Beautifully Broken Read Online Free PDF

She smiled. Pale and emaciated, her eyes conveying pain, apathy, sorrow. Her transparent grey hand sliced through the metal door and clutched my arm. An arctic chill surged through me, and the warmth of my scar turned to ice. The world became fuzzy, distant, like I was descending into an endless, dark chasm. When I regained my sense of balance, I stood inside a dimly lit house, everything around me tinted like an old black and white movie. A door swung open before me. Floral wallpaper covered the walls and a vase of wilted roses sat on the dresser. Soft light streamed through the lace curtains that covered the stained-glass windows. As I stepped near the bed, the stench of sulfur hit my nostrils. Fragments of shadows shifted on the walls. A movement caught at the corner of my eye. I froze. A person stood near the bed. His back was to me, but I recognized the opaque physique, smoky limbs, and hairless head.
    My hands twisted together. My lips held back a scream.
    Shadow Man’s muscles tensed. His sharp fingernails, like shards of glass, raked the side of the wall. The wallpaper hung in long, shredded strips. He turned, and I saw his yellow eyes were flames of hellfire. His voice, low, menacing, said, “Yes! Yes, freedom from the pain. Take your life. Join me.”
    “For his life,” a woman said. She stood on the chair in the middle of the room. She wore a lacy wedding gown, her dark hair voluminous against the dress’s lightweight. She positioned a noose over her head. “You must vow to spare him in exchange for my soul.”
    Shadow Man tapped a nail on his pointy black chin. He smiled, revealing a mouth full of spiky teeth. “Hmm, a reasonable swap, Claire. I agree.”
    The woman tightened the rope that hung suspended from the chandelier. She stepped off the chair, kicking it over. A scream strangled in her eyes. She clawed at her throat. The chandelier quivered from her weight. The base separated from the ceiling. With a loud crack, the twisted mass of glass and iron plummeted to the floor. The woman fell too. The light fixture pinned her legs beneath its weight. She struggled to rise. Fear darkened her eyes. But she couldn’t free her legs from the plaster and the bulk of heavy chandelier lying over them.
    Shadow Man jumped on top of her chest, straddling her. He put his hands around her throat. With his fingers, he put pressure on her larynx. The capillaries burst under her skin, flecking her eyes with red. She fought. Hard. Tried to loosen the stranglehold. No good. His strength seemed impenetrable. He squeezed until her hands fell to her sides, and she moved no more. Blood trickled from one side of her mouth.
    Shadow Man parted her lips with a long nail. He lowered his head, putting his mouth close to hers. His forked tongue licked her cheek. He closed his eyes. To my complete horror, he puckered his cheeks and began to suck, extracting her soul from the corpse. A gossamer substance flowed into his mouth…
    The world went all swirly again, and I was back in the car, the wraith still next to me. She released my arm. The vision had been vivid and tangible, and it took me several moments to get a hold of myself. My blurry eyes found the wraith. I knew the truth. She’d been murdered. Her soul sucked out.
    “You are the solution, Shiloh.” Her voice was hardly more than a disturbance in the air. “Use your gifts, or the darkness will come for you.”
    I glanced at Jillian. Her gaze was still fixated on something outside my window. I opened my mouth to speak, but the expression of hatred twisting Jillian’s features stopped me cold. Her face changed in an instant. A wry smile touched her lips, which appeared painted, suspended over skin. She shimmered like an illusion, her expression both shrewd and ominous. Altered, as though her disguise had been removed, yet her flawless beauty flickered beneath. Her onyx aura thundered, rolling off her flesh in icy, anthracite waves. She could not be the same woman who’d