Eternal by V. Forrest (new reading TXT) 📗

the truth about what she was, but he had said it didn’t matter. She had been meeting him in the forest, always careful not to allow him to know which tiny village she came from, where the others lived. But that night. The night the vampire slayers came on horseback, bearing their torches, Fia had been waiting for him. They were running away to get married. He had promised to come for her, to take her away, to marry her and to live with her until he grew old and died. He said he didn’t care that she was only nineteen at the time, that she would always have to hunt, that blood was what sustained her. He told her that he didn’t care that she could not bear children. All he cared about, he said, was loving her.

It had been a trap all along. From the first day he had met her in the meadow, he had intended to use her to seek out the sept. She realized it the moment she heard the pounding hoofbeats, saw the first torches, smelled the first peat roofs set ablaze. He had seen her hunting in that forest, seen her take blood, known that she was a vampire, and then he used his good looks and charm to win her over.

That night he had said he was coming for her to take her away, to marry her, but he had come to murder her. He was a vampire slayer, and with him he had brought a dozen men on horseback wielding swords to behead her loved ones. To behead her.

The only reason Fia had not died that night was because Mahon had forced her into that root cellar and locked her inside. The men and women of the Kahill sept had fought fiercely, eventually driving off the slayers, but not before they had beheaded more than a dozen. Before dawn the next day, the sept had left their village and the bodies of their loved ones behind, and gone into hiding. It had been the beginning of the end for them in Ireland and it had all been Fia’s fault. All her fault because she had fallen in love. Because she had trusted a man she should not have trusted.

“Fee?”

She heard her name being called as if from far in the distance. Ian’s voice?

No. Not Ian’s.

Fia’s gaze came back into focus and she turned toward Glen, her eyes embarrassingly wet. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“I didn’t mean to pry.” He watched her intently. “I just want to know you better.”

“Fia!” Joseph sauntered up to the table.

It was like a bad dream. He was a bad penny.

Glen let go of her hand, stood like a gentleman and offered his.

Joseph pumped it. He was wearing a gray flannel suit with a lavender tie and matching silk handkerchief in his pocket. The suit probably cost three times what Glen’s did, but standing next to each other, Fia was surprised to find that Glen far outclassed Joseph. There was just something about Joseph that no amount of money or education could…make clean.

“Dr. Joseph Pineiro,” Joseph introduced himself.

“Glen Duncan.”

“Ah…Fia’s new partner.” Joseph nodded, smiled, all-knowing.

Glen glanced at Fia as he sat down, seeming to sense her discomfort.

“So you two are dating.” It was more a statement than a question.

Fia didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know how Joseph knew anything about Glen, but he was making her more uncomfortable by the minute. Had he been snooping around her apartment building? Work? He had ways of finding out things. Always had. He had a knack for charming information out of just about anyone.

“We dated, you know.” Joseph gestured to Fia, then himself. He was still smiling, but his voice had taken a dangerous edge.

“Did you?” Glen glanced at her across the table, then back at Joseph.

“She broke my heart.” He clasped his hands, bringing them to his chest. “Captured my soul. Literally, eh, Fia?”

She tensed, but met his gaze. She wasn’t afraid of Joseph. She was more powerful than he was and she had the whole sept to back her up. Surely he knew better than to threaten her. Surely he knew that if he pushed her, she’d make her confession to the sept and allow them to do what they saw fit with him.

“I think you should go, Joseph,” she said under her breath.

“Go? Why would I go? Your new boyfriend and I are just getting acquainted. We have a lot to talk about.” Joseph slipped his surgeon’s hands into his pants pockets. “I’m sure Special Agent Duncan is interested in hearing about your likes and dislikes. Your little fetishes, Fee?” He chuckled.

Glen half-rose from his chair, suddenly looking threatening, his hands tightened at his sides, his face hard.

Great, Fia thought. I’m going to have a bar fight on my hands in a second.

“I think you better go.” Glen didn’t raise his voice, but it was steely.

The man had more balls than she realized.

“Go? Why should I go when—”

Glen took one step toward him and Joseph backed up. Backed down. He’d always been a coward. Always preferred to prey on the weak. On the sick. On the bound and gagged.

“Well, you two kids have a nice evening. I’ve already taken care of your bill with the hostess.” Joseph walked away. “Be talking with you, Fee.”

Glen waited until Joseph was gone before he sat down across from Fia again.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, reaching for her drink. “Another ex. He’s a real ass.”

“He is that.” She reached for her bag on the chair beside her. “If you’ll excuse me.”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m just going to the ladies’ room. I’ll be right back. Swear it.”

Trembling with anger, Fia walked down the hall to the bathroom. Inside a stall, she fished her cell phone from her bag and punched in Joseph’s number. She didn’t even give him a chance to speak when he picked up.

“I’ll go to one appointment with Dr. Kettleman with you. Then you leave Philadelphia of your own free