Free The Scientific Method: A Vampire Queen Novel (Vampire Queen Series Book 10) by Joey W. Hill

enhanced even beyond what the gods had blessed them with. Brian did strength training with weights as well as punishing ten mile runs along the paths of the vast estate and marshlands. During those workouts, he listened to audio books and articles he downloaded to multitask, but the end result was that the muscles she saw now weren't all supernatural-made.
    Plus, the man was always active, never still. It was nothing to him to climb up a sheer cliff face to examine the type of nest that might be on the top ledge, or walk to the bottom of a river bed to get a silt sample. Unlike most vampires who disliked the water because of their lack of buoyancy, he found such weighted density — and no need for scuba gear — useful for underwater data collection.
    She folded her hands beneath her cheek on the pillow and gazed at him. He had an aristocratic bearing, six feet with a good breadth of shoulders, tapered waist and fine buttocks and thighs. Freeing one of her hands, she slid her fingers over those areas, barely touching him, but then it was too much to resist. With the mood she'd been experiencing these past few days, she needed to touch him. Perhaps the intimacy would ease her heart, fill the emptiness in her soul.
    When awake, his intellect gave his mouth and brow creases that emphasized his intimidating intellect and emotional maturity. But asleep, those lines smoothed. He would always look like a young thirty-something, as most born vampires did once they passed that age, but he had fine features. Pretty, some would say, especially combined with his sandy-colored hair and punch-right-to-a-woman's-heart hazel eyes. She thought of the times she'd seen them rest on her with total absorption. It happened during sex, sometimes during feeding, or when their minds did that tangled DNA thing, coming to the same conclusion as if they were one soul. She cherished each of those moments, even though they were as addictive as a drug, leaving her wanting more.
    When she had time, she collected data on other pending projects. One of those was servant suicide data. While she was smart enough to know not to dwell on that subject when her mood was already low, she couldn't help but think of a journal entry one servant had left. When his Mistress had given Debra the stack of diaries, Debra had asked her if she'd read them. The woman had looked at her as if she'd accused her of reading children's books for leisure, and shook her head. But Debra noticed her hand lingered on the top journal as if the vampire could still feel his life force there, and maybe she could.
    I know what they say the relationship is supposed to be, but if that's the case, why does it feel this way? When I first felt my Mistress's touch upon my soul, I thought I'd never know what it was to be lonely again. Now I realize that to be given that feeling and then have it taken away, nothing more than a temporary feeling from their side of things, is far, far worse. You never get over having that and then not having it again. It leaves you feeling terminally lonely .
    She trailed her fingers down the valley of Brian's spine, to his lower back, the upper rise of his buttock. He was sleeping on his stomach, arms wrapped around the pillow. It made her reach for the curve of his biceps with the other hand, following that impressive rise. She was a woman who was attracted to a man's mind first, not his body, but her Master had quite a body.
    With a smile, she admitted he was probably right about what kind of body he'd have as a mortal, if he wasn't as physically active as he was now. He had the eating habits of a teenager, a considerable sweet tooth and a craving for junk food. Though she'd seen him sit down to samplings of gourmet fare prepared by incredible chefs, typically he picked politely at such offerings. One night after such a dinner she'd come back to the lab to find him with a snack bag of Cheetos. He was savoring the two or three his vampire digestive track could absorb,