Read Immortals After Dark 03 - No Rest for the Wicked for Free Online

throat...
    Nikolai had waited months at Blachmount for them to return, uncaring if either attempted it once more. Each day they didn’t return made him wonder if they could fend for themselves, gathering blood each night—without drinking humans. Without killing.
    Never lowering her gaze from his face, Nïx finished a twisting shark and placed it by the dragon creature. He found his eyes drawn to the shapes again and again.
    “You knew they would be angry?” Nïx asked.
    After a hesitation, he admitted, “I did. But I turned them anyway.”
    When Myst saw him exhale wearily, she began relaying to Nïx everything he’d told her of his brothers. Granted a reprieve, Nikolai yet again justified his decision to himself. That night, seeing Sebastian about to die had made Nikolai realize how much Sebastian especially had missed out on. All he’d wanted was a family and a place to live in peace. Sebastian had never had a chance to find either—he hadn’t yet lived —and Nikolai couldn’t accept that.
    As a lad, Sebastian had shot to his full height of six and a half feet early, without the weight and muscle that would come a year or two later. Though he’d been rangy and awkward, Sebastian had almost fared better before his body had caught up with his height.
    After that, he hadn’t known what to do with his size, with his incredible strength that grew every day. He’d accidentally blackened more than one girl’s eye with his elbow and actually had broken one’s nose that way. He’d stepped on so many toes that the village girls joked that they wouldn’t walk near him without “clogs and fortitude.”
    But the worst occurred when he and Murdoch had been running in the village, most likely doing some mischief of Murdoch’s, and Sebastian had collided with a woman and her young daughter. He’d laid both of them flat, knocking the air from their lungs. A disturbing experience in itself, but once the woman and girl got their breaths back, they’d screamed bloody murder.
    Sebastian had been appalled at himself. From the time he was a small boy, he’d always had a shy bent, and things like this made it much worse. He’d become unsure around all women, without the smooth charm of Murdoch or the indifference of Conrad.
    At thirteen, Murdoch had had a devilish grin that had already earned him entrance under many women’s skirts in the village. At the same age, Sebastian had been the quiet lad with a sweating fistful of crushed wildflowers that would never make it to their intended.
    So he’d turned to his studies. Incredibly, even after he’d trained for war since he was old enough to hold a wooden sword, Sebastian’s mind was the strongest part of his body. He’d written treatises and scientific papers, which garnered him the notice of some of the great minds of the time—
    “You’ve seen something,” Myst said, bringing Nikolai from his thoughts.
    “I can tell you where Murdoch is.”
    “I saw him only yesterday,” Nikolai grated. Murdoch lived at MountOblak, a castle seized from the Horde. It was the new Forbearer stronghold, so Nikolai traced there most days.
    “Oh, yes. Of course,” Nïx began in a sarcastic tone. “Murdoch is right where you left him.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” At her blank look, he said, “About Murdoch—what did you mean?”
    “Did I say something? What did I say? How am I supposed to keep track of what I said?”
    He was losing patience. “Damn it, Nïx, I know you could tell us where they are.”
    Her eyes went wide as she breathed, “ Are you psychic, too?”
    Sometimes he really hated his in-laws.
    “Nïx, I need you to help with this,” he said, biting out the words. As a former general in the Estonian army, and a current one with the Forbearers, he was used to giving orders—and having them obeyed with alacrity. This... this asking for things was excruciating.
    Yet now Nïx concentrated only on her craft, until she’d folded what looked like an