Crossroads by Jeanne C. Stein

Author:Jeanne C. Stein
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: Ace
Published: 2011-08-30T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

FREY PULLS A SMALL SWISS ARMY KNIFE FROM THE pocket of his jeans. He reaches for my arm.

I jerk it out of reach. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Frey isn’t deterred. He snatches my arm in a strong, solid grip. “I’ll explain after I get the charm out of you. Believe me, Anna, you don’t want that thing inside you very long.”

I start to object, but he’s already pierced my skin with the very sharp point of a very small knife.

I yelp. Vampires are indestructible, but we feel pain just like any mortal. I could free myself, but there’s something in Frey’s expression that stops me. Anxiety. Worry. He’s afraid for me.

He digs around under the skin for what seems a long time. I bite my lower lip to keep from squirming. “Damn, Frey. That hurts.”

No answer. No apology. Finally, he switches the knife blade for tweezers—gotta love those army knives—digs around some more and pulls something small and bloody out of my arm.

He holds it up. “Got it.”

The wound on my arm is already closing. “What is it?” I ask, wiping residual blood on my jeans. “And why did you have to remove it? You know there are very few things that can kill me.”

Frey mimics my action, wiping blood from the object until it’s clean. Then he holds something small and round and white out to me.

He lays it on the palm of my hand. “It wouldn’t kill you, not right away. That’s a human bone bead dipped in bone dust. Causes heart failure in humans. Paralysis in supernaturals.” He lets a beat go by. “In the case of a vampire, permanent paralysis. It would take you a long time to die.”

The bead is tiny, white, seems harmless enough, though from what Frey just said, obviously isn’t. “How did it get in me? I didn’t hear a shot.”

“It didn’t come from a regular gun. It came from a blowgun. Favorite weapon of the skinwalkers.”

And now for the next question burning my brain. “What the hell is a skinwalker?”

Frey resumes his seat on the floor of the hogan, motions at me to join him. When we’re both seated, he begins.

“The Navajo call them yee naaldooshii. It’s a Navajo witch who practices curse magic. They can travel in animal form. Wolf, coyote, owl . . .”

“How about crow?”

He nods. “You saw a crow?”

“In the distance.”

“Probably our culprit.”

“Why would it attack me?”

“Don’t know. I only know three people who know you’re here—Sarah, Mary and John-John.”

“And now, George.”

Frey shakes his head. “George wouldn’t say anything. He’s been a friend for a long time.”

“But you haven’t brought a vampire to his home before. He may feel like Sarah.”

Another adamant shake of the head. “George would never practice curse magic, let alone become a skinwalker. To do that, you have to desecrate the corpse of a loved one. I already told you how the Navajo fear the dead. I can’t see him being a party to such a powerful taboo.”

“But maybe his fear of me is even greater.

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