Grave Things by Lindsay Mead

Author:Lindsay Mead [Mead, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

18

As Viola marched across the football field, the cool night air filled her lungs. She gripped the blessed sword tightly and looked to each strigoi demon. There were five in total, all coming from different directions. Knowing they couldn't cross the salt line to get at their prey, the strigoi hesitated and watched Vi with curiosity.

"Viola! Are you crazy?" Ian shouted from behind. "They'll kill you."

Without responding, she glanced back to see Lana take hold of the panicked Scotsman and say, "You have to trust her, Ian."

"But we could just wait here until morning." He gaped at the assistant, then at Viola. "You don't need to risk your life!"

Viola scoffed. Of course, she did. Exorcists don't run from demons—they run toward them. She could no more walk away from this than a corpse could choose not to decay.

However, Lana managed to explain this to Ian, it was too faint for Vi to hear. Turning her attention to the nearest demon, Viola reached the center of the field. Scarlet flares and moonbeams accented the lines of her body. What a strange sight she must have been, dressed as a tattooed Rosie the Riveter in a leather jacket and wielding a glimmering sword. Facing the strigoi, she planted her feet and held Uriel at her side.

Sensing her challenge, the hellish bounty hunter dropped into a slow crouch and regarded her. It had a long thin body beneath an overwhelming ebony cloak. That was all the creature wore for concealment, having no genitalia to cover. It was eerie the way the moonlight reflected off its smooth, pale skin.

"I'm going to kill you," Viola threatened the demon in its Latin tongue, staring into its empty eyes.

Its lips, nearly nonexistent, curled with the ghost of a smile. On taught muscled legs, it sprang forward. The strigoi was fast, moving over the ground as silent as the breeze. It toyed with her by running at only half its natural speed. That was a mistake.

Vi stilled, giving it an easy target. Impossibly far away, the strigoi leapt. Its cloak fluttered behind it, like some mutated Dracula. Baring four finger-length fangs, the demon unhinged its jaw beyond the limits of the natural world. It emitted an ear-piercing cry, smooth and sharp like nails on a chalkboard.

That's when Viola acted. With two long steps, as the demon passed overhead, she twisted and swept her sword skyward. The moment Uriel made contact, it felt like slicing through whipped butter with hardly a whisper of resistance. Vi slashed the blade to her side, flinging black blood into the grass, and the strigoi tumbled lifelessly to the ground. Its head rolled several feet further.

Another god-awful screech came from behind. Viola spun, swinging Uriel at the same time. The blade sliced through the attacking strigoi's neck, causing its inky blood to speckle her face. Before the dead strigoi could drop, a hard body smashed into her.

Viola slammed face first into the ground, scraping her cheek and knocking the wind from her lungs. Pushing

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.