Hotter than Hell by Edited by Kim Harrison

Author:Edited by Kim Harrison [Harrison, Edited by Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-03-20T02:59:10+00:00

CHAPTER 4

I HIT EARTH WITH A CRUNCH THAT JARRED EVERY bone from toes to neck, and fell sideways with a gasp. Wood and dust rained around me, and something sharp speared into my leg. I yelped, and scrambled to my hands and feet, moving into the deeper darkness, desperate to get out of the path of the still-falling wood.

“Grace?” Ethan said, his voice little more than a hiss of air. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just gotta stop a cut from bleeding.” I called to my wolf shape, felt the surge of magic roll my body, shifting, changing, and in the process, healing. To my wolf nose, the scents in the air sharpened dramatically, and I knew without even seeing it that bloody death awaited discovery a hairsbreadth away. I shifted shape again and said, “Point the flashlight my way.”

There were several clicks, then light flared across the utter black. I turned. Bodies lay before me. Bodies in various stages of disintegration, some fully fleshed, some not, but all rotting.

And the smell…

My stomach turned and bile rose thick and fast up my throat. I gagged and quickly backed away, not wanting to puke over those who already suffered enough. Not that they’d know, but their ghosts might.

And their ghosts were here, in this room, filling the shadows with their pain and confusion and horror. The sheer force of it flooded my senses, making my whole body shudder and my heart ache.

“My God,” Ethan said softly. “There have to be at least twenty of them.”

The ghosts were stirring, whispering. Warning. I gulped down air, trying to keep calm, trying to keep their shadows and pain at arm’s length.

And then something else stirred out there in the blackness. There was no sound, no shifting of air, nothing to indicate movement. But I felt it all the same.

Evil had woken.

I backed away until I reached Ethan, and slowly reached for the flashlight, directing the bright beam toward the distant shadows ahead.

There was a quick gleam, like the sparkle of a cat’s eyes caught in moonlight, then it was gone.

Evil was on the move.

Ethan swore softly. “Keep behind me,” he said, taking his gun from the holster. The click of the safety being released echoed across the heavy silence. I reached back, freeing the stakes and gripping them tightly.

“Can you smell it?” I asked.

He shook his head. “The reek of decay is so strong it’s overwhelming everything else. You?”

I flared my nostrils, sucking in the foul air, letting it run across my other senses. Even against the thick stink of rotting flesh, the taste of evil could not hide. “It’s to our right, near the wall. Waiting, watching.”

He swept the light in that direction. Again, eyes sparkled briefly before disappearing. “It’s retreating,” I said softly.

“Then let’s follow it to its lair.”

Let’s not, I thought, but followed him onwards anyway. The utter blackness seemed to close in on us, as thick and as heavy as a blanket. The vampire was out there, but it wasn’t running, wasn’t scared. Just moving away, trying to avoid us.

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