Blood of an Ancient Read Online Free PDF Page B

stone?”
    “It’s in my purse with the cookies and Tic Tacs!”
    “Dammit, Blythe,” I growled. Here I had to deal with more smoke since I had to go in after the little vampire. Again, I saw him flutter by, slapping around the useless cape. I ran for him. All I could think to do was rip off my jacket and wrap him in it, and he nearly got away twice. I hoped his dust didn’t eat through leather. “We’re out of here!” I pointed toward the door.
    Luckily the front of the place hadn’t gone up in flames yet, so we ran outside. The smoke-free night air felt wonderful on my overworked lungs. I stopped and took a deep breath, then coughed. Crap. The thing in my hand struggled and twisted like he was trying to bite me. I’d had it. Holding the wrapped bundle up to my face, I used short, succinct syllables to get my point across and shook the black, wrapped bundle. “Bite me and die.”
    The vamp went still.
    “What now?” Castor asked. He pulled off his brown jacket and handed it to me. “We’re all out of places to live.”
    I started to turn down the jacket but took in his frown and just smiled my thanks. Shaking my head, I knew what I had to say even though my stomach twisted into knots before the words left my mouth. “We have Nikolos’s home.” They all knew I’d returned to our motel in Alligator Flag to a letter next to the keys to his truck, his business and his home. The note had only said he hadn’t expected to find love again, that he was sorry and his belongings were now mine. That was it. But knowing he’d followed me into the swamp that day, knowing he would be sacrificing himself…it tore me up.
    Elsa laid her hand on my arm. “You forget, sis, I was with you the last time we went there.” She squeezed. “We’ll get a hotel.”
    I swallowed hard, straightened my shoulders. “No, we need the security. He’s got all those cameras and the magic is hard on evil.”
    Blythe was nodding. “She’s right. Brad Pitt beat his own head in and jumped out the back of Nikolos’s truck when we tried taking it in there. It’s perfect.”
    Castor had started to hold out his hand for the vamp, but hesitated, hand in air.
    Elsa stopped next to him. “Brad Pitt did what?”
    “Shape-shifter,” I said. “A ghoul with a hard-on for Brad Pitt.”
    Castor held out his hand again, chuckling.
    No way would I risk this thing with him. I gave him the “as if” eyebrow lift. “Elsa can drive while I hang on to it. We still don’t know what its bite can do. For something so small to have survived all this time, it could have a bite more deadly than the Dweller Demon’s poison. We can’t risk you.”
    This wasn’t a new argument between us and I watched a fury I was becoming too comfortable with darken his features. Pure, fed-up exasperation dripped thick from his words. “You can’t seem to get it through your head that we can’t risk you either.”
    I was tired of putting out or running from fires, tired of breathing smoke and tired of all the obstacles keeping me from going after Nikolos. I opened my mouth and the words just poured out. “I’m not the one who’s supposed to change the world. I’m not the one with the army of guards surrounding me. I’m not even important enough to warrant real spirit guides!”
    “Hey,” Phro broke in. “I resent that.”
    “I don’t give a shit. Fred told me he wasn’t supposed to be with me before he disappeared. Oh, and before that, his face and his body blurred into someone else’s entirely. He’d been lying to me my entire life. Phro is a trapped goddess who just hangs around because she’s bored. You know what that means, Castor?” I stepped closer to him. “It means I’m not supposed to even be here. I’m not trying to solicit sympathy either. It’s pretty damned obvious I was put here to make sure your ass made it through the Dweller battle.”
    “And now what?” he threw back. “You have no purpose? Is that what you think? You’re an