Chapter Six
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Book #2 - Cycle of Rebirths - Apple | Barnes and Noble | Amazon |
When the vampire Adam starts helping Agent Seven’s
cause, she doesn't trust him, especially when her latest case involves her
cousin Charlotte.
Charlotte was a high-school music teacher
when Nicholae Dragomir found her and charmed his way into managing her career.
She’s happy with minor fame until she meets Simon, a mysterious Englishman
she’s irresistibly drawn to.
Simon lost his
wife Caroline in 1530 to a devastating curse—she’s reincarnated every
generation with no memory of him and he spends his days trapped as a statue. If
they don’t fall in love again by her twenty-fifth birthday, the search starts
all over. He discovers her latest doppelganger in the form of Charlotte Taylor
during a concert attended with his best friend Adam.
When Simon
hesitates to divulge his past to Charlotte,
it sends her straight into Nicholae’s clutches—a vampire in Juliet’s clan—and a
path of destruction. If Agent Seven and Adam don’t save Charlotte in time, she and Simon will
be cursed forever.
This story is
intended for readers over the age of 18 due to adult situations.
Chapter Six
Adam
Friday
Simon came out of
the concert hall with hurried steps.
Opening the passenger-side door, he said, “Hotel.”
“Struck out, eh?” The engine running, Adam put the car in gear
and navigated the parking lot.
“They don’t allow
audience members backstage and she didn’t come out the front.”
“It was a
long-shot.”
Simon was
undeterred. “I can still run into her at
the hotel. The night is early.”
Adam sighed. “Maybe you do. Maybe you have dinner and
charm her socks off. Then what? This concert was one-night-only, so she’ll be
off to another town.”
“So? We’ll follow
her.”
“What if she
doesn’t like you?”
A side-glare. “That only happened once.”
“Which doesn’t
rule out a second time. If you stalk the girl she’ll only call the police on
you. Again.”
Simon thumped the
door panel. “Bloody hell, Adam, it’s
like you don’t want me to be happy!”
“That’s absurd and
you know it. I’m counseling you to take it slow. A modern girl in her twenties
knows to be wary of strange men. Exchange numbers or e-mail or something. Court
her properly, or she’ll never fall in love with you and we’ll be doing this all
over again twenty-five years from now.”
He went
silent. An acknowledgement Adam was
right.
He parked the car
at the hotel. Simon was out and heading
inside as soon as Adam turned the engine off.
He wouldn’t see him again until he got his answer.
Upstairs in their
room, Adam checked in on his son Darius by phone, then searched through the TV
channels until finding something palatable.
L.A.
wasn’t a city he could wander around in if he valued his hide, so he’d be glad
to move on.
Shortly after ten,
Simon came in. By the droop of his
shoulders, he had bad news.
“What happened?
Did you see her?”
“No.”
“Maybe you haven’t
waited long enough.”
He shook his
head. “I had the front desk clerk ring
her room. She turned in for the night.”
He took off his boots. “Must’ve
entered a different way. I was sure she’d come down to eat…”
“Tomorrow is
another day.”
His head
hung. “The clerk said she’s scheduled to
check out tomorrow.”
“Oh. Let me guess,
during daylight?”
“Got it in one.”
Adam muted the
TV. “Look, now you have her name, we can
call Darius and have him search the Web for her concert schedule. The hunt has
just begun.”
“What happened to
your cautionary speeches?”
“I want you to be
careful, not give up.”
A flop back on the
bed. “Now you tell me.”
“Go on, then. You
don’t need me to find the woman.” Plenty
of his searches before and after they met had been carried out alone.
“At least I have a
woman to look forward to, mate.”
Not this tune again. “Oh, no. I have no interest in a wife. Don’t
even start.”
“Darius won’t be
around forever, eventually I’ll be free of this curse, and then you’ll be alone
again. And that wasn’t a pleasant Adam.”
Simon grinned. “I know you like
redheads.”
Just like him to
bring that fact up. She’d smelled like
spring. Not an ounce of fear and a whole
lot of spunk. The burn she left on his
neck itched as it healed. “I can fill my
time without the company of females, mortal
or otherwise.” And especially without
the intriguing red-haired paladin that confronted him at the concert hall.
“But what fun is
that? Just think on it. Immortality is a lot of years to fill. Believe me.”
Of course Adam
knew that. But Simon spoke from the
heart of a man in love and couldn’t understand his comfort with solitude.
Simon had snatched
the remote. Adam groaned at his
selection. He had a penchant for obnoxious
reality shows. Adam took the remote back
and turned the TV off.
“Call Darius.
Faster I unload you on your reincarnated wife, the better.”
Simon laughed.
With the wind back
in his sails, his best friend was once again his insufferably-jolly self.
The hunt was on.
