Read Burning (Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy #1) for Free Online Page A

Why?”
    “ To give you perceived power. It’s the first time we have ever tried to trick them like this.”
    “ I wonder what they’ll think. I gotta tell ya, Gabrielle, this is pretty amazing that you are a famous singer and a vampire hunter.”
    “ Staying busy helps with the long-term grief over Rudolph.” Warming up her voice, she sang a few bars of Edith Piaf’s La Vie En Rose into the mic.
    “ Nice. You have that whole throaty-girl-who-smokes-Gauloises voice going on.”
    “ Very funny.”
    “ Truth is, except for barbecues, I have a pet peeve: I hate anything that’s burning because it messes up my sharp sense of smell. If you quit smoking now, maybe you’ll soon be able to smell well enough to spot knock-off perfume in an airport duty-free shop. And maybe you’ll still be around to sing in your old age if I teach you how to sniff out the vamps.”
    “ If Vlad gets to me tonight, before I get to him, the fat lady will have sung for the last time.”
    “ You aren’t fat. You’re curvy. Rudolph liked the curvy types with that somethin’-somethin’ walk.”
    “ You remind me so much of Rudolph. The cadence of speech. Your sense of humor.”
    “ I aim to please,” I said lightly.
    She tilted her face up at me and I saw the shine of tears run down her cheeks. Alarm bells went off in my head as the spotlight shone on the moist, red lips that trembled for Rudolph. The way she looked at me was the way that a woman looks at a lover. I could smell intimate physical desire on her—and it shocked me.
    I took a deep breath and let it out. “Stop looking at me like that. I’m very married and we have a child. You were my brother’s woman. Therein lay my boundaries. Forever.”
    “ Boundaries are good. I suppose,” she said, clearly a little disappointed.
    “ You’re a nice woman who can’t let go of my brother—I look like him, so this must be painful for you. I’ve spent much of my life dogging Rudolph’s footsteps, both alive and dead. It wasn’t until recently that I began to stop trying to follow him and be my own man.”
    “ But you still want to kill his killers?”
    “ Of course. He was my brother. I loved him.”
    She looked away, wiping her eyes.
    “You’re gonna wreck your mascara,” I said softly.
    “ I don’t know how to live without Rudolph. What am I going to do?”
    “ One day at a time, kiddo. For now, just belt out the torch songs, and leave the vampire hunting to me.”
    “ We could both kill—”
    “ No,” I said. “I’ll take down Vlad. Grief takes away the fierce edge that we need to actually kill. Sorrow is never as strong as hate and revenge.”
    “ I see you understand the psychology of vampire hunting.”
    “ I could teach a class on the subject. So...you be the bait. Let me take care of Vlad.”
    “ If you can’t take him down, I’ll jump into the fray.” She put a hand over the silver heart pendant around her neck that was hinged to fold into a scythe-shaped weapon.
    “ If I can’t take him, you’ll do no such thing. This guy does not play around. He is evil incarnate .”
    “ I have the second-highest record of kills of our group, after Rudolph. Don’t underestimate the Sisterhood of the Scythe.”
    “ Is that what you call yourselves?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ You work in teams? Who’s your current partner?”
    “ Ambra. She’s my temporary partner but we try to have man-woman partners.”
    “ That sounds sexist, but you can explain later. Is Ambra here? What does she look like? I don’t want to hurt her by accident.”
    “ She’ll be here. Don’t worry, she’s more deadly than any of the Brotherhood of the Blade. Just don’t get between her and any vampire.”
    “ Good to know.”
    “ She’s the female version of you: Scandinavian blonde, blue eyes, lean, athletic body. She’ll be dressed all in black.”
    “ Gotcha. I’ll keep my eye out. Listen, Gabrielle. I suspect Vlad is probably the most dangerous vampire on the planet after