Seized: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Thrice Cursed Mage Book 4) Read Online Free PDF

would do, you know, unless it was in a Zack Snyder movie.
    “Who sent you?” Jenna demanded, grinding the toe of her tennis shoe into the bloody, ragged shoulder of the only nun who appeared to still be breathing. “Tell me before Mr. Eagle starts singing.” She pointed the gun at the nun’s other shoulder.
    Instead of replying, the nun began cackling with insane glee, and I realized she had no tongue. Well, that was one way to keep your people from talking. A slow, horrible grimace spread across Jenna’s face as something dark and monstrous swam through her irises. “If you think being unable to speak will keep you from talking, you are sorely mistaken.”
    As Jenna reached down to grab the tongue-less sister by her chin, the nun’s eyes rolled back in her head and black, acrid-smelling goo burst from her mouth like projectile vomit. As Jenna leapt back in disgust, her jeans and sweater covered in smoking sludge, the nun shuddered violently and burst into black flame.
    The smell turned my stomach, and the crackling, popping sound reminded me of a pork roast dropped in a fire. I turned away, trying to find anywhere else to look as the sound of Jenna retching onto the pavement filled my ears. It was sort of sad because instead of wanting to comfort her, the only thing I thought was, thank God I’m not the only one sickened by the sight of the burning nun.
    “We need to get out of here,” Wendy said, walking out of the diner with her weird doll under one arm and the head of a nun dangling from her free hand. The cheerleader was covered from head to toe in blood in a way that made me think a bunch of mean girls might have dumped blood on her at prom. Only, I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case because who would have done that? No, the more likely scenario was that she’d torn someone apart and bathed in the aftermath. What the fuck had I gotten myself into?
    “Yeah, from the sound of those sirens, the cops will be here soon,” Marvin the doll added, gesturing with one wooden hand toward the distance.
    “Screw the cops,” Wendy said, glaring at the doll before tossing the head on the ground at our feet. “The Sisters of the Black Flame are like ants. These were just scouts. More will come.” She sniffed the air. “Soon.”
    While she had a point, my last dealing with the police had been nothing to sneeze at. I was with Marvin. We needed to get out of here before any law enforcement showed up, shifter or otherwise.
    I was sort of surprised the cops hadn’t already shown up. The place looked like a fucking warzone. Stranger still, where the hell were we that not even a single person was on the street? It was possible they were all hiding, but it didn’t seem likely. No, it was more like the street we were on was abandoned.
    “Get to the van,” Vitaly said, lumbering toward the nuns’ blacked out van. As he moved, he reverted back into his human form in a sort of seamless display unlike anything I’d seen before. When I’d seen shifters change in the past, it’d always been violent. Their bones had cracked and squirmed beneath their flesh. This was more like watching darkness fall. I couldn’t quite pinpoint the where and when of it all, but by the time he reached the van, Vitaly was back to his giant Russian self. Interesting.
    As Vitaly leapt behind the driver’s seat, Jenna sidled up next to me and put one hand casually on my blackened arm.
    “Are you okay? That was quite a display back there,” Jenna asked, a touch of concern just below the surface of her voice as she ran her fingers along my arm. “I’ve never seen you do something like that before.” The radioactive glow had faded from my tattoos, but in the bright sunlight they looked vivid and raw. “Seems you’ve gotten some upgrades since the last time we were together.”
    “I’m fine,” I said, pulling my arm away from her even though I really wanted to ask her about what she meant by upgrades. She hadn’t seemed shocked about my