Keepers of the Flame (Trilogy Bundle) - By Melissa F. Hart Page 0,43
stopped him. But he'd looked at me with the same hatred glittering out of his eyes and at the time, it had bothered me deeply. Now at least, I knew why he felt the way he did even if it still bothered me a lot.
“Now, if you mess with me I will beat the crap out of you. I have no such compunction about beating girls. You will do exactly as I say and you will not speak unless you're spoken to. Is that clear?”
Talk about someone who had delusions of grandeur. The thought flashed through my mind and I quickly squelched it. This was not the time; I knew my life was hanging in the balance, so I just nodded and began to pray with all my might that Dylan's love was as strong as he said it was. That he would check on me, at least once and come after me. I was not sure if vampires could pray. We're not supposed to have souls and not even evolution had taken care of that. Still, that didn't stop me.
He was speaking so I tried to pay attention to what he was saying.
“You're going to take me to your family vault. Yes, I can see you remember the place. That is where the operation will take place. Just in case you were stupid enough to bring protectors, I want to make sure they can't get to us.”
“What do you mean by operation?” I asked before remembering that I wasn't supposed to speak. I braced myself for the retribution but he'd apparently decided to let that slide.
He rubbed his hands in glee, like he was overcome by his own brilliance. “My father developed a robot, but it's not just any robot. For centuries we've only had a single keeper and the fate of the entire Born race of vampires usually hangs with that keeper. Well, thanks to the genius of Lord Morrison, no more.” His smile made me tense in apprehension.
“You've heard of Genetic Engineering?”
I shook my head. I wasn't surprised biology and math or whatever had eventually gotten married and produced an heir, but no one had bothered to tell me the good news.
“Well, it's probably too much for you to understand, anyway.” He said with a patronizing smile.
“Well, I'm not as intelligent as you are, but if you explain it to me I'll try to keep up.” I gave him a vapid smile and batted my eyelashes at him. To my surprise, he bought the act.
“That's okay.” He waved his hands magnanimously. “I'll be glad to explain your demise to you. Basically we worked with genetic specialists and specialists in robotics to produce robots with the similar abilities as a born vampire. These robots are going to serve as our new keepers.”
“Keepers?” I asked in stressing on the plural. I remembered Lord Morrison saying something like that.
“Yes, Luanne. Keepers. Why should there be only one keeper? Why should our fate be tied to you and you alone? With these robots, I will cut the stone into several pieces and we can have as many keepers as we desire. Have you any idea how much in demand each of those lovely creatures will be?”
“But the stone destroys anything or anyone that touches it unless it is a keeper.” I pointed out.
“This is where my father was a genius. Pure genius. The robots are going to carry the essence of the keeper. You, Luanne.”
His grin was pure evil and for the first time, I felt pure fear flow through me. Without an essence, a vampire was as good as dead. Only, death would have been preferable. It was like a mortal trying to live without a soul. I would practically become a zombie, a vegetable. This was too horrifying to contemplate. Worse though, I had no idea what the repercussions would be for our race if the stone was fragmented. As logical as his plan sounded, I had come to know something about the stone. It was a living creature and it took on the personality of its keeper. By destroying it that way, he would kill it.
I opened my mouth to point that out to him but he raised his hands and silenced me.
“That's it then. It's time to get this gig on the road.” He laughed at his own wit. “Oh by the way, you met some of our vampire robots just now when you turned into the street. It is absolutely fantastic, isn't it?”
I remembered the deadness