Rakshasa Book I, Part #2: Aurora Read Online Free PDF

then I closed the door.
    Jacques’s car turned and went back the way it came. As it did, I saw a fat stray cat on the other side of the street, its coat a mix of black and white, look at me and then dart into a nearby storm drain, disappearing in moments. I stared after it as it went, thinking of Clintonette’s newly born kittens—orange like her, but with patches of white and black.
    “Yeah, you better run,” I said, groaning to myself. I wondered how he had gotten into my apartment. That sneaky bastard.
    I shook my head and began the long climb up the stairs.

Chapter V

    Drawn from a Single Pool

    My apartment seemed so stale and lifeless now, even with the sound of Clintonette and her horde of mewing kittens filling up the small, cramped hallways. I remembered my excitement at finding this place, a place to call my very own, something that was mine. My place, where I could be myself.
    Yet the person that I used to be wasn’t me anymore. The apartment was the home of someone else, now, and reflected that person’s life. The red dress I’d worn in that fateful night in the nightclub, the pictures of a person I barely recognised doing things I hardly cared about, talking to people I found empty and dull.
    I didn’t have my keys with me but Ishan had thought to leave my front door open. This was good; I didn’t want to break another window, even though one of the other Rakshasa had apparently fixed it. Fortunately it hadn’t been burglarised… not that anyone could tell from the absolute pig sty inside.
    Katelyn had reported me missing and the cops searched my apartment. I sighed, regarding the mess. It was time to clean up. I picked up my phone, then remembered it had been soaked through. I guess calling Katelyn would have to wait, and I’d have to do it myself. I set to work, pulling my heavy bookcase back into place with surprising ease, scooping up the contents and shoving them haphazardly back into drawers. My stuff, once my neatly organised pride and joy, seemed worthless to me now.
    The fridge was dented, but the seal seemed intact. The rest was just stuff, papers and knick-knacks, that needed to be put back where they had come from.
    I’d just finished getting things clean when the doorbell rang. Taken by a surge of eager anticipation, I darted over to the door and pulled it open.
    A young Indian man in his mid twenties, hands in the pocket of his jeans, gave me a curt nod. My face fell; I was expecting Ishan, but this one’s face seemed familiar.
    “Sorry, can I help you?”
    “Stay away from Ishan.”
    The moment he spoke I recognised him. His human form was very different from his Rakshasa one, but his voice had barely changed at all.
    “Hailstone?”
    He leaned forward, slightly, narrowing his eyes at me. “Yeah. Stay away from Ishan. Move out of the city and never see him again.”
    I stared, curiously, at him, trying to process what he was telling me. “But I thought…”
    “Forget what you thought, okay? Look. He’s Rewa. You’re Altaican. You are from different worlds. You don’t understand—you can’t understand—because you’re just a fledgling. But I’m telling you now… whatever bond, whatever link you think you two have with each other, it’s not going to amount to anything, it’s impossible. ”
    I had no idea what to say, so instead just stared at the guy. Finally I found my voice. “I… I can’t do that.”
    “You can,” Hailstone said, “and you will. This happens sometimes, a bond formed in error. It will go away in time, sooner or later, but listen very carefully. You can’t see Ishan again.”
    My stomach hurt, suddenly, a pain that mimicked the emotional impact of what he was telling me. I shook my head emphatically. “No. No, I will. I’m have to—”
    Suddenly, faster than I could see, Hailstone’s hand flew up to my throat. He gripped me tightly, hoisting me off the ground as he stepped forward into my apartment. He pulled his face down to mine.