BrightBlood: An Urban Fantasy Arcanaverse Novel by Foster James Anderson

Author:Foster, James Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: KDF MEDIA
Published: 2024-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

13

The night air clung to Alexandra’s skin like a damp shroud as she and Radu tore through London’s streets, their vampiric speed turning the world into a blur of light smears and shadowy abstractions. The cacophony of Oxford Street faded to a distant whisper, drowned out by the thunderous pounding of her own undead heart. Every sense was on fire, overwhelmed by the torrent of information assaulting her heightened awareness.

As they veered onto Bayswater Road, the city unfurled before Alexandra’s preternatural gaze like a living, breathing organism. Shadows peeled back, revealing secrets that had always lurked just beyond human perception. She could taste the lingering tang of fear and desperation on the air, hear the frantic syncopation of a thousand heartbeats echoing through the concrete canyons.

Holland Park Avenue stretched before them, an asphalt river carving its way through the urban sprawl. Alexandra matched Radu’s relentless pace, her body moving in ways that still felt alien, exhilarating, and terrifying in equal measure. The wind whipped through her hair, carrying with it a symphony of scents—the earthy musk of nearby parks, the acrid bite of vehicle exhaust, and beneath it all, the intoxicating aroma of warm, pulsing human life.

As they entered Ealing, the suffocating press of inner-city London began to give way to more suburban vistas. Towering skyscrapers and crowded thoroughfares morphed into residential streets lined with silent houses, their windows dark and accusing. Alexandra felt the knot of tension in her chest loosen fractionally as the claustrophobic urban landscape fell away, replaced by the illusion of space and safety.

Radu slowed his breakneck pace, and Alexandra followed suit. He led them toward a small, decrepit church that seemed to huddle in on itself, as if trying to escape the encroaching modernity that surrounded it.

They approached with predatory caution, every sense stretched to its limit for any hint of pursuit or surveillance. Alexandra’s gaze swept across the church grounds, taking in details her human eyes would have missed entirely. Weathered gravestones jutted from the earth like broken teeth, their inscriptions worn nearly smooth by centuries of wind and rain. The ancient twelfth-century church itself loomed before them, its stone walls exuding an aura of grim permanence that seemed to mock their frantic flight.

Alexandra drew in a deep breath, parsing through the tapestry of scents carried on the night breeze. The musty smell of ancient stone and damp earth predominated, underpinned by the faintest traces of incense, candle wax, and stale human presence. Nothing fresh, nothing to suggest the building had seen use in recent memory.

They slipped into the church like thieves, the musty air inside wrapping around them like a moldering blanket. Moonlight filtered through grimy stained-glass windows, painting abstract patterns across worn flagstones and filling the sanctuary with an otherworldly glow. Alexandra’s enhanced vision pierced the gloom effortlessly, revealing every crack in the plaster, every mote of dust dancing in the spectral light.

Radu made his way to the chancel, slumping against the altar rail with a weariness that seemed to radiate from his very bones.

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