Phantom Embrace by Dianne Duvall

Author:Dianne Duvall [Duvall, Dianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-05-18T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Stretched out in his king-sized bed, Yuri stared up at the dark ceiling.

Cat was going to try to visit him in his dreams. And damned if insomnia hadn’t chosen to rear its head.

He swore.

When was the last time he had had difficulty sleeping? During his transformation? Certainly not since he had become immortal. Immortals possessed tremendous control over their bodies. They could control their temperature, their pulse, their metabolic rate.

And they could damned well fall asleep whenever the desire struck them.

Hell. Maybe he was just too excited to sleep. Just the idea of finally being able to hold Cat . . .

Or maybe he was afraid to fall asleep. Afraid she might not be able to find him in that realm. Afraid of losing the hope Marcus had given him.

He sighed.

“Just suck it up and do it,” he grumbled.

Closing his eyes, he slowed his breathing, relaxed his body, and let sleep claim him.

* * *

A crush of people surrounded Yuri, buffeting him alongside a crisp winter breeze. Noses and cheeks glowed red in the cold. Warm breath formed puffs of white fog in front of smiling faces. Excitement filled the air, as did sparkling lights, the noise of hundreds of thousands of voices all talking at once, and the scent of alcohol.

Times Square on New Year’s Eve. What a thrilling place to be. Masses of individuals all eager to ring in the new year, emitting so much positive energy one could practically get high on it. If, that was, one didn’t have to weed out the vampires that slithered through the crowd, preying upon humans who remained trapped in place by the throng.

Yuri eyed one such vampire who had buried his face in a human woman’s neck. Had he bitten her yet?

Her head fell back, her eyes closing as her lips parted in apparent pleasure.

Yeah, he had bitten her.

When vampires and immortals transformed, glands formed above the retractable fangs they grew. Under the pressure of a bite, those glands released a chemical that behaved much like GHB, leaving the victim sluggish and willing to accede to anything the vampires wanted to do to them. Tomorrow morning, the woman would have no memory of this.

Palming a dagger, Yuri shouldered his way through the throng, nodding and smiling at those he passed even as he dodged their big blue top hats. He glanced at the clock.

Perfect timing. They were about to begin the ten-second countdown to eleven o’clock.

Yuri bumped into the vampire.

As expected, the vamp removed his fangs from the woman’s neck and spun around to snarl at Yuri.

Yuri buried his blade in the vampire’s heart and twisted it to ensure the wound wouldn’t heal before the vamp bled out.

Gripping Yuri’s shoulder to help him remain on his feet, the vampire gaped up at him.

Yuri withdrew his dagger and drove it into the vampire’s abdominal aorta just as the countdown began.

The vampire tried to draw a weapon.

Yuri snatched it from his hand and pocketed it.

The vampire staggered, then sagged against Yuri, any sound he made going unheard amidst the shouts of the revelers.

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