Vampire Coven Book 3: A Vampire's Embrace Read Online Free PDF Page A

Rhett dropped the man to the ground, where he bounced on impact.
    Looking around, Rhett carefully chose his next victim. The largest man who had smashed the bones in his hand was paralyzed with horror. The one with the broken nose couldn’t see, as his eyes swelled shut. The female was crawling and sliding like a seal towards a dark corner where Rhett could see a smaller exit. He was unconcerned. The female’s heart pounded like a little rabbit running from a wolf. He would hear it for miles. A beacon to his prey.
    The man holding his hand screamed when Rhett gripped him by his furs. Rhett could smell the man’s fear. His blood reeked of it. The pulsing pounding of his heart thumped out a staccato of words the man couldn’t form. The heart spoke to Rhett. The harder it hammered, the more words it said. Only a vampire knew a heart could beg for mercy. Rhett didn’t have any.
    Rhett smiled at the man before burying his fangs into his throat. He drank leisurely while the man kicked and flailed his arms. The satisfying sounds of his sucking made Rhett feel heady. When through, he was content to let the man slide down his body to the cold floor, instead of simply dropping him.
    “What’s going on?” the last man cried out.
    The scraping of the man’s fingers against the ice as he pulled his way to the last torch irritated Rhett. As he reached the flame, Rhett went to it and crushed the light out under a booted foot. The man whimpered and struggled to his hands and knees.
    “Who’s there?”
    “Death.”
    Rhett could hear this man’s heart pound louder than the others had. He was whimpering, sobbing, begging. Sated, there was no more need to feed. In a quick motion, Rhett leaned down and snapped the man’s neck. Tavish wouldn’t have allowed any of these men to live if he found out they intended to rape the female. Rape was punishable by death in the coven. Rhett lived by the law.
    “Where did you sneak off to, little seal?” Rhett called. He laughed when hearing the pounding of a heartbeat.
    The hole she had escaped through was narrow, but Rhett wore no furs. It was a tight fit for his broad chest, but he made it through to the other side. The slick walls wet his t-shirt and black jeans. Icy coldness invaded his lungs to mix with the pungent smell of blood, but Rhett was far from cold. A smaller room with a number of connecting chambers came into view. Rhett cocked his head.
    “Eeny, meenie, miny, moe, where did my little female seal go?”
    An expelled breath was heard from the third chamber. Rhett moved slowly, enjoying the hunt. He needed no fire to light his way, though; there were tiny cracks above his head to give a small measure of light. The men had been easy, a smorgasbord; this was the best part of a hunt. Who wanted to eat at a table of prepared food when you could first stalk your prey?
    The female was huddled near the end of the tunnel, she had boxed herself in and Rhett wondered why. Granted, it was dark; perhaps she had made an error from fear. She shifted as she listened for him and Rhett could make out the sharp wooden stick she held tight to. He wanted to chuckle and tell her it would take more than a splinter to kill a Roman warrior.
    “Little seal, little seal, let me in. Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin,” Rhett chanted sinisterly.
    The female was obviously of childbearing years, no more than twenty three. Rhett could see youth on her otherwise strained features. She was a lucky little thing. Tavish’s laws were strict. No one was to harm a breeder female. Rhett had no intention of harming her. Terrorizing her was a different story. By rights she was his, he had found her. He doubted he’d keep her, though. Not one more woman in his life would betray him.
    Rhett stopped three feet from her. He lounged against the icy wall. “Can you see me now?” he whispered and chuckled, knowing she couldn’t as she cringed and gazed in his direction.
    “Get away,” she said, her tone would