The Vampire's Release, A Paranormal Romance (Undead in Brown County #4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

watched as Alex approached Katie and I saw her flinch when he made a move to grab her.  And I heard his words clearly when he bent down to her.  They were delivered in a tone equal to that of a federal circuit judge.
    “If you don’t do exactly as I say, you will be destroyed.  Vampires take it very seriously when one of their kind decides to break the rules and doesn’t bother to cover their tracks very well.  It puts all vampires at risk when you pull that kind of shit.  They don’t tolerate it, Katie .”
    There was a flicker of fear in her face.
    “If the Council finds out, they will either terminate you or send you somewhere very unpleasant.”
    Jackson said quietly, “The Arizona camp.”
    Alex continued with a short nod, “Exactly.  I’m giving you one chance to save your ass and only one chance.  You are going to come with me quietly and you will not touch a single drop of blood unless it is from a bag that I personally hand to you.  Do you understand?”
    She snorted.  “Are you taking me to see Dr. Drew?  I’m going to rehab?”
    His strike was swift and without mercy.  Before I could take a breath, there was a flash of movement and a crash.  When my eyes finally processed what was in front of me, I was stunned to see Katie on the floor .  There was a spider web of cracks in the cement floor from the force of the impact of her head .  Her eyes were open, but she was very still.
    I started forward, but Alex lifted a hand towards me.  “Don’t.”
    “But…”
    “No.  She’s not hurt.  Trust me.”   His green eyes swept over my sister calmly. “It would take a lot more than that to do any real damage to your sister, Sarah.”
    There was something meaningful in that statement that struck me silent and left me as still as my sister.  I had spent so much of my own energy protecting Katie.  I had somehow seen that fierce façade as fragility under a mask.  But it was certainly possible that I had been wrong. 
    What if Katie was the tough one?  In reality, it was probably me that was more easily hurt, too quick to trust, prone to falling.  I didn’t like being wrong.  And I wasn’t sure if I really could let go like the situation required.  Could I really let Alex take her away? 
    “Where will you go?”
    “ Not far for right now.  I would take her into the caves, but the possibility of her waking up another old vampire doesn’t sit well with me.  I’ll look for a place outside the perimeter where I can keep her until the hearings are over.”
    “What am I supposed to do, Alex?  She’s my little sister.  I have to know that she’ll be okay.”
    His look was serious and disturbing. “She’s not going to be okay.  She’s a murderer.”

 
    CHAPTER 6 – Alex
     
    I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.  Sarah’s skin tone had gone gray during Katie’s questioning in the basement.  I wondered what my family might have thought of me when I first became a killer like Katie.  Would they have suffered like Sarah ?  As far as I knew, none of my relatives had ever discovered what had really happened to me.
    It was still an open wound to me, losing my family and knowing that what I had become would prevent me from ever being a part of their lives again.  When Michael first turned me, I had only been nineteen years old.  I was living in Chicago and studying to be a lawyer.  There had been a future available to me.  But I was arrogant, even then.
    I vainly yearned for more exciting things to happen to me.  The wheels were set into motion at an Irish pub on the outskirts of Chicago in August of 1945.  I will never know exactly what prompted Michael to pick me out of the crowd and begin a conversation with me.  Maybe he sensed something unique about my nature and background.  Perhaps he was just bored.  But we became friends.
    I w as an angry young man.  It seemed like I spent most of my young adulthood trying to prove how successful I could be and how much power