The Vampire's Curse Read Online Free PDF Page A

at her.
    He was going to kill her, she knew it. Oh God, God, God.
    She didn't feel his grip on her arm go slack, or even his hand remove itself from her mouth until he stood a good inch away from her.
    He jumped away when she screamed, eyes wide as if he hadn't expected it.
    " What the Hell are you doing in my apartment ? " Jackie shrieked, with the sudden rush of adrenaline she forgot to be terrified.
    He held his hands out, as though trying to calm a wild animal. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just need you to do something for me and I'll go."
    "You'll go when I tell you to go. Which is right now. Get out." Her mind buzzed trying to figure out how he'd gotten inside. Vampires couldn't get in someone’s home unless they were invited.
    Then it hit her. Mrs. Harlen, the little old lady across the hall. She had Jackie's spare key.
    "You got Mrs. Harlen to let you in, didn't you?"
    He grinned. "It was easier than I thought it’d be, she's so trusting, and nearly blind. She couldn't tell what I was. She trusted me whole heartedly when I said I was a friend of yours."
    Jackie swung her fist at him as hard as she could but he caught it in his much larger hand without so much as flinching.
    His eyes narrowed and lips parted enough for Jackie to catch a glimpse of his fangs, then she remembered to be scared and yanked her hand away. This was a vampire in her apartment. He didn't look feral anymore but he could still snap her neck and disappear into the night before her body hit the floor.
    She swallowed over the rock hard lump in her throat, fighting to keep from sounding as terrified as she really was. "What do you want? I won't let you drink my blood."
    Her eyes went down to the floor where she dropped her purse, where her garlic spray lay inside and was useless to her unless she could get it.
    She inched her way along the wall he'd backed her into, towards her purse, but he snatched it up before she could get within an arm’s length of it. A hard glare from his golden eyes told her to stay put.
    "Hey!" Anger coursed through her when he dived his hand inside and searched through it, finally dumping all the contents onto the carpeted floor. He grabbed the spray when it appeared among her other things and stood to read the bottle.
    His eyes widened and mouth dropped. Jackie watched his teeth go to a relatively normal size in his shock. "This is garlic?"
    She wasn't prepared for that. "What did you think it would be?"
    He continued to examine the little spray bottle, reading over the label as though he expected it to have something else inside. "I don't know, acid or something, the way that other guy's head melted."
    She knew in that instant where his confusion came from. "You're a turned vamp."
    When he blinked and said nothing she had her confirmation, and a little bit of fear trickled out of her.
    "When were you turned?"
    "About five months ago." He shook his head, still staring at the bottle. "I had no idea this would actually work. Do crosses hurt vampires too?"
    She couldn‘t believe the dumb question and let it seep into her voice. "Of course not."
    His eyes narrowed. The tiny cuts along her arms from his claws reminded her that he was a potential killer and she shouldn't be talking down to him.
    "How was I supposed to know? How was I supposed to know about any of this?" He threw the bottle hard enough that it stuck into the drywall across the room. He ran his hands through his hair and paced like a caged animal.
    Jackie eased away from the wall and took a step towards him. This wasn't a killer. Couldn’t be. He was just some unlucky individual who got a rude awakening to the things that really existed in the world when he was bitten. "Turned vampires usually figure it out as they go along. You're telling me you've never stood near a pizzeria and felt like you were getting a rash, or walked into a church and noticed that nothing happened?"
    He didn't say anything.
    Jackie sighed. "Look, there are programs to help people like