Free Tears of Blood (The Blood Chronicles) by Tamela Quijas

pleasure. “She loves me, despite my faults and idiosyncrasies. I can assure you she’d never have you, or tolerate your theatrical ways.”
    Amado inclined his head, carefully smoothing his features as his glance shifted to the cap of flaming hair that commanded attention among books and readers. Even after the passage of the last ten years, he recalled the fleeting taste of the woman’s mouth, moments before saving her life.
    “Perhaps not, Delano, for I’m one of those odd sorts…”
    “Odd?” Delight filled the word.
    “Fine, I admit I’m more than peculiar!” Amado remarked halfheartedly, and a wry smile twisted his lips. “I demand attention, and she’d steer me to madness.”
    “Trust me,” Dominic managed. “You learn that living with an author can either drive you to lunacy, or you mold and become accepting of their eccentricities.”
    “She’s as obsessed with her writing, as we are with our libations?”
    Dominic chuckled aloud, the warm sound drawing a few appreciative gazes from the women in a nearby aisle. He ignored the open appraisals, despite the fact he resembled the hero on the latest romance novel cover. Amado admired his calm, and his ability to slip into any given situation with a grace Hollywood would’ve envied.
    Dominic displayed uncaring ease as his gaze shifted to the redheaded woman laughing and signing the inside page of her novels for the adoring fans standing in line. Odd warmth occupied his golden orbs and Amado found himself envying the change in the vampire’s appearance.
    “I never imagined you, of all people, attending a book signing.” Amado joked quietly under his breath, ignoring the chilling gaze darted at him. “You, the great Dominic Delano, once the glorious lawyer to the infamous, the vampire that used to avoid cameras, now glories from the attention.”
    “Cameras have changed from our time, as you well know.” Dominic muttered agitatedly. “They aren’t like the versions that erased our image with the ease of a magic wand.”
    “What one would’ve given in the old days to be cursed as we, and visible on film?” Amado lamented aloud. “Many more of our species would have found employment among mortals earlier!”
    “The digital chips are a wonder, are they not?” Dominic grunted, remembering a time when he banned the telling apparatus from his courtroom. In his not so distant past, he couldn’t afford to have his lack of an image threaten his career as a lawyer. Over the last decade, technology had altered everything, including the common fears of the undead.
    “So, now you attend book store appearances with your woman, and you’re no longer concerned with the details of our affliction?”
    “Apparently, as you so wisely pointed out, I’m not. Here I am, with my obsessive compulsive wife, alongside another vampire with a fondness for Hollywood history.” The sarcasm was obvious and Amado had the grace to appear shamefaced.
    “I’m here out of curiosity, my friend.” He stated with great reluctance.
    “What are you so interested?”
    Amado sighed and the golden flecks in his eyes darkened to match the darker chips of black surrounding his irises. Dominic looked closely into the oddly compelling depths, knowing the shimmering shade of gold proclaimed him as one of the elite faction known as The Brotherhood of Blood. The assembly was a select group of vampires who sought to remove the scourge plaguing the streets, businesses, and criminal underworld of the city.
    Nonetheless, the immortals realized an alternate branch existed outside their carefully selected troupe. Just as there was a secretive society existing in the inner circles of the bustling city, a different faction lingered on the tattered outskirts of the vampire world. The Sanctum, an organization created by the vengeful dead of old Europe, didn’t harbor the need for redemption as The Brotherhood displayed.
    The Sanctum thrived on discord, pain, and innocent blood.
    Amado’s