Anna Katherine by Salt & Silver

Author:Salt & Silver [Salt & Silver]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-02-01T15:19:05+00:00

S

tan goes to sleep. I do too. Maybe it is not wise to sleep in Hell. With a transitioning werewolf. In the freezing cold.

Maybe I don’t care.

The light never changes. The ash-snow hits the edges of my circle and swirls in little dances. I close my eyes. The last thing I see is Roxie, rubbing her knee. The last thing I feel is a light touch against my hair.

W

hen I wake, it is because there is someone talking really, really loudly.

When I open my eyes, there is a fucking snake-faced dragon slithering its way through the black sky above us.

Stan says, “What the hell is that?” and he tries to pull the kerchief down again. I put my hand over the kerchief, and press the cloth against his eyes.

“I will tell you really soon,” I say, and I hope it is not a lie.

Rites! the dragon is screaming. There are rites to be performed in the netherworld!

“Stand back!” Roxie says. She is standing at the edge of our bluff, her knives out, her scars like snakes burning bright and silver. She flexes, her weight balanced, and her grin is wide and fierce.

Christian moves slowly, but he ignores Roxie and gets into a support position behind her, his spider crouching, spread-legged, poised for the catch.

Ryan doesn’t move to support. Instead, he comes to me, and I don’t know why—and then I remember what Roxie said before, about grouping the blood kids together.

“I know,” I say angrily. “Take him.” I help Stan up and thrust him at Ryan. Ryan grabs Stan clumsily. Stan clutches Ryan’s lamia coat and murmurs something I bet Matt would really love, and Ryan’s expression is nothing, nothing.

Fuck him.

Shit, I did that already.

Rites! The dragon is slithering its way through the sky, a beacon of angry muscle and scales that swims through eddies like an eel through water. It’s coming closer.

Ryan turns away from me and drags Stan along with him. “Are you Ereshkigal?” he shouts to the snake. Great. Roxie doesn’t turn away from the dragon coming toward us, but her snakes all turn and shriek at him in a way I never, ever want to hear again. At any rate, the dragon doesn’t answer. “Are you Neti?” he tries again, because he is made of stupid.

The dragon’s mouth is the size of five of me, stacked head to foot. I know this because it has just opened that mouth and I can see exactly where I’d fit in it.

Ryan is shouting more things, this time in a language that must be Sumerian. The dragon is shaking its head, and coming closer. Roxie’s knives are glinting. She’s going to step over the circle. Christian just looks up, his hands bare, waiting.

And then there’s me.

I am a girl who runs a diner. It’s not even my diner. I slept with a guy I’ve wanted for years, and right now all he wants me for is blood magic. One of my best friends is going to die unless we can fix him in Hell.

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