Free Vampire Mate: BBW Paranormal Romance by Natalie Kristen

horror on her face. “Yes, my dear, that is
my collection of souls. If a Made demon is destroyed, either by his
own hand or by another without first being freed by his demon Maker,
his soul is trapped forever by his Maker.” He clucked his
tongue. “Some of my Made demons thought they could escape by
offing themselves. Such foolishness. Well, now they can never
escape. But enough talk of useless souls. We're talking about the
land. Why do you think that piece of land is so rich, Charlene?””
    She forced the words through
her constricted throat. “There are...some beasts buried
there,” she ventured. “Livestock.”
    “ Livestock!” Kron
made a face. “Really, Charlene, you weren't Made yesterday!
Come on, Charlene. You can do better than this. This is not what I
expected of you,” Kron warned through his frozen smile.
    She inhaled shakily and came
up with the only answer there was. “There are beasts and
bloodshed on that land.”
    “ Yes! Yes! That is
right, Charlene! Do you know how so much blood came to be spilled on
that piece of land?” His eyes glittered excitedly.
    Before she could shake her
head, Kron went on with relish, “During the last Great War
between vamps and weres, this land, this sweet piece of land was an
execution site for the weres that were captured by the vampires. The
vampires rounded up and executed millions, millions of weres on that
land. The executions were bloody, violent, spectacular, the way
executions should be. The vampire executioners tore out the throats
and hearts of the weres, sometimes with silver blades, sometimes with
their bare fangs. The blood of the slaughtered beasts seeped deep
into the land, permeating the whole land. The soil is rich, so, so
rich, with their blood. The executed beasts were buried or burnt at
the execution site, so their remains are mixed with the soil. Beasts
and blood, Charlene, on that prime land.”
    Charlene sat in silence for a
long time. “What will happen after you get that land?”
she asked softly.
    “ I'm getting on in
years, Charlene,” Kron said with a sigh. “I need more,
much more than what you and my other demons can bring me, to sustain
my power. Aging demon lords of chaos may try to engineer a
large-scale catastrophe or war to feed their waning power. Me? I
need a large injection of bloody, barbaric, beastly essence. If I
build my base on that land, I will have the essence and energy I need
for the next few decades. And you, my dear, can take a break from
hunting. How'd you like that? You can go have a holiday, enjoy
yourself...with your sister.”
    At his last three words,
Charlene's entire body froze.
    “ Yes, your sister,
Charlotte Cole. Lovely thing with green eyes, like you, strawberry
blond hair and a very dangerous job.”
    Charlene listened to Kron's
accurate description of Charlotte's appearance. The demon clearly
had the right girl. He knew of Charlotte, and he knew where she
worked.
    “ Dangerous job?”
she choked out at last.
    “ Why, yes. Your sister
is an Enforcer. She hunts rogues, patrols unsavory, shadowy corners
of the city, chasing violent, beastly rogues into dark alleyways...”
Kron shook his head. “It's just not safe. No one is safe
these days. Accidents happen. Enforcers are killed. Just like
that.” He snapped his fingers to emphasize his point. “You
can ask Glenn Constantine if you don't believe me. He is a Council
member. Ask him if Charlotte Cole is a PAC Enforcer.”
    Charlene fisted the fabric of
her gown and fought the urge to lunge at the demon and rip out his
throat. The threat against her sister was thinly veiled, in fact,
hardly veiled at all.
    “ Or perhaps you would
like to see for yourself.” Kron appeared in front of Charlene
and before she could block him, he had scratched her neck with a
long, curved claw. Blood flowed from her wound, and Kron dipped his
claws into her blood and scattered it in the air in front of her.
The blood mist formed a sort of canvas, and moving