Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) Read Online Free PDF

Not that she’d minded. She couldn’t afford to be noticed, and the news was too high profile. She’d taken her yoga mat and quietly slid off into the shadows, praying that somehow, someway, she could fix this without being noticed by the wrong people, the people who had been hunting her since she was fourteen.
    As tempting as it was to run back to her home, crawl under her light blue comforter and hide, what was the point? What was there to return to?
    To more news reports on the murders her missing sister was being held accountable for?
    To another death threat for being related to a rumored killer with metaphysical powers?
    To more nights in the empty house she shared with Ana, dreading the phone call that her sister had been apprehended and killed?
    No.
    Sitting around waiting for news of Ana’s death wasn’t an option. Grace was going to find her, prove her innocence, and bring her back safely. The house would remain empty until both sisters were back in it.
    Grace wiped her palms on her jeans, hunched her shoulders against the damp wind, and crunched over the broken sticks that littered the driveway. She winced with each loud crack of another stick, knowing Quinn would be aware of her presence long before she reached his house.
    He probably already knew she was there.
    She glanced into the dark pine trees lining the road, wondering if he was in one of them.
    Stalking her.
    A trickle of fear crept down her spine and sudden pressure began to dig at her temples, signaling the ominous building of another illusion.
    Oh, crap. Not now. Grace dropped to her knees and pressed her palms against her head, fighting against the swell of fear that was so dangerous to her. She tried to call upon years of practice to quell the emotions that would trigger the side of her that was so destructive, so deadly, the stuff of nightmares.
    Normally, easy enough.
    Now? The pain in her head intensified, like needles hammering relentlessly at her. Too many weeks of fear and stress were wearing down her defenses, and the threat of Quinn stalking her was too much. Her protective instincts were being triggered. Too strong. Too fast. The illusion was her body’s natural defense to threats: throw up a mirage and run away while her attackers were caught in its thrall.
    Grace’s illusions wouldn’t simply distract her adversaries. They would kill. The enemy, sure. But also friends, loved ones, and possibly even herself. Illusions were impotent unless you believed they were real, but Grace’s were so vivid and powerful that even she couldn’t convince her subconscious that they weren’t real. The result: torture, agony and death to anyone unlucky enough to witness them. A great way to start any day.
    She absolutely did not have time to kill herself right now. Who would save her sister if she was dead? Seriously! “Come on , Grace!”
    She had to calm down. Had to slow her heart rate. Had to chill. She pressed her palms to her eyes. “My life is fine,” she said. “Quinn’s not going to kill me. Ana’s going to be fine—” Raw fear for her sister’s safety churned in her belly, and the pressure in her head became stronger. Faint blue light began to pulse in the air around her, a light that was the final precursor to one of her deadly illusions. “Dammit!”
    She breathed deeply, inhaling the fresh, earthy scent of damp ground that reminded her of where she grew up, and she forced her mind back to the past, to the happy memories that always soothed her. She envisioned playing with her sister in the Vermont woods when they were little. Watching Ana create fun illusions in the meadows. She saw Ana’s butterfly illusions, the bunny rabbit ones, all those happy images her sister had made for Grace when she’d been struggling. Her dear, sweet little sister, gifted by some miracle with uplifting illusions instead of dark ones.
    Grace breathed deeply, using the scent of pine and fresh dirt to anchor her in the memories of her past, of a time