Free Shadow Rising by Kendra Leigh Castle

growing heavy-lidded in anticipation. “Something like this?” Damien lowered his head to Ariane’s neck, barely letting his nose graze her skin as he inhaled, deeply, breathing in the scent of an English rose garden. Longing, far more powerful than he’d anticipated, rushed over him in a wave.
    He heard Ariane’s shuddering breath, could smell the wild, sweet scent of her arousal mingling with the roses. It provoked him, more than he could contain.
    “Or perhaps I shouldn’t do this,” he said, lowering his head farther. As he did, the purr finally rumbled up, the sound rippling from his throat while he licked a long, hot trail up the side of Ariane’s neck, ending at her earlobe, which he gave a flick with his tongue, then a nip.
    The sound she made as she rose up against him was like music, and Damien forgot where they were, forgot himself, forgot everything but the promise of what Ariane could, and would, give him as they lay here…
    Glass shattered, viciously tearing him away from the warm cocoon of fantasy. Ariane went rigid. Damien’s blood ran ice cold. He whipped his head up and cursed. He could still taste Ariane like honey on his lips, and yet once again, some stupid vamp had decided to suck all the pleasure out of his evening.
    He was on his feet in a heartbeat, pointedly ignoring the sight of Ariane sprawled invitingly on the plush Oriental rug. He had the sick feeling that he always got in the pit of his stomach when things began to go horribly wrong. And as they hadn’t really gone right yet, it could only be the harbinger of nothing good.
    Passing darkened offices, Damien sprinted down thehallway toward the single light. The pitiful moaning of the terrified young vampire had stopped, a bad sign. And when he arrived at the doorway of the lit office, it got much worse. Glass littered the floor, letting in the sultry heat of this late summer night. There was a great deal of blood.
    And no sign of the fledgling.
    He felt Ariane at his side, staring at the scene. Damien couldn’t decide whether he was angrier at her for being so obstinate about pursuing a job he was being paid to do, or at himself for not being able to concentrate properly when she was around. In the end, it was easier to choose both.
    “I told you I didn’t kill Manon,” Damien snapped, crunching through the glass on the floor to look out into the night. As high as they were, fifteen floors up, he wasn’t sure how the other vampire had been taken—but where supernatural powers were concerned, he knew that where there was a will, there tended to be a way. A look into the night revealed nothing, neither in the sky nor on the ground below. The fledgling vampire and the attacker who had come back to finish what he or she had started were gone.
    As was his sole lead.
    He rounded on Ariane, who was looking out with a strange expression on her face.
    “I hope you’re happy,” Damien growled. The anger was a welcome change from the confusion that seemed to descend over him every time he got too close to the woman. “Now I’ve got nothing to go on. If you hadn’t wasted so much time chasing me around with that ridiculous sword, I’d have gotten what I needed.”
    It took a moment, but Ariane finally turned to him.Still, he felt like he had only half of her attention at best. She seemed troubled. And not at all intimidated by his snap of temper.
    “We’ve both made a mistake, I think. It isn’t safe here.”
    Damien snorted. “What gave you that impression?”
    Again, she ignored his sharp tongue, frowning as she turned to look at the spray of blood that screamed “slit throat” to Damien. Wherever the fledgling had gone, he doubted that the vampire’s weak constitution was a problem any longer. And unfortunately, tonight confirmed that tracking down this Grigori was going to be a lot stickier than he’d hoped. Really, he should have figured. Why else would he have been hired if the work wasn’t going to be difficult and