Free Born In Blood (Born Hunter Book 1) by Nia Davenport Page B

prefer to get through the night without having my blood sucked dry by a nest of vampires.”
                  “I was unaware you actually had any sense of self-preservation,” Aiden responded in false astonishment.
                  “I do when it is not on my own terms.”               Cara turned away to leave, the ride home he offered her be damned. She had yet to make it there anyway and even if it was the middle of the night she was in the heart of one of New York’s most happening social scenes. There were endless cabs in the area milling around, waiting to be of service to the multitude of club and bar patrons.
                  A steel cage locked around her preventing her from walking away. “I give you my word Hunter, nothing or no one will get a taste of you before I do. I will rip the heart out of anyone who dares attempt it.”
                  The words were whispered into her ear but they struck directly at her core. Cara felt as if a million tiny butterflies were fighting to escape her belly at once. Heat rushed to places she felt guilty even acknowledging. Cara pasted on her best unaffected smile. “Seeing as how that will happen never, I guess I do not have any reason to worry. Let’s get this detour over with Your Darkness so that I can finally get home.”
                  The outside of the building may have looked like a neglected, abandoned warehouse but the inside was something else entirely. Luxury and extravagance coated every inch of the it from the moment they stepped through its doors. The entry level was fashioned after a lounge setting. There were plush black leather booths scattered throughout and Persian rugs the color of crimson lined the floors. In the far corner was an open bar stocked only with top shelf liqueurs. An urbane-looking well-dressed vampire leaned over the bar polishing a crystal wine glass. Curiously the entry level was empty except for the bartender and the burly bouncer of a vampire that approached them when they entered. He recognized Aiden at once and bowed to him, acknowledging him as Your Grace. He directed Cara and Aiden to an elevator off to the right marked V.I.P Entrance.
                  “Did you take me to an underground vampire club?” she asked incredulously.
                  “Of course not. Vampire clubs are for the common among us. We are at a private sangue party.” Aiden entered the intimate elevator and held the doors open for her to follow.
                  Cara’s grandparents both had French roots. Her grandfather was the son of French immigrants and her grandmother grew up in Martinique before coming to the States at eighteen to attend college. As a result they insisted their children and grandchildren spoke it fluently. She did not know Italian, but the two languages were similar enough that she knew the word sangue meant blood. She hesitated outside the elevator doors. She was not sure what a blood party was but she could just about guess what it entailed. It was something she wanted no parts of.
                  Aiden sighed as if reading her thoughts. “I did not bring you here to be a participant. I only mean for you to be an observer.” His words made her suspicious about if he had slipped past her mental barriers again. It would certainly explain why she was considering joining him in the elevator.
                  “Think of it this way,” he hedged, “I offer you the chance to experience a part of vampire society most hunters never have. How does the saying go? Know thy neighbor but know thy enemy better.”
                  Cara could not argue with Aiden’s reasoning. Hunters had been trying to gleam in depth information on the inner workings of vampire society and culture for decades. The better you knew your enemy, the better you knew their weaknesses. However, vampires were a notoriously