Free Blood Mate: A Paranormal Romance by Natalie Kristen Page B

of
blood and gathered Bryn in her thin arms. She struggled and fumbled
under Bryn's dead weight but she wouldn't allow herself to fall. She
didn't drop Bryn even when she slipped and skidded on her
granddaughter's blood. Leaving bloody prints all over the house,
Nana mustered all her strength and staggered out of the house,
bellowing and raging like a bull.
    She had lost her only daughter
and son-in-law so many years ago. She would not lose her grandchild
this night!
    Nana raised her head and
screamed into the night, waking all the neighbors and catching the
attention of a passing Master vampire. Glenn Constantine, the Master
vampire on the Council, was on his way to the PAC Headquarters, when
he heard Nana's soul-shattering scream. Hearing the pure anguish and
wrath in her cry, Glenn had misted to her side in a hurry. The
Master vampire had assumed that he would be rescuing a lady who was
being attacked by a horde of vicious rogues in the street. Nana's
scream and the scent of Bryn's blood led him straight to them.
    Glenn materialized in front of
Nana, preparing to defend her from her attackers.
    But there were no rogues.
    There was only Nana kneeling
on the pavement, cradling Bryn in her arms.
    One look and Glenn knew what
the teenage girl had done. Her wrists were slashed, and her face was
stained with dried tears and blood.
    Glenn tried to help Nana up,
but Nana refused to let go of Bryn. She clutched her dying
granddaughter to her chest and wailed, “Save her! Please,
please save my grandbaby!”
    But Bryn had lost too much
blood. There was no way to save her. She could not be saved. She
could only be turned.
    Glenn Constantine allowed his
fangs to push out past his lips. “Ma'am.”
    Nana didn't flinch, didn't
hesitate when she saw what Glenn was.
    “ Vampire,” she
croaked, struggling towards Glenn on her knees. “Please,
please save her! I beg you, sir! Save my granddaughter!”
    “ Ma'am, I cannot save
her. I can only turn her. If I turn her, she will rise as a
vampire. Do you understand?” Glenn spoke slowly, clearly,
trying to get Nana to understand fully what Bryn would become.
    “ Yes! Yes, I know. I
understand. I accept. Please, turn her. She'll be a vampire, but
she'll be alive. That's all that matters. She's so young. She's
too young to die. She has too much life, too much love, to die.
Please...please don't let her die. Please...”
    Glenn had stared for a moment
into Nana's eyes, and saw her clear understanding and deep love for
her granddaughter. Her granddaughter would become a vampire, and she
would love her all the same, all the more.
    With a grim nod, Glenn took
Bryn from Nana's arms and strode back into the house. “Come.
I will do what I can. The rest is up to her.”
    When Glenn had laid her out on
her bed, he glanced at Nana. From the determined look on Nana's
face, he knew that he wouldn't succeed in persuading her to leave her
granddaughter's side. He made Nana sit down. Then he lifted Bryn's
slit wrists to his mouth and drained the rest of her blood quickly.
Just before she took her last breath, he tilted her head back and
bled into her mouth, forcing his blood down her throat.
    Through it all, Nana kept
stroking Bryn's face, murmuring to her, telling her how much she
loved her.
    Glenn left the house just
before daybreak.
    “ She'll need blood.
Lots of blood,” he'd told Nana before he left. “Go to
the nearest blood bar and buy up as many bottles of fresh blood as
you can. Avoid the caffeinated and alcoholic blood. For a new
vampire, undiluted, fresh blood is best. And keep her out of the
sun.”
    Nana had gone and bought up
the whole store. She dragged the crates of blood home, and filled up
the entire refrigerator with dozens of thick, red bottles.
    The first thing Bryn saw when
she opened her eyes was Nana looming over her with a tray filled with
warmed bottles of blood.
    “ Drink,” Nana
ordered. “Finish every drop, Bryn.”
    As she drank, Nana told her
everything. She