Read Austin's Lost Bride (The Sterns) for Free Online

transform to fly away and fight again today.
    “You wanted to hurry things along with your challenge so you get that wish. Your man will come soon. He’s already on his way. Of course, you threw him aside years ago, but he will come for you. He still cares. When he does, you’ll get to watch him die. You’ll be the one to kill him.”
    With those words, he was on her instantly. His fangs were out and tearing open her throat before she could even breathe. She tried to struggle against him but it was hopeless. Her hands were bound and he just swatted away her legs as she tried to kick him. Her mind was starting to darken and in moments she would be lost to his power. Turned.
    Using the last bit of her strength, she pulled her mind together and stuck out with her all the power she could gather. She hoped in vain that it would be enough to throw him off her. The force of her attack flowed through her body, through her neck wound and into Mannus. The blow cracked his own concentration for a moment and as the beast entered her soul to begin the turning, she broke through Mannus’s mind and connected with him.
     
     
    She saw her father, dressed in the suit he wore for her wedding, blood stains covering the front. A thrall stood a few feet in front of him and another dead at his side, but he was chained like she was and couldn’t move. The wound on his neck was throbbing red and even in this memory she could feel the rage of the beast roll off him. He was a vampire now. Mannus must have turned him and fed him the now dead thrall as his first victim. She couldn’t bear to look and turned away.
    Fighting was going on in the compound and she could hear gunshots ring out. The door to the room broke down and Mannus crashed through it with Austin and another hunter following him. The hunter fired three rounds at him but Mannus evaded, the bullets shattering the windows behind her father. Before he could aim again, Mannus had struck with his claws, ripping the hunter’s throat out. He clutched his hands against the open wound and dropped to the floor, slowly dying.
    Worry for Austin grabbed her, but Rebecca knew this was a memory and he would survive so she pushed it aside. She glanced again at her father knowing she couldn’t save him, anger and frustration swelling in her as Austin moved farther into the room. Stepping around his fallen friend, he moved more cautiously. He moved into a fighting stance while grasping his own fighting knives. They weren’t as magical as hers, but they were still effective weapons. She could see his plan. Fight defensively to a draw until some more hunters could arrive and then take Mannus together as a group.
    Austin was a skilled hunter and against Mannus alone, it might have worked, but he had a thrall with him and an easy escape route. The fight against him was hopeless.
    She looked again at her chained father and then at Austin. She didn’t know why her father was still chained, he was a vampire and had the power to break them but he hadn’t. It was hard to imagine how broken her father’s spirit must have become to let himself stay chained as he did. If her real body was here, she knew she’d be crying for her father about to die, and the love she wasted on Austin.
    She wanted to leave this memory and go anywhere else. Then they moved. Mannus and his thrall attacked first with Mannus striking with his claws while the thrall pulled out a gun. Austin rolled with Mannus’s attack, thrusting his weapons back at the vampire causing him to pull back slightly. Austin used precious seconds to turn to the thrall and throw one of the knives at him. It flew through the air and struck the thrall in the shoulder, sending him falling back into the chair holding her father.
    Rebecca’s felt herself go cold and could see it was a mistake. Austin had turned away from the more dangerous foe to tackle the thrall and a brief moment is sometimes all a vampire needs to take you down. Austin tried to turn