Donald: Dalton’s Kiss: Vampire Paranormal Romance (Dalton's Kiss Book 3) by Kathi Barton (best large ereader .txt) 📗

he was thrilled to death that he wasn’t going to be on the receiving end of the wrath that was coming off the two super-beings standing beside him.

Don, they’re on their way out of the house with the body. They’ve cut out his heart for some reason. He might not have known before this meeting, but he had a feeling he could guess now. It would be proof that not only was the man dead but also that they’d killed him. I’m not sure what is going on.

Come out here, love. I’m thinking we’re about to get a lesson in superpower between a king of vampires and the queen of the earth. She asked him if he was drunk. No. But for the first time in my entire life, I surely wish I was.

Chapter 6

Melisandre moved through her world to the one where her queen was living. It was nice to be there. No pressure for her to be working all the time. Also, since she’d first been promoted to being the queen of faeries, she’d been enjoying herself with the perks that came with her job. Like being able to go to different parts of the world without any trouble from other beings that would beg her for help. They didn’t know her and therefore knew nothing about her position to the queen.

Being summoned this late in the day was concerning, but whatever the queen wanted, she got. Smiling to herself, she sat down on the sofa when she was shown to the room in which she was going to talk to her. A cup of tea appeared in front of her, as well as some lavender cookies, her favorite. Queen Aurora appeared a few seconds after she’d drank her first cup of tea.

“I hope you’re well, Melisandre.” She said she was and was glad to be invited to her home. “You’re very welcome. I have a great many things I want to talk to you about. The tea that you’ve drank had a potion in it that will require you to tell me the truth. Now. What are you doing with Cody and a man named Benson?”

Melisandre nearly swallowed the bite of cookie she had in her mouth whole. Choking a little, she watched her boss as she sat there without any qualms about letting her cough her head off. She was terrified at that moment, more than she’d ever been.

“While I know Cody and that he belongs to CJ, I’m afraid I don’t know who Benson is.” Aurora said for her to think hard. She did, too, trying to remember anyone she might have contact with that would go by that name. “I’m very sorry, my queen, but I don’t know anyone by that name. If you could let me see his face, that might help.”

The man appeared in front of her. The shape his body was in startled her somewhat. He’d been torn up. She’d bet anything that he’d suffered greatly and that his death hadn’t been quick. Studying his face hard, she knew whatever her answer was for this question would be a matter of life and death. More importantly, her life and death.

“I’ve seen him before. With Cody. Now that I think on it, I’ve only seen him a handful of times, but never with anyone but Cody.” She looked at Aurora when the body disappeared. “I’m assuming he’s done something with Cody or to CJ. I want you to know I had nothing to do with whatever it was.”

“I know that now. However, I will tell you there are many clues out there that led right to your doorstep.” Melisandre thought about the body she’d seen and the reason she’d been brought here. She asked Aurora if she thought she’d done something wrong. “Not now, no. But I was going to kill you if what I’d been led to believe was true.”

Melisandre didn’t know what to say to that. Aurora was the only one that could kill her. She didn’t even have to justify it to anyone, as she was the only being that everyone answered to. When offered another cup of tea, she declined it. Not because she thought it might be poisoned, but because she’d lost her appetite for anything right now.

“I’m not going to do it.” Melisandre thanked her. “No. I must thank you for being honest. I didn’t put anything into your drink. You had to know that as well.”

“I never thought about it. Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking I could be in trouble like this until you mentioned Cody. I have been having some issues with him. Not bad things, but he’d not come to me when it was— I just had a thought. Does CJ know he’s been caught at whatever is going on?”

“She killed him.”

Nodding, Melisandre shivered. The look of the body came back to her, and she knew that whatever CJ had done to Cody was going to be a thousand times worse. Looking at the queen when she said her name, Melisandre was suddenly sick. It only took a touch from Aurora to make her illness disappear.

“She made his death something that all will think about when they think to go against what I have decreed a law. Keeping the kiss of Bancroft safe is something that has been in place for many decades. Longer, I think, than even you’ve been alive.”

“Thank you.” Aurora moved back to her seat across from her. “May I ask who you might think has made this my fault? I’m assuming I wasn’t the only one that was supposed to be guilty.”

“I haven’t any idea at the moment. CJ, she’s working on it. I don’t think whoever she catches at this will live long. And if they do, they will wish for death with every breath they take.” Melisandre had seen CJ at work once. She’d taken on a troll that had— “You’ve thought of something.”

“The troll overlord. I think his name is River.” Aurora said she knew of