Kiss of Crimson Samantha Coville (best short books to read .TXT) 📖

my heels and whooshing dress on the pavement. But I stumbled over toward Daringly and his eyes went wide. He took his hat off his balding head and placed it over his heart.

"Well, you look lovely this evening, Miss Eloise. Is there something I can do for you?"

I tried not to be distracted by the surprised stares the other drivers were giving me. I had a mission to accomplish, no matter how stupid it probably was. Everything I did was pretty much stupid looking back on it. "I need you to drive me somewhere faster than you've ever driven me before."

The challenge brought a smile to Daringly's face, and his hat was placed tightly back on his head. "Then let's get on the road, shall we?"

Fourteen

Arden

“Please, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone what happened. I don’t want to die.”

The larger of the two lackeys that had been assigned to accompany me on the mission gave a sneering laugh at the begging boy. The kid had already endured a solid hour of beating. I was surprised he was even still conscious.

The vampire, Holsten, ruffled the kid’s hair before cocking his arm back and taking a swing at the boy’s gut.

The kid, Joseph was his name according to the files I’d stolen, let out a whimper. It was all he had left in him. Snot ran down his face as he struggled to look up at us through swollen, bruised eyes.

“You already have the shipment, you don’t need me.”

Holsten’s partner, Leo, crossed his arms over his chest and came to stand next to me. He smelled of sweat. A combination of his and poor Joseph’s, no doubt.

“Kid would’ve had a bright future in this business, man. He hauled almost double the load Jardin’s carrier boys do, and the border inspectors didn’t bat an eye. Shame he was working for Leona, eh?”

I didn’t say a word. Leo was clearly annoyed that I was a statue supervisor for the night.

What can I say? My heart just wasn’t in it.

I watched as Holsten continued his masterpiece. Blood trickled as Joseph’s lip split. Not to say blood hadn’t been flowing before then. He’d made the mistake of biting his lip early on.

Joseph was young. His ID card said twenty-three, but that was obviously fake. Border inspectors were as daft as they were easy to pay off.

The warehouse we were in echoed the sounds of the beating that was going on inside. Joseph’s truck, filled with cooled blood of various types, was parked in the corner out of the eyes of any patrolling cops.

Holsten paused, his brows furrowed in an inquisitive look. He wasn’t a very attractive vampire, which was hard to come by.

“Yo, Leo, you hear something outside?”

Leo groaned in response. “No, but I’ll check it out. We’re about to butcher this kid and I don’t want anyone interrupting.”

I put out an arm to stop Leo from leaving so quickly. “I thought we’re supposed to bring the carrier boy to Jardin?”

Leo shoved my arm out of the way and lazied to the entrance of the warehouse. “Change of plans, hotshot.”

I gritted my fangs. Cleaning up after a vampire kill was the last thing on my list of things I wanted to do that night. I rubbed my temples, waiting for Leo to come back in and give us the all-clear.

Things would have been so much simpler if he did.

Instead, the door to the warehouse swung back open, and my heart dropped into my toes.

“Found this tramp sniffing around outside, lads.”

Leo was pulling a girl by her hair. Her beautiful brown hair. Her eyes going wide as she realized who she was being dragged to.

Eloise.

And what the hell was she wearing? It was stunning, don’t get me wrong. But not what my Eloise would ever wear.

My Eloise?

Leo threw her to the hard ground. She barely got her arms in front of her in time to stop her head from smacking the floor.

I clenched my fists. I had to play this right. If they knew I knew her…

Eloise lifted herself into a sitting position. A twinge of pride hit me to see that she was hiding her fear pretty well. But I knew that look deep in the back of her eyes. She was scared.

Holsten chuckled. “This is not what I expected, but damn, I am not disappointed.”

I shot him a glare.

“Leo, why would you bring her in here? She’s probably drunk and lost or something. Set her loose in the woods out back and I’m sure her boyfriend will find her in the morning.”

Leo glanced at me quizzically. “You can’t be serious.”

Eloise watched me silently. A tear was forming in her eyes, but she quickly blinked it away. She only broke eye contact with me long enough to check on the carrier boy.

Had she come to try to save him? I had to stop myself from laughing. I was gonna have a hysterical break; I swear.

Leave it to Eloise to decide she was done being the damsel in her fairytale. She wanted to play the hero.

For as bright as she was, she was still kinda clueless when it came to the world of vampires.

“I am serious. Are we in the business of killing little girls now?”

Leo looked to Holsten for some backup. Young vampires were just so bloodthirsty. Then again, Evangeline was barely younger than me and she would have put these two to shame.

She would have already killed Eloise.

I thanked my lucky stars that Evangeline had been sent on a separate errand for Jardin.

Holsten stepped away from the carrier boy and I swore under my breath. His attention was on our new arrival, and that was not a good thing by a long shot.

“Listen, Arden. You’re a good guy and all, but you’re not in charge of this assignment. So I think we’re gonna go with my plan and make sure there are no witnesses.”

“Jardin won’t be happy about that. He likes to leave at least one person