Kelley Armstrong Stolen

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"Home deliveries from the blood bank?" "Afraid not. " "A special deal with the butcher?" "The FDA would
likely disapprove. Sadly, we're stuck getting our meals the old-fashioned way. " "Ah. " "Ah, indeed, " she said
with another laugh. "Yes, I drink it straight from the source. Some rules, though. No children. No one under
thirty. Makes it more sporting. " "Did I mention I'm twenty-eight?" "That's not what I heard. " She grinned.
"No need to worry. Common courtesy dictates that we never drain the lifeblood of anyone to whom we've
been formally introduced. " She cut a few bits of chicken and moved them around on her plate. "To be honest,
I've tried animal blood and blood banks. They don't work. Living that way is like subsisting on bread and
water. We exist, but barely. Some still do it. I'm too selfish. If I'm alive, I want to be completely alive. The
only apology I can make is that I try to choose those who welcome death, the old, the sick, the suicidal. I'm
deluding myself, of course. I can tell that a man wants to die, but I have no way of knowing if he's about to
climb a twenty-story building or is temporarily depressed over a broken affair. Life would be so much simpler
if we lost our souls when we were reborn, if we forfeited the ability to feel, to know right from wrong. But I
suppose that's why they call it a curse. We still know. " "But you don't have a choice. " "Oh, there's always a
choice. Self-annihilation. Some do it. Most consider it, but the will to survive is ultimately too strong. If it
means the choice between their death and mine, altruism be damned. The motto of the truly strong. Or the
incredibly selfish. " We were quiet a moment, then she said, "I take it werewolves aren't cannibals, then?"
"You mean eating humans, not other werewolves, which strictly speaking, would be cannibalism. " "You don't
consider yourselves human?" "To varying degrees. Myself, I still think half-human, half-wolf. ClaOthers
don't. They consider werewolves a separate species. I'm not avoiding the question. Pack wolves are forbidden
to eat humans. We wouldn't anyway. It doesn't make sense. Eating humans wouldn't serve any other purpose
than to sate a hunger that can as easily be satisfied with a deer. " "It's that easy then?" "I wish. Unfortunately,
there's not just the hunger. There's the hunting instinct, and I'll admit, humans satisfy that far better than any
animal. " Cassandra's eyes glittered. "The Most Dangerous Game. " The thought struck me then, how odd it
was to be discussing this with another woman. I shook it off and continued, "Trouble is, it's hard to hunt
without killing. It's possible, but dangerous, risking the chance you won't be able to stop yourself before the
kill. Non-Pack werewolves hunt, kill, and eat people. The temptation is too great, and most aren't interested in
controlling their impulses. " The server came out then to get our dessert order. I was about to pass, as I usually
did when dining with other women, then realized it didn't matter. Cassandra wouldn't care if I ate three pieces
of cake. So I ordered tiramisu and a coffee. Cassandra seconded the coffee. As the server turned to leave,
Cassandra reached out and grabbed his wrist. "Decaf actually, " she said. As she spoke, she kept her hand on
his wrist, thumb outstretched across his pulse. The server was young and Latin-handsome, big dark eyes and
smooth olive skin. Did he notice she held his arm too long? Not a chance. As she called him back and changed
her order, she kept her eyes on his like he was the most fascinating thing in the room. And he stared back like
a mouse entranced by a cobra. If she'd asked him to step into the back alley with her, he'd have tripped over
his feet to obey. When she finally released his arm, he blinked, then something like disappointment crossed his
face. He promised to hurry with the coffees and returned to the dining room. "Sometimes I almost can't resist,
" Cassandra said after he'd gone. "Even when I'm not hungry. The intoxication of power. A nasty but
unbreakable addiction, don't you think?" "It's . . . Tempting. " Cassandra laughed. "You don't have to pretend
with me, Elena. Power is a glorious thing, especially for women. I spent forty-six years as a human woman in
seventeenth-century Europe. I'd have killed for a chance at power. " Her lips curved in a wicked grin. "But I
guess I did, didn't I? The choices one makes. " She leaned back and studied me, then smiled again. "I think
you and I will get along quite well, A rare treat for me, meeting a huntress who isn't another self-absorbed
vampire. " Our coffees and my dessert arrived then. I asked Cassandra what it was like to live as long as she
had, and she regaled me with stories for the rest of the meal. After dinner, Adam repeated Paige's offer to join
them on the way back to the Legion Hall. Again, I was about to decline, but this time Jeremy overheard and
insisted I go along, probably hoping the two youngest delegates would talk more freely without their elders
around. In an aside, he promised to follow us in the Explorer. *** Unlike Jeremy, Adam hadn't found parking
in the small lot behind the restaurant, so the three of us left the others and headed up a side street. Ahead, on
the other side of the road, I saw the old Jeep from the Legion Hall parking lot, the one with the California
plates. "Yours?" I asked Adam. "Unfortunately. " "That's some drive. " "A long drive. In a Jeep, a very, very
long drive. I think I shook loose two fillings this time. Getting above the speed limit is nearly impossible. And
passing? Forget it. It'd be easier driving over slow traffic. Next time, I'm saving my pennies so I can fly out. "
"You say that every time, " Paige said. "Robert would buy you a plane ticket any day, but you always refuse.
You love driving that piece of crap. " "The blush is wearing off the romance. One moreShit! " I looked up to
see a massive Yukon backing into the spot in front of Adam's Jeep. The gap was barely big enough to fit a
compact. The behemoth SUV kept reversing until it was mere inches from the Jeep's front bumper. Another
car was parked less than a foot from the Jeep's rear end. "Hey!" Adam called as he jogged toward the Yukon.
"Hold on!" A forty-something woman in the passenger seat turned and fixed Adam with an expressionless
stare. "I'm stuck in behind you, " he said, flashing a wide grin. "Could you just pull forward a second? I'll get [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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