Free Ravenous by V.K. Forrest Page A

was quick enough. But there weren’t many of God’s creatures quicker than an enraged vampire. The rule was self-defense, but no needless killing. When Liam flew into him, he’d fully intended to follow the rule. He knocked the pistol out of the brute’s hand and sank his teeth into his fat neck.
    The moment the blood rushed into his mouth, Liam tasted the foulness of it. The children . He tasted the children on his lips and it almost made him vomit. He’d have rather drunk sewer water. Apparently a perk of working for pedophiles was that you got your own opportunities.
    Guilty. A sin punishable by death.
    Too disgusted to drink enough blood to kill him, Liam pulled out his knife and cut the bastard’s carotid artery. As he shoved him backward, he saw the fear in the guy’s eyes and he was glad he had frightened him. He was glad his last earthly emotion would be terror. He was glad he was the one who had sent the Frenchman straight to the gates of hell.
    Up to that point, the dream had been an accurate account of what had happened that night, but then he’d heard the screams and the blood had begun to ooze from the stone walls.
    In truth, the screams hadn’t come until later.
    “Liam?”
    He looked up, startled for a second. He didn’t remember walking up her sidewalk or ringing the doorbell. “Peigi.”
    “I was around back raking leaves. Didn’t you hear me? I hollered for you to come around.” She pushed open the screen door. She lived in a pretty turn-of-the-century cottage painted a light turquoise, just one block off the beach. “You mind if I rake while we talk?”
    “No. Not at all.”
    As they walked through the bright, cheerful house decorated in white wicker, yellow chintz, and Georgia O’Keeffe floral prints, he heard the distinctive sound of a video game coming from down the hall.
    He glanced in the direction of the sounds of machine-gun fire and hand-grenade explosions. “You play a lot of ‘Call of Duty,’ Peigi?”
    She wrinkled her nose. She was a small, stout woman with gray hair. Her haircut was a sensible short style, her clothing equally sensible. She had always looked to him as if she’d stepped off the pages of an L.L. Bean catalog. Apparently, an L.L. Bean gal who liked the blatant sexuality of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work. “It’s Brian.”
    Liam lifted his brow. Last time he had seen Brian, Brian had been a seventy-something male L.L. Bean model. Not exactly the PlayStation 3 “Call of Duty” sort of guy.
    “You ever read your e-mail?”
    He didn’t answer.
    “If you did, you’d know more of what was going on around here.” She continued through the open, airy kitchen into a screened-in porch. “Brian was reborn last month.” She pushed the door open, stepping down into the yard.
    Liam followed. Peigi, the current leader of the General Council, always made him a little uneasy. She didn’t seem to get that he was a killer by nature and that she ought to be afraid of him, or at the very least, cautious. Whenever he was around Peigi, she kind of made him feel like he was still an awkward fourteen-year-old.
    “Sorry to hear that.”
    “So is he. He doesn’t want to go to school. He wants to eat pizza, sleep half the day, and play video games.” She grabbed a rake and tossed it to Liam. She was fast for an AARP card carrier with a bit of a beer belly.
    Liam caught it.
    “Into that pile,” she instructed.
    He did as he was told.
    “Brian knows he has to go to school, but I may let it go until after winter break and then enroll him. My nephew .” She rolled her eyes.
    Sept members remained married to the partners they had at the time they were cursed by God in fifth-century Ireland. Any adult had the right to have sex with any other consenting vampire, but to keep life as simple as possible, one was expected to live with his or her spouse for eternity. Or until their situation on Earth changed. For couples like Kaleigh and Rob who were close in age, it wasn’t really