Read Mated for Free Online Page B

and Jane was struggling to breathe. Either it was real, or she was crazy and the delusions had returned.
    She watched as the demon floated up in the air and landed on the balcony beside her, graceful and silent.
    “There you are, my beautiful angel. I thought I’d lost you.” His voice was a rich baritone, a sound at once so pleasant to her ears and so horrible and terrifying.
    She backed away until she was inside the frat house, a wall meeting her back abruptly, stopping further retreat. He closed in on her, one hand pressed flat against the wall on either side of her face. Staring at him, she could just make out the faintest image of the man the others saw. He wasn’t just a monster. He was the monster. The same one she’d seen as a child.
    “I’ve been looking for you.”
    Her voice came back to her then. “W-why?”
    “To kill you, of course. You can see me, but I can’t get into your head. My sire would love to put you in his collection. But too bad, I found you first. Do you know why you are like you are?”
    She shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself. The monster dragged a finger over her cheek. He was so cold. “One of your parents has had our blood and is running free. And when I find out which one, they’re dead.”
    “No, please.”
    The monster ignored her plea and continued on. “That blood now runs in your veins. You’re Kindred in a weak human shell. Do you really imagine we would let such an abomination live? Tell me, child, do you dream of us? Do you get the visions you’ve no right to?”
    She shook her head frantically. “No, I don’t know what you mean.”
    The door flew open, and a drunk Rich stumbled in. He looked up and pointed at the monster. “You tryin’ to hit on my girl?” He swaggered a bit, unsteady on his feet then pointed back at himself with bravado. “Cause, she’s my girl. We’ve been going steady for . . . ” He looked up at the ceiling trying to count, his facility with basic math suddenly lost to him. “ . . . for awhile now.” Then he turned to Jane, his eyes narrowing. “You ain’t cheating on me with this pretty boy, are you baby?”
    “Rich, get out of here!”
    His eyes narrowed as he approached them, the situation seeming to sober him up. He jabbed a finger into the monster’s chest. “You think just cause you’re older and better looking than me that you can come in here and take my girl?” He turned back to her. “Seriously, Jane. What do you see in this joker?”
    “Rich, go. Just go, please.”
    Her eyes widened in horror as the monster’s clawed hands came up and gave Rich’s head a firm, quick twist, and his lifeless body fell to the ground.
    “That’s better,” the monster said. “Now you . . . ”
    Jane wanted to scream, but no sound would come out. Even if her exit wasn’t blocked, she wasn’t sure if her legs would have obeyed her desire to run. This is a dream. It’s a dream. It has to be a dream. You’ll wake up. It’s a dream.
    The monster looked her over. “You, my dear, I’ll drink. You’re not nearly as annoying as the boy. And I’m sure you taste much sweeter.”
    As her head was forced to the side, she squeezed her eyes shut to avoid looking at her boyfriend on the ground. The monster’s fangs slid into her throat, and she was disgusted by how her body reacted to him. He chuckled against her skin. When he’d had his fill of her, he pulled away and licked the puncture marks.
    “Oh yes, you undeniably have our blood running in your veins. I can’t thrall you, and a normal human wouldn’t have been able to withstand the pain my bite delivers. You have a high pain threshold, don’t you, my dear?”
    She looked out the open doorway where the sounds of the college party still going on below drifted up to her ears. This wouldn’t have happened if I’d stayed with the others. She’d come upstairs to wait for Rich, so they’d have privacy to do what teenagers often did in strange homes away from their