The Children and the Blood (41 page)
Read The Children and the Blood Online
Authors: Megan Joel Peterson,Skye Malone
Being called a queen.
But none of them compared to the truth.
“Carter told me to.”
The girl’s brow furrowed. “Why would he–”
She cut off as Ashe looked away.
“What’re you going to do?”
Ashe drew a breath. “I’m going to convince them the Blood are real. I’m going to finish what Carter started.”
For a moment, Spider said nothing. And then she nodded.
“We’re going back to the Abbey. Samson’s there and…” She trailed off. “People will need to know. But… if you get into any trouble…”
Spider glanced at her.
“You too,” Ashe said.
The ghost of a humored expression flitted across the girl’s face, as though to question how that would be possible.
With difficulty, Ashe managed a smile.
Her humor fading, Spider turned and slid down from the wall. One hand on the stonework, she took a breath and then glanced up again. “See you around.”
The sound of seagulls above her, Ashe watched as Spider walked away.
Her gaze drifted back to the water. Overhead, the gray clouds brightened, giving way to the sun. From her pocket, she drew out the scrap of paper, rereading the address amid the bloodstains.
And she sighed.
The Blood were still out there. Brogan hadn’t been the only one. And while she wasn’t sure if they would still be coming after her, it didn’t matter.
She’d be coming for them.
Climbing down from the wall, Ashe let her magic rise around her, hovering just on the edge of flame and obscuring her from human view. Gravel crunching beneath her feet and skyscrapers catching the morning light before her, she headed back into the city.
“Okay,” Harris said resignedly. “Thanks for your… time.”
He grimaced as the secretary hung up before he could finish. Forcibly keeping himself from slamming the phone onto the Formica tabletop, he set the cell aside and then drained the last dregs of his coffee. It was his seventh refill. He hadn’t slept all night.
And the kids had vanished. Ashley’s kind had escaped. Brogan’s men were dead.
Just like that, everything was gone.
In the hours since the impossible bloodbath at the abandoned gas station, he’d done everything he could to keep from accepting that fact. He’d gone back to the house. In the space of an evening, it’d been put up for sale and the Smiths had disappeared. He’d tried to find Travis. The boy hadn’t been seen since the day before. He’d called the school. They claimed no child named Cole Smith had ever attended their institution. From the aftermath of the battle, he’d even scavenged a cell from one of Brogan’s men and tried dialing the giant. There’d been no answer all night.
And slowly, the realization that his whole search might be over had been spreading across his world with suffocating clarity, despite how little he wanted to believe it.
Rubbing his burning eyes, he sighed and then motioned to the diner waitress for another coffee. Ignoring her raised eyebrow at his request, he returned his gaze to the tabletop and eyed his stack of notes balefully. They were largely useless now, seeing as how everyone to whom they pertained was either dead or gone, and it was only because he knew how utterly childish the action would be that he kept himself from dashing them to the floor as he pushed the pile aside.
“Don’t tell me you’re giving up now, Detective.”
Harris glanced up.
Dressed in a well-tailored suit, a middle-aged business man with graying brown hair regarded him with a small smile. Hands in his pockets, he casually stepped aside as the waitress came up and deposited a coffee mug on the table before scurrying uncomfortably away.
Harris’ eyes narrowed.
The man’s smile grew. Calmly, he lowered himself into the opposite seat of the booth.
There was something familiar about his face, though Harris couldn’t place it.
“Mr. Brogan spoke highly of you,” the man continued. “I wouldn’t expect you to surrender so easily.”
“Who’re you?” Harris asked.
The man chuckled self-deprecatingly. “My apologies, I’m being rude. I’m Mr. Brogan’s employer. My name is Victor Jamison.”
###
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Read the second book of The Children and the Blood trilogy
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Other titles
The Awakened Fate series
(published under the name Skye Malone)
The Children and the Blood trilogy
About the author
Megan Joel Peterson lives somewhere between the cornfields of Illinois and fantasy worlds filled with magic and wizards. She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Illinois, and has worked a little bit of everywhere over the years. Now she spends her days and nights creating new stories, and thinks writing is the best job for which she ever could have asked.
Connect with Megan:
Website:
www.meganjoelpeterson.com
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/meganjopeterson
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/meganjoelpeterson
Acknowledgements
There’s really no way to repay people for all the good they do for you during the creation of a book. Thanks alone seem insufficient for the hours of reading, editing, discussing and then re-discussing everything that goes into a novel. I will do my best, however.
Much gratitude goes to my beta-readers, Lynn Nguyen and Neil Peterson, for their time and input. The value of extra eyes scrutinizing your work really cannot be overstated.
To my mother and my sister, Mary Ann and Keri Offenstein, I owe more than I can say. You’ve supported my dream of becoming a published writer since before I had a single story to my name, and your belief in me has never wavered. Thank you for reading (and rereading) this book time and again, and for having faith in me through every twist and turn the road to publication has taken.
Deep and rather speechless thanks goes to my husband, Eugene. You’ve sat with me for hours, discussing every little plot point and question I’ve had in this story, and there is no way this book would have come into the world without your help and support. For reading, for editing, and most importantly, for being my best and dearest friend, thank you.
And last, but not least, my thanks goes to God. None of this would have happened without You.
Blurb
A forgotten life.
A secret war.
Eight years ago, an exploding gas main killed Ashley’s family and left her with a childhood she can’t remember. Eight years later, the forgotten past is behind her and life on her isolated farm is all she knows.
Until that past comes looking for her.
Until men with superhuman powers hunt her down in the night, determined to take everything she loves away from her again.
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