Burning (Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy #1)

Presented by J.R. Rain

BURNING

Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy No. 1

by

EVE PALUDAN

Acclaim for the novels of Eve Paludan:

“
Delightful romance-mystery combo with surprising ends!”

—
Douglas C. Meeks “Book Reviews @ Large”
on Eve Paludan and Stuart Sharp’s
Witchy Business

“As touching as
Highway to Heaven
, as romantic as
City of Angels
, and as enchanting as
Michael
!”

—
Geraldine Ahearn
, author and Top 1000 Amazon Reviewer/Vine Voice on Eve Paludan’s
The Man Who Fell from the Sky
(Angel Detectives Case #1)

“A Fall from the Sky into Love!”

—
George E. Tadd
on Eve Paludan’s
The Man Who Fell from the Sky
(Angel Detectives Case #1)

BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE TRILOGY

by Eve Paludan

Burning

Afterglow

Radiance

Also by Eve Paludan

Letters from David

The Man Who Fell From the Sky

Taking Back Tara

Tara Takes Christmas

Finding Jesse

Chasing Broadway

Ghost Fire

Witchy Business (with Stuart Sharp)

VAMPIRE FOR HIRE SERIES

by J.R. Rain

Moon Dance

Vampire Moon

American Vampire

Moon Child

Christmas Moon

Vampire Dawn

Vampire Games

Moon Island

Moon River

BURNING

Published by J.R. Rain Press

Copyright © 2013 by J.R. Rain Press

All rights reserved.

Book cover by Damon at
www.damonza.com

Ebook Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Burning

Reading Samples

- Witchy Business

-
Finding Jessie

About the Author

Dedication

For my children, Mark and Chrissy.

Acknowledgments

J.R. Rain, thank you for your encouragement, brilliant ideas and hard work.

Thank you to Sandy Johnston for editing and other expert assistance.

Thank you to Ron Paludan for scientific research.

BURNING

Chapter One

Samantha Moon could have killed me. In fact, she
should
have killed me. After all, three days ago—hell, thirty minutes ago—that had been my own deadly intent:

To kill
her
.

I’d tailed her to a mid-priced hotel after her husband 86’ed her from their home for being a vampire.

Stalking her relentlessly—like a paparazzi after a Kardashian—I’d finally gotten a chance to pull off what I thought was a clear shot. But she’d been too fast for me.

Vampires are like that, dammit.

Missing the kill shot to her heart, I’d instead shot her shoulder with a silver-tipped arrow bolt. She’d holed up in her hotel room for a day or so to lick her wounds, but apparently, she was a quick healer.

Again, vampires are like that.

Tonight, she was out and about. I smelled her nearby, that earthy, mushroomy scent of a healthy female vamp. No, not everyone can smell a vampire. I can. I guess I’m a born hunter. I couldn’t see her, though. Where the hell was she?

Having lost sight of her near a Von’s grocery store, I purposely fell for the bait of her minivan parked in a dark alley. I knew where it was because I’d installed a tracking device.

I suspected it was a double setup—that she knew about my Apple combination tracking/bugging device that texted me her locations and, with remote silent dialing into the sim card, let me listen to her running monologues. They mostly consisted of her swearing at the sun, spewing hurt, angry words at Danny the cheater, or saying the kids’ names and sobbing. Otherwise, she just listened to K-Earth 101 while she sat in traffic and sighed.

I figured that if Samantha Moon was trying to flush me out by playing it this cool, I’d play along. Then we’d duke it out with fists and fangs until I could get off another crossbow shot and put her out of her misery.

At least, that was the idea.

Then again, I kind of felt sorry for her, and yet, I was propelled further into the dark side by my manifesto of the last five years: to kill every vampire I could find in the hopes that I would run across the ones who had killed my brother and parents.

Anyway, I looked all over the neighborhood for her. I got more and more frustrated because I could smell her, but couldn’t see her.

What I didn’t know was that Samantha Moon could
fly
.

While I was dressed as a homeless man with a hump and pushing a shopping cart full of junk, the vampire jumped me.

From above.

Chapter Two

“
Son of a—”

Before I spit out the last word, she
whomped
me with a leathery wing, knocking me to the ground—and knocking the wind out of me, too.

Gasping, I could hardly believe what was looming over me: a creature right out of my freaking nightmares. Samantha Moon had transformed herself into a cross between a giant fruit bat and a small pterodactyl.

This isn’t happening.

Not only did she get the drop on me—literally—but she was so much stronger than me that I might as well have been fighting Dwayne Johnson.

I scrambled to my feet, fought like a maniac and dropped my crossbow. It skittered across the asphalt.

Within seconds, Samantha Moon overpowered me and took off with me clutched in her unholy talons. At first, I screamed bloody murder, bicycle-kicked my legs into empty air, and nearly wet myself.

However, I gradually became fascinated as she flew toward the twinkling lights of the beach cities, the wind in our faces. When the city lights slipped away and we were over the dark Pacific Ocean, my childlike wonder again gave way to dread...and fear.

I tasted salt on my lips from either my own tears or sea spray—but what did it matter now if I wept in front of a giant vampire bat? I figured it was the end for me.
Curtains,
as they say in old Hollywood black and white movies. If this had been a movie, the violin soundtrack would be playing the rising crescendo to when the hero dies at the end, beaten by evil, despite all of his best efforts. It would have been a real tear-jerker ending, too.

Except I didn’t sense anything malevolent coming from Samantha Moon, aka, the giant vampire bat. If anything, I sensed her
compassion
.

Yes, this confused me.

I’d always been the worst-case scenario type because that was what I came to expect from my life, so I was calm about my impending demise. All she had to do was drop me and I would quickly get hypothermia and drown. I didn’t want to die, of course. I loved my family. But my fate rested in her talons.

I turned my eyes to the vampire’s eyes. They seemed strangely empty of malice. In the air, she was more of a monster than a human-shaped woman vampire, but it was her sentient eyes that moved me to speak.

“How’s your shoulder, Samantha Moon?”

Her strange eyes looked startled, as if the last thing she’d expected from the tall, slender, spiky-haired blonde guy in her grip was an inquiry about her health.

“I suppose you can’t speak in your changeling form. That’s fine. I know you’ve had a hell of a week. I saw your children get taken away. And the last thing you needed was my arrow bolt in your shoulder. I’m trying to say...I’m sorry.”

Inside of this winged creature was the brain of a human. She sent me a mental telepathy message:
Apology accepted.

I got choked up. I was communicating telepathically with a vampire in her most primitive form!

Samantha Moon kept flying and I kept talking. “I’ve never seen a vampire with a family. You have two beautiful children. At first, I thought the family was a façade until I realized that the little girl is your spitting image.”

She kept flying further out to sea. Okay, so it
was
going to be curtains for me. I shivered. She seemed to clutch me tighter to her leathery skin, as if to keep me warm. I was in the bosom of the vampire—her great wings beat like a huge, black leather butterfly.

“
I’m Randolph. Rand for short. Maybe you call yourself Sam, short for Samantha.” I sighed. “Years ago, my brother, Rudolph, was killed by vampires. And before him, my parents were killed by vampires. Since that day Rudolph was murdered, I’ve spent my life hunting them down...killing them. I have an innate sense when they are near. It’s easy for me to get close, you see. And when I do, I kill them. Not that I know anyone to compare myself with, but I have pretty good kill stats.”

I heard the vampire’s thought in my head:
Ambitious for you. Problematic for me.

“
You’re safe, Sam. Obviously, I don’t have my crossbow now and even though the arrows in the quiver are part of my hump disguise on my back, I’m not going to try anything. I have holy water in a flask in my pocket and garlic around my neck. Does that stuff even work? But we’re over the ocean.” I paused, thinking. “Where would it get me to try some lame, last-ditch struggle to get away? I mean, the sharks are probably all waiting for me to drop in like
The Man Who Came to Dinner
.”

I could swear I felt mirth bubbling from her.

Do you watch Shark Week on Discovery?
I heard her say in my head.

“
I never miss it. Sam, I’m already a dead man flying, so I’m going to do what any decent human would do with his last words. Long after you drop me, I want you to remember something redeeming. Maybe it will help you. Maybe it will help your children and give you more time with them. Away from this business of kill or be killed.”

The sentient eyes looked at me with curiosity.

“While I was seeking my brother’s killer, I found a very old vampire in a mansion in Fullerton. I killed him with an arrow bolt through the heart.”

The leathery creature shuddered and stared intently.
What else?
I heard her ask.

“
I found some papers among his things and came across your name. He had the names of his victims in some of the papers. My brother wasn’t on the list. I don’t think he killed my brother. But he definitely turned you into a vampire.”

I paused.

“I killed him, Sam. I didn’t do it for you. I did it for me. But if you were looking for him, look no further. He is no more.”

A shriek burst from her. She soared up toward the moon as the clouds broke. Her flight path was suddenly like the arch of a rainbow and she was flying about twice as fast. I could feel the G-force and managed to eke out a small gasp against the pressure of my cheeks flapping.

The vampire creature realized my discomfort and cradled me in her arms. When she slowed down to the previous speed, I was moved at her compassion.

The tears coursed down my cheeks and the wind streaked them away. I felt her joy, her relief, and even her sorrow as she got back on a regular flight path.

“He’s dead. Your creator has been iced. But he was not my brother’s killer. I still have unfinished business.” I paused. “You are not like other vampires, Samantha. May I call you Samantha?”

I felt her nod. “In your hotel room, I found packets of cow and pig blood in your refrigerator. You are not a killer. Not like the others.”

Her gaze was fearsome and beautiful. I heard her ask in my head:
Then why did you try to kill me, Rand?

“
I’ve been in the revenge business so long that it never occurred to me to wonder if I should discern whether a vampire was good or bad. I just killed all that I found.”