Grim Rites Read Online Free PDF Page A

outwards like the shock wave after an EMT. I gasped, dropping back into the chair as black lines ran outwards in spiralling circles from the point of contact my blood had made.
    The power dropped and I held my hand just above the surface of the book as it pulsed and throbbed. A name appeared, the words written in a dark, rusty ink that I knew instinctively was blood.
    Brigid Dubhacht
    “Who is that?” Nic asked, leaning over the table to get a closer look at the writing.
    “It’s her name,” I said, remembering a story my mother had told me of the Shadow Sorcerers of old who had originated in Ireland, their magic as old as the land itself and far more powerful than anyone could have ever imagined. They’d drawn the source of their magic from the earth, using it to bend others to their will and rule with an iron fist.
    Brigid Dubhacht had been one of the first, I was almost certain of it.
    Flipping the page, the letters shifted, forming words and then sentences in a language I couldn’t read.
    “What does it say?”
    I shook my head and squinted down at the page, unable to figure out the meaning of the scrawling letters and what I assumed were words.
    “I don’t know. It’s written in Irish, a really old form of it; the words don’t even make sense to me,” I said, disappointment welling in my core. “Where did your brother get this?”
    Nic shrugged. “I don’t know. It wasn’t really something I could ask him about.”
    “Well, this doesn’t belong to him; this doesn’t belong to any witch hunter,” I said, running my fingers down over the foreign words. I’d learned a little Irish in school, but I was pretty sure that no amount of honours Gaeilge was going to make this readable.
    “I can see that,” Nic said. I turned, his gaze weighing heavily on me. “Amber, I….”
    He paused as the shrill ring of my cell phone cut him off mid-sentence. Without hesitating, I scooped it from my pocket and answered the call.
    “Hello?” I said, my gaze never leaving Nic’s serious expression.
    “I did what you wanted, he’s awake. Now I hope you’ve got what I want?” Lily said impatiently, and her voice sent a frisson of fear down my spine.
    “I have it….” I couldn’t commit to giving her the Bone Blade; I had no idea myself what it was even capable of. But I’d seen what Zeck could do with it, and the thought of handing over something as powerful as that to someone like Lily—well, it felt like the worst idea in the world.
    “Is that hesitation I hear in your voice, Amber? Because I’d hate to pay Graham another visit….”
    “Look, I said I’ve got it, but I need to know what you’re going to do with it. You can’t just expect me to hand it over without some sort of—”
    She cut me off. “I don’t owe you an explanation; suffice to say you’ll bring me the blade or Graham is dead.”
    She was right, I couldn’t say no to her. Lily wanted the blade, and by saving Graham, she’d put me in a corner. If there was anyone on this earth with the power to end Graham’s life, it was she. How could I risk him like that?
    “Where?” I said, with a sigh.
    “I’ll come to you. It’ll stop you from wasting my time.”
    “I’m not at my apartment,” I said, “and anyway, I need time. I need to go and see Graham for myself. I need to see him with my own eyes to be sure you’ve really kept your word.”
    “Always so distrustful….”
    “Dealing with you, I have to be. You did try to kill me and those I care about.”
    “Only because you killed my father,” she said, the bitterness in her voice creating an ache in my gut. But the pain was caused by guilt, my own guilt. I’d brought all of this down on myself, all because I’d been a spoilt child who wanted her own way.
    “I’ll give you until tonight. If you don’t hand the blade over by then, Graham is dead.”
    The line went dead and I stared down at the screen for a minute before sucking in a deep breath and slowly letting the