Read Wanted: A Blood Courtesans Novel for Free Online Page A

watching her defeat a small army of men with just a sword. She sliced their heads clean off their bodies to protect her family. She was their last line of defense, after a long war had taken all the adult males away. She refused to go down without a fight. We needed that strength, that audacity, that passion. Alexandra was my lover, my soul mate, and everything I didn’t think I could be. I learned from her. She met her true death before the Second World War, when Europe had again become a dangerous place. I came to America shortly after that.”
    Corynne considered that for a moment. “I almost picked Alexandra as my new name. I’m not really Corynne, you know.”
    I cupped her chin in my hand. “Yes, you are. This is who you were meant to be.” One more heated kiss, this time I didn’t hold back all the loneliness and desperation I’d endured since losing Alexandra. Thinking I’d wander this world forever without my mate. Never being able to reach across to the other side to stroke her cheek one more time. Corynne grasped my shoulders, the same emotions manifesting in her for entirely different reasons.
    She squeezed her eyes closed, and I kissed her wrinkled eyelids, her nose, and nibbled along her jawline. Small sounds came out of her, straddling the line between protests and pleasure. The pain of wanting so much more. Tonight I’d met an extraordinary woman.
    Her mouth opened in a wordless scream when my fangs pierced the flesh on her neck. Her blood flowed into my body, accelerated by her frantic heartbeat. It warmed me, waking places inside that I’d willed myself to forget.
    For the first time in almost eighty years, I was alive.

 
    Chapter Seven
    Corynne
    “Wake up.” Lady Desiree’s voice yanked me out of a dreamless sleep. “You need to sign your new contract.”
    I made it through my first night as a blood courtesan with my pride, dignity, and hymen intact. The bite mark on my neck throbbed as I padded behind the Lady. I brushed my fingers against the scabs. They tingled, not just at the spot of impact, but deep in my core. Like Nash’s lips were still touching me.
    After our night together, I understood why he wanted me, but at the same time, less than ever. All the talk of good and evil and power. Heavy fog clouded my memory, and I had no idea if I could trust it or if I suffered from a glamour hangover. That was scary. Nash insisted he wouldn’t trick me into anything, but I couldn’t trust him yet. Trust made it too easy for him to turn on me. I needed him way more than he needed me.
    Or did I?
    “Is there coffee?” I asked, fighting a yawn under the weight of Lady Desiree’s disgust.
    “You’ll have time for that human nonsense later.” She of course was already perfect, in a form-fitting dress that would make a man’s imagination run wild, another pair of impossibly thin heels, makeup and hair the same as yesterday, as if she simply slipped a mask over her head to start each night. “We don’t allow courtesans to remain in the building unless they have a contract. Liability.”
    So much for an afterlife without rules.
    She pushed a thick packet of paper at me. I rubbed the remnants of sleep from the corners of my eyes and dove in. I wanted to say to her that this would have been a lot easier to understand after a cup of coffee, but even I knew when to keep my mouth shut every once in a while.
    Nash didn’t go back on his word. He planned to keep me. To do so, he would pay a daily rate for my services. The number jumped off the page, and I didn’t believe everything I read, mainly because there were too many zeroes. An account would be created for me, since I had no ID yet that proved I was Corynne, and food and clothing would be furnished for me every day. My only responsibility was to provide companionship to Nash during his waking hours.
    Nothing about sex. No mention of becoming a vampire. No guarantees.
    I almost signed the wrong name. “Can I add something to this?” I