Page 58 of Veil of Blood and Bone

“I don’t know who you are,” she insists, her words the only heat in the room. “Only that you were stalking me across the street earlier.”

No, she doesn’t, does she? I push aside the outrage, the hurt, and glare at her. When the glare does nothing, I resort to fang.

Helene’s breath cuts off but she says nothing. She never screams.

“She won’t make it to the hospital,” I say slowly. The wind’s already failing. “She’s lost too much blood. I can help. You will let me.”

“You’re a...”

I scoff and break eye contact. “Please spare us both from saying it.”

Without looking up, I hold my wrist to the girl’s mouth. Drink. Compulsion slides through her, and her lips part, her throat working through the stagnant drip of blood.

Helene waits, nails digging into her palm and leaving crescent-shaped grooves. Audra’s heart slows further until her pulse is not a visible tick on the side of her neck.

More, girl.

I’m not willing to lose either one of them this soon, not before I’ve given Helene my name and a chance to remember.

She’s the love of my life. And I am the thing the gods cursed to kill her.

Chapter 12

Wren

The troll heads toward the bookstore. Ingenious, really. The beast doesn’t even stop traffic.

Kari’s magic, as chilly as his disposition, fucks with the mechanisms of this place. With the stoplight down there’s a pileup of enraged moms on their way to pick up kids from school and tourists with no fucking clue where they’re going.

Soon enough, they won’t even know what happened.

They’ll slap a label on it, like they did with the festival. Anything out of the ordinary fits rather nicely under the umbrella of mass hysteria.

It’s a human thing.

Icy winds scatter leaves and bow trees, filled with Kari’s minions and their unearthly singing. At least they’re in tune if the tune they’re going for is souls of the damned in eternal torment.

No one else hears it except Nicholas. He lurks in seclusion like some kind of monotone horror movie monster from the forties.

Helene and Forest have this covered yet again. Shadows cluster closer to my skin, and I take off in the opposite direction. Soon, the troll’s lumbering footsteps fade to a tremor as it pauses in wait outside the bookshop.

Instead of looking where it’s going, I’ll find where it came from. The thing’s heading toward Helene.

My stomach tightens before I can stop it.

Annoying.

The bookstore is nothing but a layer of dust standing in its way. At least she knows how to take care of herself.

So where is the tear in the veil letting these things come through?

It’s large enough for Odin to stuff his creepy crawlies so it won’t be subtle.

A scream slashes through the silence, echoing off the hillside and the sloping paths descending to the river. Churning water echoes the gunmetal sky. The wall of trees is a fortified barrier of tangled branches with only a few precious cuts for the brave jogger to take.

If they don’t mind running from wolves.

That’s where I’ll find the tear.