Monster Born (Northern Creatures Book 1) by Kris Austen Radcliffe

Author:Kris Austen Radcliffe [Radcliffe, Kris Austen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781939730459
Publisher: Six Talon Sign Fantasy & Futuristic Romance
Published: 2017-08-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The workers across the lake started later than usual today, and the birds took advantage. A robin sang in the oak above my head. Somewhere along the shore, a crow called to his brethren. After a moment, another crow somewhere deep in the woods answered.

I sipped my oolong tea and stared out over the calm waters of my lake.

Two days and I hadn’t heard one word from the elves. Two days since the Biterson brothers had vanished and the city had “temporarily” closed the Ramsey Mansion Branch Library. And three days since my dog had last come home.

Two God-forsaken days all alone in my house with only my thoughts and my noisy neighbors. At least the ghosts had also vanished.

No activity that looked suspiciously like a vampire attack. No sparks flying around Rose’s Hill, either.

Arne, thankfully, left Lizzy’s cairn alone, but I suspected that if he caught even a whiff of vampire, he would dismantle her marker with a bolt from the sky.

He wouldn’t show his face here. He would simply destroy.

A saw started up across the lake. Banging followed. Above my head, the robin took wing. The sun warmed my deck, and I needed the heat before I left for this morning’s trek through the trees in search of the emperor. I didn’t want one of the construction guys stumbling across me, a walking corpse, out in the trees.

The sun, at least, was warm this morning, and my mat comfortable. A few more moments with my skin exposed to the sun’s heat and I would return to something approaching human.

I sipped and swirled the last of my tea. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, the leaves said.

“Not helpful,” I muttered, as if the leaves really had spoken to me. The only pattern in my cup looked more like my compost heap than any symbol.

I’d break Arne’s neck if he touched the cairn. Rip his elf head off his elf body, magic be damned.

My mug shattered in my hand.

I blinked. What remained of my tea dripped onto my thigh. The mug’s handle still curled around my fingers, but the rest landed as shards on my deck.

Arne, I thought, and threw the mug handle into the lake. I shook my hand. No cuts. No blood, just my body’s disdain for an elf who thought he ruled everyone in Alfheim.

I stood. Droplets of tea clung to my knee and the shorts I’d thrown on this morning because of the workers.

Goddamned noise, I thought. Maybe they needed a lesson in manners, just like Arne.

Just like…

A ghost appeared at the edge of my deck, between me and the lake. A small ghost, a man, one I did not recognize yet who was eerily familiar.

He stood directly between me and the noisy neighbors.

He raised his hand and… the anger stopped. It did not recede, nor did it lessen, but it did cease churning.

As did the air around my head. The world became instantly stuffy. I tried to inhale.

What had been churning collapsed around my head into a suffocating mask.

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