Bring Out Your Dead Read Online Free PDF Page A

three more tonight, aren’t there?”
    She nodded.
    “ Excellent. I’ll just deal
with them and send them on their way. That should be the end of
it.”
    Sally had a few choice
things to say about the change of plans, but I pointed out to her
that we needed money to live. By the time I was finished with her,
Damian had used the electrical tape to attach a couple of knives to
each window. Sally took one look at the knives and headed for safer
ground. “I will go leave une petite note on our door for les zombie appointments.”
    “ Revenant appointments.” I
waited until Sally left for our flat before saying to the
industrious boy in front of me, “Um…Damian…”
    “ Just in case,” he said,
not waiting for me to finish my question.
    A few minutes of close scrutiny of his
handiwork made it clear that Damian was not a stupid child. He
handled the knives carefully, respectful of their ability to cause
injury. I debated making him take the potentially lethal booby
traps down, but decided that so long as he was not harmed—and did
not harm anyone else—the rest was an issue for his parents or his
nanny.
    “ I see. As fascinating as
that is, I’m here to give you lessons, and even though your
stepmother has asked me to spend the night here just to make sure
all is well, I think we should proceed with the original plan and
take a few lessons in English and history.”
    “ I’m busy right now,”
Damian answered, not even looking at me as he went into a room made
dark by more boarded-up windows. He selected two skinning knives
and arranged them on each side of the window. “Why do you have a
spirit guide?”
    “ She…er…was a bit of a
gift. And just so you know, attempting to distract me isn’t going
to work. There are many other things I would like to be doing at
this moment as well, but tutoring is what I’m being paid to do, and
do it I will.”
    “ Protecting us from
Sebastian is more important than lessons,” he said with a
black-browed scowl in my direction. “My dad would want me to save
your life over learning some stupid dates and writing
compositions.”
    “ I don’t even know this
Sebastian person,” I pointed out. “Why do you think he would pose a
risk to me ?”
    The look the boy gave me was rife with
irritation. “You’ve got a double soul.”
    I swear, my mouth hung open for a moment at
his statement. “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about. People
don’t have two souls,” I said slowly, a chill running down my arms.
How on earth could a mere child see my handicap? “Everyone is
granted one soul only when they are born.”
    Damian shrugged and said nothing.
    “ What does Sebastian have
to do with souls?” I couldn’t keep myself from asking. “Is he a
demon?”
    “ No. He’s a Dark One.” He
looked up and grinned, two pointed canines clearly visible despite
the gloom. “Like my dad and me.”
    I took a couple of steps back, a hand at my
heart. I’d heard of Dark Ones—vampires, tainted by the dark powers,
parasites who preyed on the lives of mortals—but I’d never seen one
in person.
    “ I think…I don’t know…I
think I need a little air,” I said, stumbling backward as my words
jumbled together. Blindly, I made my escape, clutching the banister
as I ran downstairs, aware now what it was that Abby had found so
wrong with Damian.
    I wanted to run away, to
go home and hide, to forget I’d ever been here, but as I stood with
my hand on the front doorknob just about to bolt, my conscience
took that moment to kick in and remind me that although Damian
might be a vampire— vampire! —he was also a child. I
couldn’t just leave a ten-year-old alone.
    “ I’m hungry.” Damian’s
voice drifted downstairs. “Do you have any blood?”
    A flight instinct I didn’t know I possessed
kicked in. I yanked the door open, a survival instinct overriding
my better sense into running. But a dark shape looming in the
doorway had me shrieking instead, stepping backward