Read Last Bitten (The Emerald Night Series) for Free Online Page B

top spire itself. The room was very small, and a coffin lay upon the floor—a single lily carved upon the silver lid. On the other side of the coffin, another set of stairs went straight down.
    “Wow,” said Nia, bending for a closer look . “I don’t know about this . . . I don’t think I can sleep in there. I mean I know the routine. I’ve seen the movies. It’s just not me really, but that bed . . . can I sleep there?”
    Florence gave her a serious look , nodding towards the shining casket.
    “Seriously .”
    Nodding yes and gesturing for Nia to follow, as she moved, Florence hurried back down the stairs into the walk-in closet. She could hear rustling and then Florence emerged with a massive, emerald-green, basque-styled gown with an emerald-beaded corset. The skirt flounced out in many layers of tulle.
    It was enough t o send Nia begging for a hot shower.
     
     

 

     
     
    What am I doing? What am I doing? This isn’t real. I’m not a slave to the night. I’m just not. I’m not one of them. I don’t even know this Johnny, and I’m married to him just because I said yes, in a club, drunk out of my wits? We’re not married—not really. This whole thing is farce. I’m deranged. Of all the things I have done in my life . . . What’s wrong with me? This dress, this ring, everything. Oh my God—Johnny. What have you done to me? What are you doing to me?
    “A bit of the wedding jitters?”
    “I guess,” said Nia, watching the only constant in her world—the moon—and even it changed night to night. Maybe nothing was constant.
    “It’s normal . Don’t fret.”
    “I am fretting , if that’s what you want to call it, Bruce. You have me locked in this room in this unknown location with nothing, but what?—this odd circular window to glare out, and I just don’t really get what in the exact heavens in going on. I have to just walk down the aisle in front of a bunch of bloodsucking strangers?”
    “ Yes,” said Bruce. He had redressed in an all-black, Dupioni silk tux.
    “Y ou are one of them too. I didn’t notice before, but I do now in this awful, quiet room. You just fed too . . . while I was getting ready, right? Who was it? Some innocent?”
    Bruce raised one serious -bushy, silver brow. “You are going to walk down that aisle. You know you want to.” He winked. “You’ve always known. You just don’t remember.”
    “See , now you are playing games, messing with my mind. None of this is happening.” Nia closed her surly eyes, folded her arms, and leaned her head on the window glass. Her mind felt just as tight as her gothic hairdo—just one black strand left to escape over her ivory cheek. Still holding the emerald ring, she exhaled over the prison of the laced-up corset.
    The iron door swung open .
    “It’s time . Bring her.”
    Surprised, Nia stared at the woman standing in the doorway. She had long, sleek, white-blonde hair that just barely touched the black-marble floor and wore a tight, black-crystal gown that hid all of her skin except her bursting décolletage. Nia’s dark heart sank at the sight of this stunning creature, remembering what she had done to Florence . . . and God knows what else.
    The woman smiled at her warmly like she already knew Nia’s thoug hts. “I am Emelle. I am your maid of honor. Bruce is the best man, if you hadn’t already figured that out.”
    “I am Nia , if you haven’t already figured that out.” Nia dropped her hands on her hips
    “Ah ah ah hhh . . .” Emelle chastised Nia, waving a long, black nail at her, then she snuck up behind Bruce and pressed her chest into his back. “We have a biter here. She’ll fit right in, won’t she, Bruce?” He took a step forward and away from Emelle, whose arms dropped to match the melancholy of her pouted, purple lips and sad, purple eyes. “He’s waiting. They are all waiting. We can make bosom acquaintances later, yes?”
    Nia di dn’t answer, but felt a sense of urgency which stuck her