Free Lunar Marked (Sky Brooks Series Book 4) by McKenzie Hunter Page A

were in the same room—there wasn’t a way to ignore it because you found yourself drowned by their animosity and power. It was hard to withstand and even harder to disregard.
    Demetrius answered the door of Sable’s home. His odd black opal eyes regarded me for a long time before he directed them toward Sebastian. Demetrius opened the door wider to let us in but seemed reluctant to offer us a formal invitation, his irritation apparent as he drew his lips into a tightly fixed line.
    Each time I found myself in a vampire’s home, which happened more than I wished, I was always impressed with the elegant design that was often more contemporary than I expected. There was always an anachronism oddly placed, but it added charm, a reminder that most of them had been alive for more than a century. Sable was young, changed when she was just nineteen, but had been a vampire for a little over twenty years. Her home was everything I’d once expected—walls painted a muted red, textured to look aged. Black curtains were pulled back to reveal floor-to-ceiling windows and a perfect view of the large trees that surrounded her home and obscured the moon. They were closer than what would be acceptable for most people. Her home was bare, except for a brick-colored sofa and matching ottoman and two black leather chairs. Everyone had some kitchen appliances, although they didn’t need it; but Sable decided not to put up such pretenses and instead had left an empty space where they should have been.
    She sat on the sofa and was genuinely disinterested, exanimate. She didn’t acknowledge our presence until Gavin, whom I didn’t know was behind us, moved farther into the house.
    We really need to get him a bell to wear.
    She approached us, her piercing gaze focused solely on Gavin. Each time I encountered her, it was hard to believe that she was the girl who made the headlines for weeks after she brutally murdered the family and friends of the assailants who had killed her family during a home invasion. She made the invaders watch while she did it, and then she executed them in front of neighbors and sat next to their dead bodies and waited for the police to show up.
    A broken young woman who was made into a broken vampire. Wide-eyed and round-faced, she had soft, placid features that were a contrast to her personality and reputation. She walked slowly around us, and even Sebastian tensed, ready to engage if necessary. In silence she studied everyone, her tongue running over her fangs. Every once in a while she drew her lips back, exposing them like weapons. In her own little world, she refocused her attention back on Gavin and seemed to forget anyone other than him. She didn’t hear Demetrius when he called her name and didn’t respond until he said it again. His sharp hiss jerked her attention from Gavin to him.
    Her face and eyes were blank, as though if they couldn’t focus on Gavin she wouldn’t bother to focus on anything. I still didn’t understand her obsession with him. She considered him beautiful—that is the extent of what I knew of their odd, sordid dealings. She had started to take on the characteristics of her creator, Gabriella, another unconscionable vampire. Her midnight hair was bone-straight, wisped just above her shoulder, with pastel pink and lavender hair extensions underneath. I could see the disgust on Winter’s face if she were here and she most certainly would have muttered what she always does, “They are weird for no damn reason.” It was a comment some she always spouted about Gabriella and her partner, Chase, who must have spent a great deal of time getting pierced, tattooed, and changing their hair in unique and eccentric ways.
    “Yes?” It was a weak, distracted sound as she split her attention between him and Gavin. Like her creator, she had an odd affinity for feeding from were-animals, although they didn’t offer any nutritional value.
    She finally took up a position next to Demetrius.