Free Aleron: Book One of Strigoi Series (Stringoi Series) by Kane Page A

my senses. I opened them to see the moon. Yes, it was more than enough light for him to see me. If there was ever a meal that I wanted to see my true nature, it was Eli. Death had arranged a special messenger for him. He’d be reunited with his victims in a manner that only a vampire could deliver.
    Eli affixed his eyes upon me. I grinned and revealed my vampire teeth. He opened his mouth and spattered, “You’re not human! Are you the devil?” Saliva flew from his lips and onto my face as he strained to speak. Coughing profusely and hardly able to formulate more words, he muttered, “Are you here to take me to hell?”
    I slightly loosened my grip. “Eli, I’m surprised at you. For months you’ve played Death’s reaper to the innocent. Seventeen lives, to be more precise. And though they begged you to spare them or their loved ones, you answered with either your knife, or your penis and then the knife. So for you, yes. I am your reaper! I am your devil! I will deliver you to whatever afterlife awaits you.”
    Once dangling, he did not struggle out of fear that the slightest movement would send him plummeting to his certain death. “What are you going to do to me?” he gasped.
    A strange yet inviting feeling took over me. I had the sudden urge to put the laws of gravity to the test. And so I did. I stepped off the roof into the open air. I allowed Eli to look down. He realized there was nothing holding me, and total despair filled his face. I brought my nose within an inch of his, as he had done with the girl. I smiled again and took him straight up into the night air, twirling him to further exacerbate his unease. I bit into his neck as we soared, draining almost all of his blood. I didn’t want to kill him just yet. He stared at me as we flew.
    “I’ve drained you nearly to the point of death, Eli,” I softly told him.“But I won’t kill you. I’m merely an instrument.” Then I dropped him. Too weak to scream out, Eli expelled a pitiful sigh as he started his descent. I could see his fear; it was a look he must have seen at least seventeen times before in the faces of the unfortunate innocent. I could hear his once steady heartbeat race, just as the pulse of his victims had soared. His grizzly deeds played over and over in my mind as my vampire eyes followed him down.
    Before he hit the ground, Eli struck the corner of the building. I heard his vertebrae shatter in several places. I could also hear his heart beating so profoundly that I knew it would burst from the shock of death racing upon him. A bane on society, Eli preyed upon the public, and it was only fitting that his end should be public as well. Eli landed in the middle of the square, a heaping, bloody mess for all to see. Screams and gasps filled the air below. It was fitting.
    I alighted with stealth, much differently from when I announced my presence to Eli. I wanted to see the justice I dispensed personally. I wanted to scan the thoughts of the people who witnessed the aftermath of this gruesome death. I needed to see.
    Landing just beyond the crowd, I raised the collar of my coat to create a bit of a shadow on the profile of my face. Though fresh blood was coursing through me, my skin appeared quite unnatural in the full moon. I drew in and buttoned my overcoat to hide Eli’s only contribution to this world, his blood. I wiped his offering from my mouth and stepped toward the onlookers now gathering en masse around the body. Avoiding detection, I looked upon him. Poor Eli. His wish had been granted: eternal, blissful death.
    I was about to depart unnoticed, as I’d arrived, when I heard a familiar voice say, “Thank you.” It was the girl, and she was, again, staring directly at me. She had seen me take to the air. She had seen how easily I had disposed of Eli. She knew I wasn’t human. She knew! By the code, she was condemned to death. Mercy again played its part. I couldn’t bring myself to kill her after saving her, for she reminded