Holiday with a Vampire III by Lisa Childs & Bonnie Vanak Linda Winstead Jones

Author:Lisa Childs & Bonnie Vanak Linda Winstead Jones [Linda Winstead Jones, Lisa Childs and Bonnie Vanak]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2009-02-17T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

S ienna’s heart clenched with excitement then dread as she remembered, “All Vossimers are vampires.” She’d finally said the word, but she could never become one. “Why, Julian? Why do you want me to marry you?”

“It’s the only way I can protect you.”

She should have been relieved he hadn’t professed love, because it was too soon and would have proved him a liar, yet disappointment squeezed her heart. She sucked in a shaky breath and asked, “Who are you protecting me from?”

His arms tightened around her, holding her closer as if he was using his body to shield her. “People who will hurt you.”

“They’ll do more than hurt me,” she realized. “They intend to kill me. Why?”

“Because of what you know.”

“About you?” She’d said it once, but she could not manage to utter the word again around the lump of emotion choking her. “About what you are?”

He nodded. “I’m not the only one.”

“You told me that all Vossimers are,” she recalled. “So you have family?”

A muscle twitched in his cheek. “Yes. Relatively speaking.”

“You’re not close then?”

“Not at all,” he admitted. “But there are more than Vossimers. There’s a whole Underground Society.”

“I had no idea…” she murmured, stunned. “I would have never imagined…” Not only his existence, but his passion.

“You’re not supposed to know. No mortal is.”

She shivered as understanding dawned. “And that’s why I’m in danger.”

He sighed. “Any time a human has learned about our existence, bad things happen. The undead are destroyed.”

The thought of him dead knocked the air from her lungs, filling her with a sense of loss even greater than she’d already known. “But…how…?”

“There are ways.”

He might have wanted to spare her the image, but she closed her eyes and it was there—in her mind: Julian lying on the ground, a stake through his heart. She shuddered. “No…”

“When humans learn of our existence, they react with fear. They think we pose a danger. So they try to eliminate that threat.”

“You keep telling me that I’m in danger,” she said, “that’s why you brought me here.” Why he’d proposed.

“Because you know. Because of what happened when other people found out, the Underground Society made a rule—for our protection.”

“How many people have found out?” she asked, having to know how many mortals were killed—and how many Julian had personally killed.

Had she made love, not just with a vampire, but a cold-blooded killer? Goose bumps lifted her skin as dread chilled her to the bone.

“It was believed that your grandmother knew our secret,” he said.

“But she died from a horrible disease,” she said, flashing back to Nana’s suffering. “No one killed her.”

“No. There was actually no proof she knew…until the end.”

“Until she told me.”

He nodded then grimaced and admitted, “There was someone else who knew, who planned to write an exposé on the Secret Vampire Society. He was going to reveal our whereabouts and order our deaths.”

Sienna’s breath caught. “And this man? He was killed?”

Julian nodded. “Him and his wife.”

“Was I alive when the murders took place?” she asked, wondering if she’d read about them.

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