Flat Line (Pulse, book 3)

By Brenda Franklin

Everything was perfect for Elizabeth and Virgil, who were a week away from getting married. Though Virgil would argue that having his sister help was driving him mad and that he wished Elizabeth would stay away from work. Other than that, Elizabeth couldn’t be more excited! But secretly she was afraid. Her vampire rebirth was just around the corner. Any moment she would start dying. Yes, dying. There was no other word to describe it. And when she woke up, she would either be a psycho blood thirsty killer, a relatively normal vampire like Virgil, or she wouldn’t wake up at all. It could mean the end of everything for her. No pressure.

Not to make a difficult situation worse, but Elizabeth is being followed. Someone else is interested to see how Elizabeth’s rebirth is going to go, and they aren’t willing to wait. Elizabeth and Virgil will have to face their toughest challenge yet. This will be a battle that will push everyone to their limits both mentally and physically.

Will Elizabeth and Virgil finally get their Happy-Ever-After or has fate got another plan in store for them?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brenda Franklin
• Release date: Aug 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301573172

Brenda Franklin

Brenda Franklin was born and raised in Louisiana surrounded by fantasy, romance, and the paranormal. She's always had a love for writing, having written her first horror story before middle school about a monster that devoured people in the night-I believe they call him the Boogie Man.Brenda points the blame/thanks for her obsessive need to write and read about vampires to her father who had an old bookshelf in their living room when she was growing up. From top to bottom it was filled with combat related books, old westerns, books by Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and Brian Lumley, and many more fascinating reads. But the book Brenda remembers the most was ‘Interview with a Vampire’ by Anne Rice. After reading it, she's never been the same since.She's the author of paranormal romance books, The Pulse Trilogy:A Steady PulseBarely BeatingFlat Line

Book preview

Flat Line

Published by Brenda Franklin at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Brenda Franklin

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover image created by Jennifer Munswami

(J.M Rising Horse Creations)

Edited by Victoria Shockley

Chapter One

Three months had gone by in a blur since Virgil Hart had moved to Alexandria, Louisiana with Elizabeth Parks–a woman whose long, curly, chestnut hair, soft skin, and sensual body stirred ever so slightly in his arms. The air he breathed was filled with her intoxicating scent. He could not picture himself anywhere else but holding her against his chest for countless hours.

The days meant nothing to him if Elizabeth was not there. She brought the light to his darkness, her shining sun to his gleaming moon; she was in every way his match.

A smile played across his lips as he recalled the first moments after they met each other, not as two humans, but as a human and a vampire. She thought he was crazy, and for the most part, that was true. Everything he did and offered her sounded like a fairy tale wrapped up in a nightmare.

In the end, he was able to talk the beautifully crazed woman into accepting what he had to say. To accept the life he was offering her and help to renew her faith with the present. Little did he know just how great she would make his future.

His thumb rubbed slowly along her shoulder.

How could such a creature exist, he wondered breathing deeply in her sweet scent. His sleeping beauty hugged tighter as though she had heard him. Perhaps she had. They had a strong connection, which was sensitive during this phase.

He chuckled to himself as Elizabeth muttered soft, inaudible whispers across him.

She had started to become more tired in the past couple of weeks. Virgil stayed highly aware of every change in her actions. When she ate, slept, and her pace. Everything had to be watched and monitored. She was three months and a week past when she endured the conversion. This process was the start to becoming a vampire. It was a process in which Elizabeth and Virgil traded blood. Not a lot of blood, but enough to allow Elizabeth some added perks and help her adjust to the next phase. The rebirth.

They had talked about the warning signs to the Rebirth. Exhaustion, hunger, fever and sickness. The body essentially dies. The moment Elizabeth starts to show the signs he was going to rush her away; to a safe house where Garrison, his master, and he could watch over her as she passed from her world into his.

But so far, nothing. The wait was driving him mad.

Elizabeth was only tired because of everything they were doing. She was trying to run her business and plan for their wedding, which was a week away. Elizabeth stressed how she wanted to have the wedding before her rebirth, that way she could take a late Honeymoon and use that as the reason why she wouldn’t be at work. Elizabeth planned it all out, but in Virgil’s world, nothing was easy to control and this was one thing that was very unpredictable.

Why couldn’t she wait? Would one more month really make the difference?

But his concerns to the side, right now, he just wanted to enjoy Elizabeth in his arms. Someone would have to be dying for him to remove himself from her, and by the sound of his continuously ringing phone, someone must have been.

Try as he might to ignore the ringing beast of a phone, the final straw was when Elizabeth started to move. She released a weak and tiresome moan across his chest, signaling it was time to answer it. He just hoped she would stay sleeping so he could sneak his way back into bed when he was done. Their night wasn’t a peaceful one and though he was left grinning as he slid out from underneath her, she did have a way of being a bit grouchy in the morning when she didn’t get enough sleep.

He stood, resting his molten silver eyes across the beauty lying in bed with a craving to pick up where they had left off, but he shook it off as the phone started to ring again.

Irritated, he went to answer it in the living room. He wished he had turned the infernal device off like Elizabeth did on most nights.

In a low voice he spoke into the phone not bothering to check the caller ID. This is Virgil.

Virgil! Helena, his vampire blood sister, hissed into the phone. Where have you been? I have been trying to reach you for the past ten minutes! She yelled. He was all too happy to hear her frustration. Stop smiling!

Virgil tightened his lips, rubbing his eyes. What is the matter Helena? Lately he had been determined to avoid all of phone calls or pass the phone to Elizabeth, who willingly handled whatever was happening between Bethany, Elizabeth’s best friend and Maid of Honor, and his sister. This was a very dangerous combination. The women seemed to get along famously, to Virgil’s dismay. Enduring one Helena throughout the years was tough, but two women with her personality were more than he could handle.

Most likely the phone call would be wedding related because both Beth and Helena had agreed to help, though Garrison, Virgil’s mentor, had insisted on paying for everything. Elizabeth would not have any say in that, but everything else would be hers to command. Virgil tended to agree with whatever she wanted, stressing this is your fairy tale wedding. He wanted everything to be perfect for her. Though he was consulted often the only time he had to disagree was when Elizabeth said they would have an inside wedding. That was the farthest from what she truly wanted but she worried about the vampires and their need for blood. Virgil knew that every vampire attending would ensure that they were well fed. She had nothing to worry about.

It was going to be perfect.

"Virgil, I’m on my way to get Laurence, but I needed to let Elizabeth know that I have found the perfect place for her bachelorette party–"

Virgil clicked off the phone and tossed it to the couch. The phone bounced once and landed on the floor, instantly ringing again. He wasn’t going to deal with Helena’s jokes this early in the morning and he sure as hell wasn’t about to argue with her about a bachelorette party. He had already turned down the idea and happily Elizabeth had turned it down too. He wished Helena could take the fact that Elizabeth was close to rebirth more seriously.

In this process, Elizabeth would be weak, sick, needing rest. She would be dying! And all Helena was worried about was some stupid party when they needed to worry about the fact that the wedding was a week away and Elizabeth could start showing signs any day now.

There was also the matter of her hunger. What were they going to do after her rebirth when they needed to feed her?

During a bloody encounter with his brother, William, Virgil was forced to feed Elizabeth a small amount of blood, but it wasn’t human blood she ingested. Elizabeth had responded to vampire blood, a mutation brought on by the conversion. It happens, and in people like Elizabeth, they should have seen it coming.

Mutations happen when a human is turned too quickly. A perfect example was the case of Chris Wells. The human was turned too fast, skipping conversion, which led to an outcome where he was nearly unrecognizable. He suffered skin mutations as well as a break in his sanity leading him to be used as a puppet. Not all mutations are as severe as his, but they all share one similar characteristic and that is the need for blood. It is what drives them and pushes them to the brink. This usually leads them to being hunted down and killed by vampires such as Garrison, a Hunter.

Other causes for mutations is when people, such as psychics, the real ones, are turned. It is unexplained why mutations are stronger to appear in these people, but it isn’t common for them to survive the turning. This was another concern that lingered in the back of Virgil’s mind as the days past.

Elizabeth’s taste for vampire blood was certainly a mutation probably linked to her extra ability of detecting a person’s pulse. Both of these traits they had to keep secret.

Virgil wasn’t sure what they would do if the elder vampires or other hunters found out, but it was his job to ensure that didn’t happen, and he wasn’t alone. Garrison was famous amongst the Hunters and was looking out for them. He guaranteed if anything happened he had a safe house she could go to. Even Virgil didn’t know of this place, but Garrison promised that when the time came, if it ever came, he wouldn’t let them take her easily.

Garrison wasn’t the only one looking out for them, there was a handful of vampires with the knowledge and they all would do everything in their power to protect her.

Virgil rubbed his eyes again. She was safe. He knew it.

Her voice emerged from the small hall.

Virgil? Elizabeth yawned, rubbing at her hazel eyes tinted with silver. She leaned her curvy body against the wall in nothing more than a sheet held up against her chest with one hand. She propped her other hand high on her hip after tussling her curly hair over her sharp shoulders. The corners of her lips were raised high into a smile, and her eyes were devilish. Just the kind of look Virgil loved. Are you torturing Helena again?

She could see the answer by the look in his eyes, which quickly shifted to a reflective silver as he took in her image.

She had grown accustomed to his many looks, but still she blushed. He knew just how to get her heart racing. But it was more than that. They shared a blood connection; they were linked. Body and soul.

He was her life, her substance. He pulled her together when she was shattered after the death of her father. A link formed before they could realize it, and now they could not be separated. They were truly bonded.

Would I do such a thing? He smiled innocently. Elizabeth released an irresistible laugh. He wanted to kiss her smile and force her back into the room she had just come from, but by her eyes he wasn’t going to be able to make it that far.

In a heartbeat, she continued to laugh.

Virgil grinned. Elizabeth shook her head at him. What? He asked as she nibbled playfully on her lip. The simple action sending a current through his body ensuring that no corner of him was left asleep.

You torture me, she answered, pointing a finger toward his body, and Virgil finally pulled his eyes off her curvy body to realize what she was talking about. He was stark nude, and after realizing her point of interest, he straightened up tensing his muscles, pushing his shoulders back with his hands on his hips, his brows raised, and a large wicked smile plastered across his face to top it off. Elizabeth couldn’t help the flood of red to her face from his lack of modesty and bit back a hard laugh.

He was shameless, and with a body like his, she didn’t blame him. Many times she had run her fingers along him while resting her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat as the waves of his pulse caressed her.

Pulse.

The word brought back many memories. It was her unusual ability to detect a life form’s pulse that pulled her to Virgil in the first place and pushed her into the world of vampires. In doing so, she not only gained a future with Virgil, but also discovered the truth about her mother and the vampire that had saved her during childbirth, Andrel.

Her gift turned into such a blessing, and with Virgil’s help it had grown. She could not only feel a person’s pulse wash over her body with little rushes of electrical currents like a warm breeze, but now she could tell the difference between Virgil and any other vampire. There was almost a hue of gold around him to warm her and comfort her when she shut her eyes, and even in darkness she could not only feel his pulse, but see his dim light. Virgil looked forward to seeing how her abilities would progress when she was fully turned, but until then his top priority was satisfying her every need.

He held his wicked grin at Elizabeth as she began a sultry walk towards him. She was sexy, with curves and a sway in her hips that made his mouth water.

She walked right up to him, and without missing a beat leaned down, stretched out her hand, and took hold of the object that held her attention.

Hello? Elizabeth said.

Hello to you too. Virgil grinned, moving his eyes down to meet her. His smile dropped, and he could have fallen over when he realized she had passed him by and was now on the phone-which he had completely forgotten about. If he didn’t want to strangle his sister before, he was set on it now.

Elizabeth! Can you believe he hung up on me? Helena gasped on the other end of the phone.

I know. Virgil’s mean like that. Elizabeth laughed, sending a little air kiss in his direction with a teasing smile. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, wanting to lower himself to the floor and ravish her, but Elizabeth was quick to move and put distance between the two of them. Virgil groaned.

You do love teasing him. Elizabeth said.

I can’t help it. Helena laughed. He’s too easy to annoy at times.

I know. So what’s with the early phone call? Everything okay?

Can you let Bethany know that I was able to get ahold of a band? As requested they are more than happy to perform and they also owe me a favor.

Why don’t you just call Beth?

I have been trying to call her but I can’t get through and I don’t want her to worry about it. And I really didn’t like the agent of the man she was talking with. His thoughts weren’t the nicest. Helena remarked lowly, which was fine by Elizabeth since she had nothing to do with the band. That was something Beth was working on. All Elizabeth hoped for was a few choice songs and that they dressed the part. No punk rock band with studs and Mohawks.

Okay. That’s not a problem. I was going to head into work this morning anyway, so I’ll let her know when I see her.

It’s your day off you shouldn’t be going in. Helena said. I’m shocked Virgil is even letting you go to work at all this past week. I’d be relaxing, getting massage, or something! Anything but work!

Like he could keep me away from my store. Elizabeth shot Virgil a challenging look from across the room.

It wasn’t without trying that Virgil let her go to work. He’d tried to talk her into taking the week off, but Elizabeth wouldn’t have it. She couldn’t just not work at the store for the whole week and take off again for the honey moon. No way! And thankfully he was smart enough not to continue trying. He just went along making sure her time at work was as short as he could help it.

Well, you just be careful. Helena said with a sigh knowing that she was no match for Elizabeth, especially if Virgil couldn’t succeed. That, or she had some secret plan, but Elizabeth highly doubted it. Helena was a straight forward kind of woman, if she was gonna use blackmail or other tactics such as threats, she would have done it by now. Elizabeth’s theory was that Helena liked her too much at the moment or she didn’t want to mess up a good thing. Either way, Elizabeth won and she was going to work.

Of course. Anyway, I’ll get ahold of Beth and let her know. She probably just has her phone off; it is a bit early, after all. Nothing to be worried about. And thank you so much for the help. I know Beth was stressed about the band. She tried not to show it, but you could tell. Elizabeth flashed a smirk towards Virgil before disappearing around the corner of the hall and out of his sight.

"Yeah, I knew it was bad when she called me about it yesterday