where she sat on the foredeck and sang—more or less—tunes from the eighties. Thorne played with the GPS on the instrument panel and adjusted our course. In the far darkness, red, green, and white lights marked the other boats floating by.
    I took a seat on the fantail. “Aren’t the Snipe Keys government islands?” I asked.
    Carmen’s aura sparkled with assurance. “That’s what makes our resort so exclusive.”
    “A resort? How did you manage that?”
    Carmen gave a dimpled smile. “We have chalices in high places.”
    “We?”
    “There’s a bunch of investors, a few select vampires and chalices. It was my idea…and Antoine’s. You’ll meet him.”
    “A few select vampires and chalices? High rollers, I’ll bet. Fun and games on a private island. Must be paradise.”
    Carmen’s aura prickled with worry. “It was. That’s why I’m glad you came here.”
    “Sounds like someone’s found a turd floating in the punch bowl, and I’m supposed to fish it out.” Trouble followed me everywhere.
    “Lovely visual, Felix. Yeah, I could use your help.”
    “Doesn’t sound like research for The Undead Kama Sutra. ”
    “It’s not.” Carmen paused for a beat and then explained in a monotone: “A chalice has been missing for two days.”
    A missing chalice? I already had plenty to keep me busy, thanks to Gilbert Odin and the Araneum. But Carmen, as an experienced vampire, wouldn’t have asked for help unless she needed it.
    “You got a name?”
    “Marissa Albert. She arrived at the Key West airport and disappeared. Too bad you didn’t have a chance to meet her, you might have had a lot in common.”
    “How so?”
    “She’s a private