Read Chosen by Blood for Free Online Page A

cutting off her air.
    “Hey, Toby,” the man restraining her said, “thanks for keeping her busy while I—”
    Felicia slammed the back of her head into her assailant’s face and then, spreading her fingers wide, dug them into the vulnerable skin near his groin. With a surprised shriek, the man’s arms loosened slightly, enabling Felicia to twist around. With a vicious chop to his neck, she took him down. Smoothly, she spun, pulled her weapon, then pointed it at “Toby,” who had just taken a step toward her.
    “Uh-uh,” Felicia said softly.
    He froze.
    Crouching, never taking her eyes off Toby, she pat-searched the man on the ground. He was still out cold and would be for a while. Holding up his ID, she memorized his name before returning his wallet to his pocket. Then she rose and smiled tightly. “So, Toby, who is she and where did you find her?” she asked, jerking her head at the dharmire, who was now swaying and blinking owlishly at them.
    “She’s my girlfriend . . .” he began even as he reached inside his jacket.
    Felicia shot a round into Toby’s shoulder. He fell back against the wall with a muffled shout. His legs buckled and he slid to the ground. Staring first at the spreading blood on his shoulder, then at Felicia, he exclaimed, “You fucking shot me!”
    “You reached inside your jacket,” she calmly responded.
    “Not for a weapon, you crazy bitch!”
    “What then? A Hallmark card?”
    He didn’t answer.
    “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Stepping closer, she reached inside his jacket, pulled out a cheap .22 caliber pistol, and tucked it inside her rear waistband, shifting so that Aaron Turner, the man on the ground, could never reach it should he wake. Her eyes flickered disdainfully to Toby’s groin and, she was certain, the other diminutive accessory he was packing. “Why am I not surprised? Now, I’ll ask you one more time and then I’m going to aim lower. Who is she?”
    “I don’t know . . .” He screeched when Felicia lowered her sights on his crotch. “No wait! Her name’s Mara. I picked her up at the Greyhound Station around the corner. I invited her for a drink.”
    “Uh-huh. And what’d you pump her up with first?”
    “Just—just some ecstasy.”
    Shit. Drugs didn’t affect vamps as badly as they did mages, but a vamp who took one dose of ecstasy would likely be twice as affected as a human. Twice as helpless. “Did you rape her?”
    “What? Of course not.” The man whimpered when Felicia took a step closer. “I didn’t, I swear.”
    Gently taking the dharmire by the arm while keeping the gun steady, Felicia guided her to her side. “I hope you’re not lying. If you are, you’ll have to deal with something far scarier than me. This girl is part of the Devereaux clan.”
    The man paled even more and sweat covered his face in a glossy film. “D—Devereaux?” he whispered. “You mean she belongs to that—to that vamp who fought in the War? The one who—who . . .” He swallowed hard, obviously too scared to continue.
    “So you have heard of him. Good. Then I don’t have to say anything more, now do I?”
    Stepping carefully around Turner, Felicia tugged the girl toward her car. She’d just opened the passenger door when Toby’s whine reached her.
    “I didn’t know she was his.”
    Felicia paused. She looked down at the young girl beside her and smiled ruefully. “Then that was your first mistake. Because they’re all his.”
    Felicia tucked the dharmire into her Honda Civic and clicked the seat belt into place. The girl closed her eyes, but a few tears escaped anyway. “You know Knox?” she whispered.
    “Yeah. I know him.” Felicia got behind the wheel and watched Toby stumble into the bar. Swiftly, she used her cell phone to call the local FBI office and gave the field agent on duty her location, as well as the names and descriptions of Toby and his friend. The Black Hole’s perimeter was video monitored per federal regulations, so she