1305 & 1306 The Oracle & the Vampire (The 13th Floor) Read Online Free PDF Page A

wasn’t one to listen. Sometimes she wondered how she ended up with familiars that had no respect for her. Maybe because they were strays before she adopted them?
    No, she knew the real reason. It was her curse. How could her familiars respect her if she couldn’t even remove a curse from herself? She was a witch. Not just an herbalist, but one with magic in her blood. Her ancestors were powerful witches and she’d learned the arts from her favorite Aunt Kyna.
    Sighing, Harriet returned the can of treats to the cupboard and cleaned herself up. She’d grab a few things at the store before coming back to wait until sundown.
    The next vision hit when she was changing her shoes. Gremlins viciously attacked a man. Small, black beasts. His friend panicked and tried to shoot the monsters, but killed his buddy instead. He ran screaming as the evil things laughed.
    Harriet froze in the hall, waiting for the change and the screams. There was a tickling of the urge, but it didn’t happen. Perhaps because it was still too early? It was odd to have a vision before sunset, but it’d happened before with particularly horrific scenes like that one. And it fit in with the horrors she’d seen in her dreams.
    Hopefully she’d be able to catch Kiral before she changed. It was likely going to be a very long night.
    Leaving the building, Harriet breathed in the fresh air. Her nose twitched. Something wasn’t right. Not that she had a keen sense of smell like Stefanie, but there was an odor. Faint and foul.
    Carmine wasn’t in America’s top places to live, but she had a powerful soul. Harriet visited the city once when she was a girl with her father. His interest was the history. Hers became the magic flowing through Carmine’s veins.
    She attended nursing school here and discovered the thirteenth floor while visiting a friend who lived in the building during her second year. Harriet found Kerr and Elli not long after. They walked up to the thirteenth floor and into her apartment as if they’ve been doing it their whole lives. Everything fell into place telling her she was meant to be in Carmine.
    Everything would be perfect if she could save Kiral and rid herself of her curse.
    First thing first. Groceries and then Kiral.
    A scream shattered her thoughts. Across the road, someone smashed a window and jumped from the eighth floor. Her red hair streamed behind her like a comet’s tail as she fell. The sound of a human body breaking as it hit the sidewalk jolted Harriet into action.
    Harriet raced across the street, ignoring the blaring of horns as cars screeched to a stop. The eighth floor. Maybe the woman survived.
    A crowd began to form. People screamed and cried. Harriet fell to her knees next to the woman, staining her skirt with blood. She didn’t dare move the jumper, but pressed her fingers to her neck. No pulse.
    The redhead’s eyes stared upwards with her mouth hanging slightly open as if she couldn’t believe she was dead. Harriet tenderly closed the woman’s eyes with a stab of guilt that she couldn’t save her. Logically she knew there wasn’t anything she could’ve done, but her father had always joked that Harriet wanted to save the world.
    She would if she could.
    There was nothing she could do here. Standing, Harriet caught a glimpse of something black out of the corner of her eye. Goosebumps decorated her arms. When she turned, there wasn’t anything there, but she never doubted the things she saw out of the corner of her eyes.
    She wished Carmine could speak to tell her what was going on.
    Around the next block, a cat yowled. Not one in heat. No, it was in agony.
    Harriet ran, bloodied skirt sticking to her knees. Turning into an alley, she stopped and studied the shadows. Too dark. The sun hadn’t set yet. Why were they so large?
    Sirens wailed in the distance. An ambulance coming for the poor woman. No one paid attention to a cat’s howling.
    Stepping into the alley, the feline’s pained cries abruptly