Vampire Elite Read Online Free PDF

in pain ... ”  
    Shit, not only was she babbling; her self-censorship mechanism seemed to have shut down completely. Well, it was too late now. Hopefully Odji understood her situation well enough.  
    Odji pulled her to him and she sobbed into his shirt. After a moment, she calmed down enough to raise her eyes to his.
    “Would you live like that for years, maybe centuries, enduring isolation for your loved one?”  
    “No.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t.”  
    “Me neither.” She left it there and continued to sob. She needed to keep her mouth shut and let Odji think that she was only upset over the fate of this poor Amiti.  
    But Simone was afraid for her half-sister, Arianna.

Chapter 3
    As recently as a year ago, Simone had been only vaguely aware that she had a half-sister. She knew that her father, Tor, had been with her mother, Istara, for a long time, and that her half-sister had been born of Istara’s union with Marcus, one of the most powerful of the Amiti, nine months after Istara had left Tor. Given that Istara had apparently abandoned Tor in favor of one of his worst enemies, it had been understandable that Tor hadn’t wanted to talk about Arianna.
    But then one day Tor’s interest had abruptly changed. He’d summoned Simone to tell her that Marcus had died and that he wanted Simone to attend Marcus’s funeral in the U.S. and finally meet her half-sister. The two girls had hit it off immediately. It turned out that not only had Arianna lost her father, her only family, but he had died in a terrible accident—trapped in a fire at the hospital where he worked—and it had happened on Arianna’s twentieth birthday. Simone felt terrible that Arianna had been left with no family, especially under such dreadful circumstances, and had tried to fill that gap. Not that it had been a lot of effort; she adored Arianna. It had initially been harder for Arianna, who hadn’t been aware of Simone’s existence and then had to adjust to the idea that her half-sister was also half vampire, but the sisters’ family bonds and growing affection had transcended their differences.
    As Simone and Arianna grew closer, Simone became increasingly troubled by what the future held for Arianna as an Amiti. Like vampires, Amiti were indistinguishable from humans until they reached full physical maturity. In their very early twenties, their identity as Amiti began to manifest: they received their gifts from the Goddess Hathor, their energy shifted dramatically, and they became identifiable to Sekhmi. In the very near future, Arianna would go through her shift, and as the Amiti Queen, she’d be an incredibly valuable commodity—literally. There was a very good chance that she’d find herself on that auction stage.  
    Simone also wondered about her own father’s curiosity about Arianna, which occasionally seemed a little too interested. She couldn’t even afford to worry about that, though: she’d make herself crazy trying to second-guess his motives. Besides, if he wanted Arianna, there’d be nothing she could do to stop him; he’d have gotten to her already. No, she had to assume that Tor was not a threat and focus on the danger presented by other vampires.  
    She had to calm down and think , or she’d be no help for Arianna.
    Simone extricated herself from Odji’s grasp, got herself a moment alone under the guise of getting him to fetch her a glass of water, and walked over to the deserted swimming pool patio to let the spray of the fountains soothe her.  
    Think, Simone, think. You’re Arianna’s only hope. You have to come up with a plan. Right now.
    Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a quick slither across the marble tile: a small green lizard disappeared into the grass. A distant memory flashed through her mind ... and at that moment, she knew the solution. Antar!  
    * * *
    Simone hadn’t seen Antar for six years. He was one of several dozen abandoned immortal children her father, Tor, had