Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,37

to ease his hold, let her stand on her own two feet, Evan was squatting on his heels nearby, the thin fabric of the cargos pulling attractively across his thighs. He was checking the shots on the screen of the camera. His notebook was open on the ground, and he was making some other notations.

“We have a little farther to go,” Niall told her, his hand on the small of her back. “But it’s just a couple hundred yards. Since he’s done the timed shot, we can set an easier pace. Do you feel up to walking?”

She felt like flying. So she nodded.

5

THEIR destination was a rocky ledge, with tufts of silver-limned grass spiking from the overlapping stones. The trees fell back, no longer a thatched net above. Now she was beneath a wide black sky, illuminated by plentiful stars scattered in so many patterns, it would take a lifetime to draw all the pictures they created.

Niall bade her take a seat on one of the flat rocks and watch how he set up Evan’s equipment. While she accepted that as a useful course of action, she wondered if he’d done it because she still looked like a good breeze could send her off the cliff.

She assumed Evan intended to photograph the surroundings here as well, and he did take some shots as Niall was unloading the backpacks, but then she saw the servant setting up two easels, stretching canvas over pegged frames. A folding table came next, with brushes, assorted tubes of paint, palette, rags, a bottle of water.

Fishing out his pocketknife, Niall used the corkscrew to open a bottle of red wine, sitting it on the table with a stack of plastic cups. The vampires she knew would have packed wineglasses and an expensive cheese and fruit tray.

“Too uncouth?” Evan lifted his head from his camera.

Never knowing when he was listening—the one disconcerting thing about having a vampire in her mind.

“Only one?” His handsome mouth curved.

“Of course not, my l—” She stopped. “Sir.”

Niall chuckled. Done with his tasks, he flopped down next to her, leaning back on his elbows, propping one giant hiking boot atop the other. She guessed he wore a size thirteen, since his foot looked twice as broad and long as hers. “Most times, he uses the cups to clean his brushes and chugs the wine straight from the bottle. Does anything about him say his lairdship?”

“His ownership of me . . . and you,” she said stiffly. “It demands respect and honor. Service.”

“I knew slave owners in my time. Some of them needed to have their testicles hacked off and their throats cut. In that order.” Removing an apple from the pack she’d brought, Niall cut a slice, offering it to her. “Want a bite?”

Evan appeared to be involved in his paints. Even so, Niall’s blatant rudeness shocked her.

“No. Our Master isn’t that type of vampire. Why would you say such a horrible, disrespectful thing?”

Niall stopped chewing. His suddenly cool expression made her color rise in contrast. She’d just asserted she knew far more about Evan than his three-hundred-year-old servant and, even worse, criticized Niall’s service to him.

I don’t need a champion, Alanna. Though I thank you for the thought.

If her cheeks could burn hotter, she was sure they would. When she lowered her gaze with a nod, she hoped the ground would swallow her. She didn’t know how to deal with a servant who didn’t act like a servant at all. Even so, Evan’s lack of reaction to it made her wonder. Stephen would have had any servant with half that insolence whipped until blood ran down their backs.

“Alanna.”

She lifted her confused eyes to the vampire. She sincerely hoped he wasn’t going to say that thought out loud. She’d never thought of having to guard her thoughts from what a servant might think of her.

“Evan,” the vampire said. “Say my name.”

“Evan.” She managed it, though it felt clumsy, wrong. “Sir.”

At Niall’s snort, she quelled sudden anger, an unexpected emotion for her.

“My apologies. Evan.” She said it carefully, like a foreign language, and it was. “I’m accustomed to referring to all vampires as my lord.”

“Because all of them were.” Evan nodded, unperturbed. “Born vampires, territory overlords, or Region Masters. It’s understandable. I don’t mind if you slip. Just keep correcting yourself.” His tone became dry. “The more time you spend around me, the easier it will get. As Niall pointed out, the differences will be quite obvious.”

He was different. But it wasn’t because he