Vows of a Vampire Read Online Free PDF

want her to regret anything. She wanted to raise you the right way. The men who came to her meant to use her as bait, a way to lure the creature they had fixed in their minds. She refused to divulge Dante’s identity to anyone and paid for it with her life. Your mother sacrificed herself for him.”
    Small blips of her nightmares flashed in her mind. Tears streamed down the sides of her face as reality hit her.
    “I remember her screams. At one point I stood and peered out the slits of the closet door. Oh God, and they beat her. She cried and screamed, but they continued to hurt her. I wanted to help but didn’t know how. Then everything went quiet.” Aubrey paused a moment, her chest so tight it hurt to breathe. “When did she ask Dante to watch over me?”
    He stopped pacing and sat beside her again. “She said in the beginning of their relationship that if something happened to her, he would be your guardian. To watch over you, make sure you remained safe. Dante promised and swore an oath to her.”
    Aubrey covered her face in her hands and sobbed. Varick rested his hand on her knee, but this time she didn’t pull away. It comforted her.
    “I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone to grieve.”
    “No.” She leaned forward and pulled him close. “I’m tired of being alone.” God she wanted to kiss him. Tear his clothes off and fuck him right there. Anything to keep from dealing with the ache inside her chest. Her gaze passed from his eyes to his lips, but he didn’t seem to take notice.
    With a thoughtful brow, he smiled. “You’ve never really been alone.”
    She tasted the salt in the corner of her mouth as the tears continued to fall.
    “Tell me where your part is in all of this. Why were you left to watch me if Dante made the promise to my mother? Did he ever feel remorse?”
    He cast a prideful glance. “Yes, I can assure you, he did. Every single day. In fact her death ate away at him. The pain of losing the one woman he loved more than anything else made him ill, and every day he faded away until he died. He gave up.”
    Aubrey scrunched her face up. “But, shouldn’t he have lived forever?”
    His tone softened. “He didn’t wish to. The day your mother died, something inside him died as well. I watched the changes, subtle at first, but the blackness in his heart overtook him in a matter of months. Believe me, he put all the blame on himself.”
    “Good.” She’d meant it as a thought, but instead she voiced it. Immediately she felt bad.
    If she’d hurt him, she couldn’t tell. His gaze had turned downward. “I understand why you feel that way, and I won’t try to make you see things differently. You lost your mother and have a right to all the anger and hatred you hold.”
    Backtracking, she tried a different approach. “You say this Dante was a mentor?”
    She watched his gaze drift in remembrance. “Yes. A mentor. A father. My friend. He helped raise me when my real father abandoned the coven. Dante said I would one day take over the coven in his place and prepped me. I never wanted it. At the same time he prepared me to look after you. Even in death he refused to let your mother down. I promised him I would keep watch. I’ve never stopped.”
    Aubrey heard his words, but she had difficulty digesting them. Age and maturity hadn’t helped her mentally prepare for hearing the truth about her mother. If anything it made her wish she’d been brave enough to do something that night.
    Grief-stricken, she shook her head and stood. Right now she needed to be alone. She knew what it was to be alone. It was safe. If she stayed here, she might do something she’d regret.
    “I’m sorry. I want to go home. You said I could leave whenever I wanted.”
    A look of anguish streaked his handsome face. “Now?”
    Her heart said yes, but her body created conflict. If this is what he did to her, she couldn’t be around him. She felt exposed, irrational, and dangerously close to giving herself to him.