A Touch of Frost (The Veil Book 1) by Terry Maggert

Author:Terry Maggert [Maggert, Terry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-04-07T22:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Seven: Friendly Competition

Braswell cursed, striking a fist against the steering wheel and then wincing at the pain. He wasn’t designed for physical tests; his genius rested with the intellectual side of life, which made the vanishing shape of a lanky teenager even more frustrating. Braswell’s car sat idling at the truck stop, a modest chorus of activity around him giving just enough anonymity that he tried for the grab in open sight of others. People tended to see what they wanted; a fact that served him well over the years as he’d delivered the occasional victim to Socorro when Ravenwood had nothing to offer.

He’d wasted precious minutes running one of his various hunting scripts—the confused traveler, in this case—but the girl was cagey and bolted at the first sign of his opening the car door to invite her inside. Her dyed blonde hair whipped side to side as she fled, flicking her cigarette toward him with dismissive panache. It was dusk, which meant that chasing her across the broad expanse of snow-covered parking lot was not only ill advised, but impossible. Trucks and cars picked their way across the slick surface, their glacial speeds making for too many obstacles should he try to run the prey to ground. In a moment, she vanished inside the restaurant attached to the gas station, but not before casting a fearful look over her shoulder.

He’d have to leave. Girls like her called the police, and they could slow him even further. With another muttered curse, he put the car in gear, feeling a pang of defeat as the tires bit into snow that was slushy with road salt and endless traffic.

“Three misses in thirty years,” he spat, turning the wheel slowly as he passed a lurching van filled with a college athletic team. Braswell knew his position was tenuous at best, and fatal if he wasn’t careful. He thought of the rare failures over the years—a girl who’d climbed through the window of his car, screaming, a boy who’d kicked him like a mule and run into traffic, only to be hit by a car, and then, his greatest failure.

It had been near dark, fifteen years earlier outside the crumbling remains of a hotel near the edge of town. He’d watched the teens circle the place like prey, stashing beer and liquor for their weekend parties that assured him of one or two victims at the very least. The kids came from nearby schools, which Braswell liked as it gave a greater chance of confusion and error before a teenager was reported missing. Confusion was a boon to his hunting, and he still recalled the moment of disaster, when the powerful, lean youth had fought back against his attack, going so far as to punch him in the nose with enough force to make him see a blinding white flash.

Braswell’s response had been instant, but futile—a wicked cut somewhere with his warlock blade, but not enough to disable to athletic boy. After a second

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