Free A Midsummer Night's Demon by Brenda Sparks

threw her arm out blindly to the side, her hand smacking at the offending noise.
    “Ouch,” she cried, hitting the clock radio on her nightstand. She sent the blasted thing careening to the floor.
    She cuddled her left hand to her chest, and rubbed her injured wrist. Perfect. Just perfect! Now she could add a bruised wrist to her injures. She sat up and pulled the sheet away from her legs, looking at her knees. Both had turned a nice shade of purplish-blue from where she’d fallen on them the night before. Her gaze moved to her swollen ankle, wincing when she moved her foot.
    Memories of the previous night came crashing in on her, making it hard to breathe. Her lungs fought for air as her panic rose. She looked to her window to see if the sun had finally risen.
    All night she’d been awakened with terrible nightmares. Each time she checked the window for sunlight and wiped perspiration from her brow. Despite Lyn’s exhaustion, her mind refused to rest, instead she relived the terrible events of the past week whether awake or asleep.
    Vampires!
    A week ago, she would have found Ky’s explanation laughable. Now? Well now, it was maddening. Her world had turned on its head overnight.
    She ran away after Ky told her he was a vampire, flying down the boardwalk as fast as her shaky legs could carry her. When she got to the parking lot she noticed his car. Lyn pulled his keys from her purse and had just sat inside when she realized that if she took the car he would have to come get it. And that meant she would have to see him, meet him—she never wanted to see him again.
    Leaving the keys in the ignition, she jumped out of the car and ran down the road. After about a mile, tears clouded her vision and she tripped over something. The pain in her ankle kept her from caring about what had tripped her as she hopped to the side of the road. Knowing she wouldn’t make it much further on foot, she’d pulled her phone from her purse to discover her cell had just enough charge to make two calls; one to information to get a number for a cab company and the other to arrange for a taxi to come pick her up.
    On the drive home, the events of the previous week played like a movie reel in her mind. She’d sought to rationalize the events.
    The attack…“Random,” Lyn answered herself aloud.
    The fact that Ky didn’t take her to a hospital…“Unnecessary.”
    Ky sleeping all day and up all night…”I thought he worked the overnight shift at the precinct.”
    All perfectly reasonable explanations. Lyn gave an inelegant snort of contention.
    All lies.
    She knew the truth now and it stunk like a rotting corpse. A putrid, vampire corpse. Ky worked the overnight shift because he had too. The damned man could not go out in the sun. He hadn’t taken her to a hospital because he did not want any questions about the attack. She fingered the stitches on her neck. This wound had been caused by Juan…or Raziel—whatever his freakin’ name was—biting her. The thought caused her stomach to churn. Ky was every bit as awful as her attacker. And a liar. A traitor.
    A vampire for Goddess’ sake!
    His first concern had been keeping vampires a secret. He did not care about her at all. She had thought she was falling in love with Ky. Thought he was a good guy. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Thank goodness, they hadn’t slept together!
    “Mierda . How could my life go so wrong in a matter of hours?”
    Her anger flared and she crossed her legs, forgetting about her swollen ankle until it made contact with the opposite leg. Lyn folded her legs anyway, welcoming the pain as a physical manifestation of her inner turmoil. She sat with her elbows on her butterflied knees, face buried in her upturned palms.
    Her clock radio went off again, screeching in her ears. She must have hit the snooze button. Whatever! It served as a good reminder that she needed to get up and get back to her life.
    She had a job she needed to go to. She’d wasted enough