Forbidden (The Preternaturals) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the bird unlatched the door and flew out, landing on top
of Angeline’s head, making clicking sounds and a deep, throaty
rattle. Whether a shapeshifter with a human form or just a common
bird, the thing gave her the creeps.
    “Get off!” Angeline said, trying to knock the bird off her head.
    Another beaded curtain in the back parted, and a young blonde woman walked
in. “Henry, enough! That’s not how we treat patrons, here.”
    The raven swooped back to the top of the cage where he perched, giving
Angeline the evil eye and raising a fuss and squawking angrily before
settling.
    “I’m sorry about him. He can be a very trying bird, I’m afraid. I’m
Tamara.” The woman held out a bejeweled hand. There was a ring on
every finger. When Angeline took it, Madame Tam flinched, then tried
to cover her reaction. A look passed between the raven and the
woman—a private conversation, perhaps?
    “Would you like your fortune told?”
    Angeline nodded, absently. She tried to get inside the other woman’s mind,
but a solid shield was in place. This one had power—quite a lot of
it. Maybe she was playing with fire. As old as Angeline was, she
wasn’t confident she could enthrall the girl, though the blonde
couldn’t be older than twenty-two. How much power could such a
young thing have? Angeline just hadn’t been in the company of a
witch in a while; that was all.
    “Won’t you have a seat?” Madame Tam gestured to a large, high-backed
chair. The chair was an awful lime green with the stuffing coming out
of it.
    Angeline settled herself in the offered seat. The table between them was
glass, covered with antique lace fabric and a gleaming crystal ball.
    “I can scry, read your palm… or I could do your cards.” Tam was
draped in multi-colored shawls that covered a much simpler white
dress. Without the accessories, the simple shift would no doubt make
her look like a medieval peasant. Once Angeline had her enthralled,
she’d get rid of the shawls and jewelry and have her scrub her face
clean of cosmetics.
    “Cards would be fine,” Angeline said, becoming increasingly unnerved by
the woman.
    “Good choice. It’s what I’m best at.”
    The vampire watched as the girl retrieved a small, wooden box from a
nearby shelf. The box had esoteric carvings, and Angeline felt the
power curling off it. She watched the woman, noting her delicate,
elfin features. She was far too pretty, and Angeline was glad
Hadrian, being new, would lose control and kill her. The last thing
she wanted was to compete with a pet for attention.
    Tamara glanced up, and Angeline forced a sweet and unassuming smile to her
lips. The raven made the creepy gurgling sound again in the back of
his throat. Fucking birds.
    The crystal ball was carefully placed on the shelf, and the box with the
cards inside was put in its place. The cards were wrapped in
red silk and seemed quite old. “I’ve had these since time
began, it seems,” the woman said.
    “You’re barely more than a child,” the vampire replied.
    A grin teased the corners of Madame Tam’s mouth as she unwrapped and
shuffled the deck. “Here. Cut them any way you like, then hand them
back.”
    Angeline took the deck, made a few cuts in it, then passed the cards back to
the fortune teller.
    Tam laid them in a pattern on the table face down, then one by one
flipped them up. In the center of the spread was a card with a
skeleton that said “death” across the bottom.
    The women’s eyes met, and Angeline tried to keep the guilt off her
face. Wasn’t the reading supposed to be about her? There was no way
the witch could know what she planned.
    “Don’t worry. The death card almost never means death. It’s more a card
about change, usually.”
    The dread bird started making a fuss on top of his cage again.
    “Henry, I said that was enough!”
    What will she do if I can’t enthrall her? It
had been a while since Angeline had faced off with a witch, back
around the turn of the century.