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

as I vaulted over the wrought-iron fence surrounding the Hart’s vast gardens.

There had to be another way in.

Damn it, where the hell were they?

Then I saw them, the pair of them standing at a safe distance from the blaze, underneath a wilting tree.

Evangeline was dressed in black, smiling widely, as she watched me approach.

In her arms was Eloise, in a no-longer white silky nightgown, Evangeline’s elbow wrapped around her neck.

Twin paths of moisture shone on her face, but she maintained a brave composure.

She didn’t cry out for me.

She simply waited.

As though she knew I would come all along.

“Took you long enough!” shouted Evangeline over the roar of the fire.

I stopped ten feet from them, my back to the searing fire that was probably going to light my clothes on fire.

But that didn’t matter.

As long as Evangeline died before me, I didn’t care what the hell happened to me.

I stared at Eloise, outwardly calm, but on the inside, my emotions were in a turmoil, barely able to see straight through an unspeakable rage.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I tried to get here as soon as I could.”

She nodded slowly, hands clenched into fists at her side. “I know.”

Evangeline’s arm tightened around her neck, cutting off her air.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t go ignoring me, you lovebirds,” she drawled, her eyes large and almost entirely black.

She was in a killing mood.

Which was good, because so was I.

Eloise let out a choking sound, her fingers scrabbling at Evangeline’s leather-covered arm.

“Let her go, Evangeline.” I took another step forward and opened my arms out wide. “You wanted me. You have me.”

The bitch tilted her head to one side. “Yeah, I don’t think I ever agreed to let her go if you came. But I do want to see the look on your face when I kill this dumb mortal.”

The bottom dropped out of my stomach and I took a deep breath of the hot air, fighting to stay collected.

I couldn’t afford to lose control.

Eloise’s life depended on it.

“Jardin withdrew his patronage,” I said carefully, slowly. “You are no longer under his protection, Evangeline.”

Her arm loosened, and Eloise drew in an explosive breath.

Meanwhile, Evangeline stared at me, her mouth hanging open, eyes wide.

Clearly, my news had shocked her.

“But… I thought… I thought he would…”

A minuscule part of me began to pity her.

What must it be like, in that dark, twisted mind of hers?

Craving love and acceptance, not sure of where to find it?

I chanced taking another step forward, holding my hands out to the two women.

As much as I wanted to hurt Evangeline for committing such horrible acts, if there was some way to extricate Eloise out of this situation through non-violent means, then I’d try it.

Eloise tried to wriggle out from under the vampire’s arm, but to no avail as Evangeline merely stared at me, a blank, empty look on her pallid face.

“Evangeline, please.” I licked my dry lips. “Let her go. You don’t owe Jardin allegiance anymore. Hurting Eloise won’t bring you back into his fold. He told me I could do anything I wanted to you, that I could kill you if I so chose. I would rather not.”

Her lower lip quivered. “But I served him faithfully for more than a century. How could he—” Her voice cracked. “Everything I have ever done, I did it for him, to advance his position in this human world. How could he just abandon me like this?”

I took another step forward.

Only five more steps.

I could smell the two now. Evangeline smelled like blood, while Eloise smelled like flowers and vanilla. An odd combination of scents, to say the least.

“I’m begging you,” I said. “Let Eloise go. Her death won’t improve anything.”

“Maybe not.”

Evangeline lifted her head.

A wide smile spread on her bright red lips.

My mouth went dry as I realized the last five minutes were nothing but an act, a way for her to catch me off-guard.

“But gosh, won’t it be fun to kill her while you watch?”

Damn it!

“Evangeline, no!”

Her fangs came out, sharp and white, as her head darted forward, intending to rip out Eloise’s neck.

What she didn’t intend was Eloise’s sharp snap of her head smashing into the side of the vampire’s face.

I heard the crack, could only imagine the pain Eloise was feeling.

But she had stopped Evangeline’s attack.

One chance.

She had given me one chance.

It was the only chance I required.

As Evangeline reared back, a hand up to her temple, probably more surprised than actually hurt, I moved.

Close enough to snatch Eloise from her grasp and push her behind me.

Evangeline needed a brief moment to regain her equilibrium, to go on the attack.

But in that brief moment, I buried my hand knuckle-deep underneath her rib cage.

Adrenaline ran like lightning through my veins, hot and throbbing.

Evangeline’s fingers clawed through my coat, sinking deep through the skin and into the muscles.

The pain was hardly noticeable.

I could feel her heart nudging against my fingertips.

Blood slipped from the corner of her lips.

“I’m—” she gurgled.

I forced my hand in deeper, felt a rib break in the wake of my intrusion.

She convulsed in my arms.

Her heart was in my hand now.

Her eyes were wide and round, rounder than the full moon overhead.

“May you find peace,” I whispered.

I squeezed.

And I didn’t stop squeezing until her body stopped moving, until she drew her final breath, until her eyes closed for the last time.

With a macabre crunch, I pulled my hand free from the tight cavity of her chest, her heart still clenched between my fingers.

I couldn’t risk her coming back to life.

Evil like Evangeline could not be allowed to roam this world.

As the vampire’s body fell heavily to the ground, I turned around and pitched the heart directly into the blaze.

It was the best I could do for her.

Eloise crashed into me, her arms wrapping around my back.

“Arden,” she whispered, face pressed into my back. “I was so scared. But I knew you’d come for me. I knew it.”

Slowly, we descended to the ground, neither of us able to look away from the fiery