Dead is the New Black by Marianne Stillings

Author:Marianne Stillings
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romantic comedy, contemporary paranormal romance, murder and mystery, stranger than fiction, can she trust him not to harm her, cast of eerie characters, docudrama filming while all this is taking place, handsome doctor is a vampire, vampire mythology and lore, vampire with hypnotic blue eyes fall for a human working for him
Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group

Chapter 6

I didn’t scream. I don’t have a pretty scream. Mine’s more like a raspy choke. Not musical in the least, nor high and girly. More like a quarterback calling an audible before the ball’s snapped.

I shut my mouth and stepped cautiously toward the man who lay sprawled between two bookcases. His face was turned away so I couldn’t see his features clearly.

What I did see…was blood. Lots of blood.

Bright red blood covered half his face—the half that had obviously taken quite a blow.

Was he really dead? He sure looked dead.

Had that Troll person killed him and left me behind to take the blame?

Kneeling, I was able to see him better. It was not Dr. Van Graf.

I surprised myself by giving an involuntary sigh of relief, thankful it had not been my handsome new employer.

It wasn’t Wolf or Igor or anybody I’d ever seen before.

Okay. Okay, Steph. The ball’s in your court. What would Debby Destiny do?

Body on floor. Blood. Signs of violence.

Look for signs of life.

I was sure no Debby Destiny, but Debby was fiction and I was human and I was here. It was up to me to do something for this guy, if I could.

I sucked in a deep breath and placed two shaky fingers on the victim’s carotid artery. Nothing. I checked his wrist. No matter what I did, I could not find a heartbeat.

He was dead.

Placing my open hand on his chest, I could feel he was still warm, so he couldn’t have been dead for long. Was that noise I’d heard his last gasp before dying? If I’d found him even minutes earlier, might I have saved his life?

My head felt light, as if my brains had grown wings and fluttered away leaving me with an empty skull. My muscles deserted me, too, weakening me so my butt plopped down on the floor next to the dead man. I rested my back against the bookcase for fear I’d faint and keel over.

As I worked hard to normalize my breathing, I let my gaze evaluate the victim.

Dead guy was around thirty or so. Good looking, a male model type. Except for the dent in the side of his head and the blood on the carpet, he might just as well have been sleeping.

“Stephanie?”

I just about jumped out of my skin, jerking my attention to the end of the row where Dr. Van Graf stood glaring down at me.

When had he come into the study?

Had he been here all along?

Had he killed this man while I’d waited in front of the fire?

Dr. Van Graf’s expression was unreadable as he stepped forward, taking my arm and helping me to my feet. I was in shock, or I probably wouldn’t have let him anywhere near me, but his touch was gentle, his hand strong. Standing so near him, I could feel the heat from his body and wanted to curl into it for shelter and reassurance.

But he could be a murderer. If so, would he kill me now?

I started to pull away from him, but he tightened his grip on my arm.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.