Read The Demon King for Free Online Page B

Roman’s vampires were, and she couldn’t eat
food!
    Was Evie delusional? Or was
she just teasing her to be intentionally cruel? That couldn’t be it. It
wasn’t something she’d have expected from Evelynne D’Angelo, not in
ten lifetimes. The woman was practically composed of
empathy.
    “ You’re teasing me, aren’t
you?” Maybe she was trying to toughen her up or
something.
    “ Not at all. It’s truly
better than the croissants, which Roman hasn’t yet
perfected.”
    Dahlia blinked. Confusion
ran rampant through her brain. “ What ?” she finally asked.
    Now Evie grinned, and this time, Dahlia
could see her fangs, all pretense gone. Evie picked up a chocolate
chip cookie, held Dahlia’s gaze, and took a massive bite. Dahlia
watched in fascination as she chewed – and then swallowed. “They’re
made for people like us, Dahlia. Dig in.”
    Holy….
    “ Yeah,” said Evie around
her toothy grin. “This one’s just as good as I
remember.”

Chapter Five
    Dahlia had never dived for anything so fast
in her long life. The first cookie she downed, she barely tasted,
though there was a lingering deliciousness across her tongue that
melted into the background of her consciousness as she took three
big bites of her second cookie.
    There was a sound coming from her, some kind
of cross between a low growl, a sort of moan, and an inkling of
pig-like scarfing. She couldn’t have cared less.
    Evie leaned forward, resting her head in her
hands and her elbows on the table. “I would have brought you here
right away after you’d been turned, but Roman was worried about a
transformation backlash.”
    Dahlia looked up. A transformation backlash
sometimes occurred when someone was turned into a vampire. At least
with Roman’s breed, the dark magic that caused the transformation
could sometimes overwhelm a mortal’s mind and… well, bad things
happened.
    Since none of Roman’s vampires had even been
aware other vampires existed, Dahlia could understand Roman’s
concern that being turned by no less than the Entity himself would
cause one hell of a backlash in Dahlia. But it turned out she
wasn’t that kind of vampire. And that the transformation itself was
damn well bad enough as it was.
    Dahlia finished chewing, swallowed another
warm, gooey, chocolaty bite, and had a decision to make. Ask the
question resting on her tongue? Or have another pastry?
    She picked up a cupcake and took a bite so
big, it left multi-colored frosting all over her nose. Evie
chuckled. “You’re quite the picture. A drop-dead stunning woman
with an even more stunning body devouring more sugar than every
model in the world has ever ingested in all of their lifetimes
combined. You know, there are a lot of guys out there who would get
really turned on watching you right now.”
    Now Dahlia laughed as well, nearly spewing
chocolate crumbs across the table. She had the forethought to close
her lips and even cover her mouth, however. When she swallowed, she
glanced at the tea pot and its two delicate tea cups and gave Evie
a questioning glance. Evie nodded.
    Dahlia grabbed the pot, poured herself a
steaming cup, and then dumped a bunch of milk into on top of it.
When it was good and creamy, she lifted the porcelain to her lips
and inhaled slowly. The tea’s delicate scent was perfect. She took
a sip.
    “ Oh my gods.”
    “ I agree. He did a
particularly good job on that,” said Evie. “Though I suspect Lalura
had something to do with it as well, since she likes to visit Roman
for tea.”
    Dahlia slowly lowered her
cup. “Roman made all of this?” she asked gesturing to the entire tabletop of
delights, but really she meant not only the stuff on the table, but
also all that lay beyond it in the cavern.
    “ He did. He wanted to
create a food for vampires that it wouldn’t take warlock
protections to ingest. Say, if you’re exhausted, you’re fresh from
the fight, and you’re sapped of power. You need rest and
nourishment, and frankly,