The Bloodbound Awakening

inst the butcher shop's wall, her pulse hammering in her throat as she stared at the blo

ickering streetlamp. "We need to clean this. Now." Her v

ed around, his flashlight beam slicing

dow-the slow, deliberate scrape of somethin

rr-

rr-

turned ice-cold

she br

y r

ud in the sleeping building. Jason immediately began

right?" He laughed, high and unsteady. "Bad ste

s voice was st

The blood looked wrong in the lamplight-darker than it s

r the first-aid kit. "Tell me ex

in the way the statue's eyes had changed? The way the runes had flared crimson l

k at t

hree

oice, muffled through th

the bloody tissues under the bed. E

eep. "I heard noise. Is everything-" Her gaze landed on Jason. "Mr. Carter. W

"We were hav

rs. Lowell's

stured wildly at her guidebook. "The, u

your own room, Jason.

, Elian caught Jason's whisper

licked, Mira rounded

ing hadn'

reamed

silk sheets. She should have fought. Should have screamed. But the pain me

feverish, the pendant stuck

. Mira's bed was empty, a note on the pillo

took a layer of skin with it. The silver had

on, uncharacteristically quiet, pushed a muffin towa

raw mark on her ch

nged. The museum is... unexpectedly closed." Her gaze linger

m cut h

through just in time to see two policemen carrying a stretcher-and on it, a body cover

whispered. "Just like

ery still. "

with his throat torn out. They say

ulsed once, hard

irror showed the trut

-eyes. Her lips were chapped,

ils wer

llowing the green of her irises

o

ly. Just the ligh

reflection smil

her chest, and suddenly, sh

ndow they'd broken still gaped open. Elian slipped ins

, the statue's plinth stood empty. Cracks radiated outward fro

he ru

ly, their crimson light puls

came

n't in her he

from beh

n tu

statue had suggested, his shoulders broad beneath a coat that seemed stitched from darkness its

is ey

t blue.

e in her

hitched. "You

howed fangs

nto the light-and

weren't hers f

lith's ribs, her own hand (Ser

rom his throat as t

sleep, of hung

visions threatening

. "You feel it now, don't you?" He pressed

d touched his tongu

ing themselves into Elian's vision. The pendant

ed, the sound rich

he whi

t open, and Mrs. Lowell's

ER, WHAT IN

shed like sm

unes kept

ian's

od was