Read Deadly Liaisons for Free Online

to the road once more.
    She attempted to read his mind again, hoping for some inkling of what was the matter. Nothing. She reached out to touch his arm. This time he looked sharply at her. Gladdened to see a more typical reaction from him, she patted his shoulder and concentrated on his thoughts.
    Nothing on Bernard’s mind—a completely blank slate. Though there never was any guarantee her abilities would perform under sleep-deprived conditions.
    Taking a deep, calming breath to placate her raw nerves and focus her energy on planning her escape, she leaned into the soft leather seat. She listened to everything around her while the pickup sped down the dark two-lane road, trying to determine where he was taking her.
    She turned her attention to the scenery. They’d slipped out of the suburbs into the countryside, but nothing seemed familiar.
    “Listen, I know that sometimes the SCU resorts to using strongarm tactics to put rebel investigators and hunters in line, which I am not , Bernard!”
    She stil vividly remembered the time when two of the hunters confined her to a chair, got into her face and tried to coerce her into giving up the notion that a vampire had kil ed her parents. The way they had treated her like she was some kind of a criminal made her believe they were al in on a conspiracy. Which was making her feel horribly delusional right now, and she had to keep her mind straight on the matter. A vampire kil ed her parents. That’s what she knew.
    “Are…are you taking me to SCU headquarters?” She tried to sound sweet and innocent, and not hotter than a boiling kettle of water. The place the headquarters personnel met was kept secret since the vampires threatened annihilation of the SCU two years earlier. So it would make sense that she wouldn’t know the location, but—
    Then a vampire communicated close by. Her skin immediately crawled, and her senses went on higher alert. She wanted to warn Bernard, but she couldn’t without alerting him that she had telepathy.
    “Where are you?” a dark voice telepathical y asked, one of the voices Tezra had “heard” in the warehouse district after the police officer was murdered.
    Who the hel was he speaking to?
    “I’m nearly there.” Bernard sounded relieved he was getting rid of his passenger soon.
    Bernard? Her heart nearly stopped. Somehow he must have lost the battle with a couple of vampires despite how strong and capable he was.
    She touched her wrist blades, giving herself a slight sense of security. Out of reach, her swords were in her bag in the backseat.
    Though she couldn’t kil Bernard just because he’d been turned, not unless he threatened to harm her.
    “You’ve done well, Bernard,” the vampire communicated, his voice clipped.
    “She asked me where I was taking her.”
    “You didn’t tell her.” A hint of alarm edged the vampire’s words.
    “No.”
    “That’s good. Not too much of a struggle, I gather?”
    Tezra detected a bit of humor, hopeful maybe that she hadn’t come so wil ingly?
    “She came without questioning.”
    Yeah, dammit, and if she’d been thinking more clearly, she would have definitely been more on guard. Trying to keep her temper in check, Tezra shielded her mind from the vampires, hoping they’d slip and tel her something useful. Like which of them had kil ed the police officers.
    In a flash, a vampire appeared in the backseat. His smel was different from Bernard’s—a slightly spicy cologne, new leather coat and a hint of blood, indicating he’d probably recently fed. The nape of her neck tingled with anxiety. In such an awkward setting, she couldn’t maneuver to get at him. To her horror, he reached over the seat, grabbed her wrists and rested his cheek against hers.
    She ground her teeth in frustration and twisted to wrench herself free from the ancient vampire’s strong grasp. If she could reach the goodness in Bernard, she stil had hope.
    The blood rushed from her arms and hands while the vampire