Free Forbidden (The Preternaturals) by Zoe Winters

won’t follow you or tell anyone we
met.”
    “Very well. There are too many lights and too much noise in this town,
anyway. I thought I could get lost here for a while.” The purple
ball of energy shrank and then sizzled out into nothing but a small
string of smoke that dissipated into the church.
    She opened the door, and a raven flew in. The bird squawked angrily as he
made swooping circles around the sanctuary.
    “Henry! It’s fine. Stop it.” The bird flew to the girl and perched on her
shoulder, ruffling his feathers and gurgling in his throat—only
slightly mollified. “One more thing.” She pointed to Angeline.
“You need to kill her. She can’t be trusted. Her word is
worthless. If you won’t do it, I will.”
    “I’ll handle it.”
    The girl nodded and left the church, pulling the door shut behind her.
    Hadrian pushed Angeline back out to the porch. “Move.” When he’d tied
her back up, he pulled a second rocker in front of her and sat,
regarding her calmly.
    “Why did you go back inside? Why didn’t you leave through the courtyard
when you had the chance?”
    Angeline avoided his eyes. “I went back for my cloak and bag.”
    “I hope it was worth your life.”
    “Hadrian, please. You know me. Let me go. I won’t bother you. And I won’t
bother that girl, either. You’ve made your point. Would you kill
one of your own kind? Humans are food, but I’m like you.”
    He arched a brow. “ Father Hadrian. And I haven’t been your
kind long enough to feel much loyalty. As for knowing you, you’ve
never let me in enough. You’ve just come to Mass and flirted. I’ve
never known anything of substance about you. I still don’t.”
    “What do you want to know? That I was turned two hundred and twenty years
ago by a sadistic psycho named Linus? That I finally got strong
enough to escape him after decades in his warped care? That anytime I
feel his presence, I uproot and move myself? The things in that bag
are all I’ve got. I just wanted someone like me. Is that so bad?”
    It was unsettling to watch the vampire cry and mean it.
    Her voice was barely above a whisper when she spoke again. “We could be
great together.”
    Hadrian pushed his chair away and stood. He needed to move. He couldn’t
stand to absorb her past traumas like a sponge. He had to remember
why he was doing this. “You planned to turn me into your puppet,
just like your sire did to you. I don’t know if the power I have
over you can be maintained. Either way, I don’t want a constant
struggle. You took my old life and gave me this one instead, but I
want it to be my life. I’m not your plaything, and I have no
need for you to be mine.”
    “I wouldn’t have been like him.”
    But Father Hadrian heard the change in her voice and knew it was at least
a partial lie. “We still have time before the sun comes up. I’ll
hear your confession if you want to give it to me.”
    “For nearly two-and-a-half centuries of destruction? I can’t even
remember most of it.”
    He took her hand in his. “Then I’ll just pray for your soul.”
    Hadrian stayed with her until he could see the pink edges of light as dawn
climbed out of the night.
    “I must go inside now.” He knew Tamara was right that he should greet
the sun with his sire. But he found himself unable to resist the
siren song of power and what this new life could mean for him.
    Angeline gripped his hand. “Take me with you. Just think about what you’re
doing. You can always kill me later if I can’t change.”
    He shook his head. “I don’t think so. You’re too dangerous.
Letting you live another day would be the stupidest thing I could
ever do. And I promised the girl. This isn’t the end, it’s a new
beginning for you. You and I have both seen that room with the doors.
All those possibilities are waiting. You can start over in a new life
and not have your past follow you. Aren’t you tired of all this?”
    Tears slid down her cheeks, and she looked away.