Quenched in Blood by Ari McKay

Author:Ari McKay [McKay, Ari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64080-944-4
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2018-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

ALL was quiet and still in the Riverside Cemetery—for now, at least. Julian said things tended to get busier the closer it got to midnight, which was why normal humans were instinctively leery about going into cemeteries after dark. They might not know why they were afraid, but they knew it wasn’t safe.

Thomas wasn’t frightened, only excited and a little nervous as they patrolled the grounds. The cemetery sprawled over eighty-seven acres, and he thought it was probably quite beautiful and peaceful in the daylight. It had an eerie beauty even at night, with its carefully tended gardens highlighted silver by moonlight.

There were trees everywhere too. Oaks, dogwoods, poplars, and ginkgoes—all of them casting shadows that moved when the evening breeze made their branches sway. Thomas got a little punchy when he caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, but he hadn’t seen anything more substantial than shadows yet.

After two weeks in Julian’s training room, Thomas had finally been deemed ready for a real mission, although Julian was starting him off easy. The demons found here were weak, barely above carrion feeders. Their lack of strength and wits forced them to seek easy prey, and what could be easier than the dead? Julian mentioned they might see ghosts as well, usually in the form of orbs or mist, although there could be a full-bodied apparition or two.

“What should I do?” Thomas asked. “Do you know if there are any specific tracking procedures? Other than just walking around and keeping my eyes open, that is.”

Julian was close beside him. The vampire seemed… tense wasn’t the right word, not exactly. Wary, perhaps? He was alert, his eyes constantly scanning from side to side as they moved deeper into the cemetery, and there was a harder edge to him than Thomas had ever seen. He was also armed to the teeth with several odd curved knives in a bandolier looped over one shoulder.

“Remember, I can’t normally see demons, not unless they choose to manifest or are forced to do so by the presence of a demon hunter,” Julian replied softly. “They have a red-and-black aura, so that’s what you should notice first.” He gestured toward the daggers in Thomas’s hand. “Concentrate on those. Who knows? Maybe it will help.”

“What do you mean?” Thomas held up the daggers and examined them, but they didn’t appear any different.

“I’ve run across magical artifacts from time to time,” Julian said. “Members of your family have been demon hunters for centuries, so it isn’t too much of a stretch to think they could run across a set of magical daggers along the way. The problem is that a lot of enchantments are keyed to certain situations, and that seems especially true with weapons. If there is magic in them, it could be something that helps you find demons or does additional damage to them.” Julian gave him a tight smile. “Just keep your eyes open and your guard up. I don’t expect us to

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