Read Crave 02 - Sacrifice for Free Online

walk out of here even if every door was unlocked.”
    “We should just kill her,” Richard said. “It’s insane to keep a human in our midst.”
    “She’s locked in and she’s weak,” Millie said. “And, anyway, she needs our blood to live. If she leaves, she dies. She knows that.”
    “I knew it—you talked to her,” Richard spat. “I can smell her scent on you. Tomorrow you won’t be on guard duty again.”
    “That’s not up to you,” Millie said.
    “Then I’ll tell Ernst,” Richard replied. He shot an imperious look at Gabriel, and it felt like a slap. Other than their father, it had always been Gabriel in charge. Well, at least since Sam. Gabriel was the eldest, the second-in-command. No one had ever said it, but no one had ever had to.
    “You took my place while I was gone,” he said softly, looking his brother in the eye. “You’re not happy to see me, Richard.”
    Richard had the decency to look embarrassed, but only for a split second. “I’m not happy that you chose to expose us all to danger of the worst kind, no,” he said. “And I don’t understand how you can stand it—either of you.” He glanced at Millie. “The stink of that thing repels me.”
    Gabriel fought the urge to breathe in deep, to revel in Shay’s scent on Millie. The smell of her was intoxicating to him, as it had always been. Enticing, almost unbearably so . . . and deadly. He’d drunk fromShay once, and it had almost killed him. The blood of a vampire was poisonous to another vampire. And his own blood had been pumping through Shay’s veins when he drank.
    “It doesn’t smell human,” Luis commented. “I didn’t smell it when you arrived, or at least I couldn’t tell it was human.”
    “She,”
Gabriel put in. “Why do you all need to use such hateful terms? Shay is a she, not an it. She’s Sam’s daughter. She’s a part of all of us.”
    “He’s right,” Millie said.
    “What?” Richard barked.
    “It’s just that we all keep thinking of her as a human,” Millie said. “But she’s a halfblood. And is it really fair to blame her for that? Whatever her parents did, it’s not her fault.”
    Luis looked troubled, but Richard sneered. “She’s the living result of Sam’s betrayal of his own family. See? I can call it a she too. That doesn’t change the facts.”
    Gabriel felt a wave of exhaustion, a heavy, almost nauseating feeling.
    “It’s almost sunrise. We’ve got to sleep,” Luis said, his voice thick.
    “You’re sure the halfblood is secure?” Richard asked Millie.
    Millie nodded, but her eyes darted to Gabriel again. Gabriel allowed himself a wry smile. He didn’t need the communion to know that his family was confused. Now that he was back, should they look to him for guidance, or to Richard?
    Look to Richard,
he wanted to say.
I won’t be here for long.
He’d come home expecting his family’s acceptance, and he still wished he could convince them that Shay had the right to be here. But hecouldn’t take the time, not with her so close to death. He’d have to escape with her, now, tonight, and never look back.
    The thought was painful. He loved Millie. Loved his father, loved them all. They had been his entire world. But that was Shay now.
    Luis headed toward the hallway that led to their sleeping chambers. Everyone had their own room, except Richard and Tamara, who shared. It hadn’t been that way in Gabriel’s first vampire family. Back in Greece, he and Sam and Ernst had slept in one big cave along with the rest of their family. It felt more natural that way. But after the massacre Ernst had insisted on separate rooms. He thought it would be harder for humans to kill them all at once if it meant breaking into several different rooms.
    Richard followed, his feet dragging.
    Gabriel’s limbs felt like lead. Just standing up made his head swim. The sun sapped his strength more than Martin’s IV lines ever had. Sleep pulled at him.
    “I hope Tamara found a place to