Free Evermore, an Arotas Novella (The Arotas Series) by Amy Miles

heel, giving him the full view. “You like?”
    “Enough
to want to take you up to our room and not come out for a couple of
days,” he says, nuzzling into her neck.
    “Really?
I’m standing right here, guys. I did not need
to hear that,” William grumbles. He tugs at the neckline of his
vest, easily distracted. “What is with these clothes? I feel
like I can’t breathe in them.”
    Nicolae
casts a knowing glance at Roseline. She smirks at the memory of
giving a similar set of clothes to him just before they went to Torrent in
search of Fane. “Roseline has a thing for leather.”
    “It’s
not a thing,” she counters, grabbing Gabriel’s arm to
steer him toward the door. “It’s a way of life.”

    The
streets of Brasov are alive tonight, filled with drunken pub goers
and mouthy teens who cling to dark glass bottles within crumbled
paper bags. People loiter along the sidewalks. Some are couples
window shopping arm in arm while others dip into well-lit cafes for a
late-night snack.
    To
say she is uncomfortable with being in the heart of a human town is
an understatement, but to know that this is Brasov makes her doubly
uneasy. Although the town has changed and the people have come and
gone, this place still holds too many memories for her.
    The
black church stands resolutely ahead of her, lit brilliantly against
the night sky. Wide beams of light shine upon its stone walls,
highlighting the beautiful stained glass windows. The original church
didn’t have fancy windows or stone exterior. It was wooden and
much smaller. That is until her wedding night when Vladimir razed it
to the ground.
    Expelling
a small shudder, Roseline turns a corner and happily puts her
memories behind her. “You okay?” Gabriel asks.
    “Yeah.
It’s just… weird. I usually avoid coming here, for
obvious reasons.”
    Considering
that her late husband gave birth to the vampire myths that have
plagued Transylvania and modern-day Romania for hundreds of years,
she is always leery of being seen. Most people have chosen not to
believe in the myths, writing them off as just a tourist ploy. Others
accept them all too readily but are sadly misled as to the true
nature of the myths. And still others have an odd fascination with
what they would deem to be the occult, mingling blood drinking with
the horror of pagan rituals and gruesome sacrifices. These are the
people who worry her the most.
    They
flock to Romania each year in hopes of stumbling across a real-life
vampire in a darkened back alley. More than one tourist has found
just what they were looking for. At least that was the case when
Lucien was still alive. He did so enjoy targeting tourists as his
source of entertainment. Since his death, the crime rate in Brasov
has improved drastically.
    Behind
her she can still hear William grumbling about the tight fit of his
clothes. Having been predominantly a T-shirt and jeans sort of guy,
she can understand why his new outfit might be a bit…
constricting.
    To
his dismay, Claudia chose to remain behind. Roseline has a sneaking
suspicion this decision has less to do with her aversion to spending
time in a human city, but more about wanting to be on hand in case
something should go wrong tonight. Before they left, the group made
sure to make a show of their exit. They shouted loudly to each other,
laughed and reveled in the night ahead before peeling out of the
castle grounds in Roseline’s sleek blacked-out Range Rover. If
they really are being watched, there will be little doubt that they
plan to be gone for the entire evening.
    With
Gabriel at the wheel, they arrived in Brasov in no time. He appears
to have gained a bit of a lead foot since becoming immortal. Roseline
has yet to decide if this stems from his lack of fear regarding death
or the simple fact that his reflexes have improved so much.
    Nicolae
and Sadie walk side by side, their heads dipped close as they remark
about small details of the street. Roseline is reminded that this