The Damned Read Online Free PDF

‘bit o’ sumpin.’”
    “Thank you,” Jenn said, taking a chair. She sank down wearily.
    “No, we thank you. We are in your debt,” the High Priestess said. “Unlike you, we cannot fight. But we can heal the fighters.” Her eyes glinted like flint. “And we will.”

CHAPTER THREE
    Salamanca Hunter’s Manual: Allies
    As the Hunter, you must walk alone. Beware of entanglements. You cannot love as others do. You must love duty. You cannot have friends. Others will curry your favor, only to betray you in your darkest hour. Your sacred duty is not to save, but to hunt. Stake twenty vampires, and thirty souls will curse your name because a child was taken. Stake a hundred, and you will be hunted because the village burned. The Savior is aptly named, and so are you.
    (translated from the Spanish)
    P AMPLONA, S PAIN
T EAM S ALAMANCA: J ENN AND A NTONIO, S KYE AND H OLGAR, AND J AMIE AND E RIKO
    The witches of Pamplona kept the hunters of Salamanca safe while the Cursed Ones went from house to house, searching for the humans who had dared to vanquish their matadors in the ring. The High Priestess, who was called Maja, created a spell to muffle the screams and shouts erupting from the night as the vampires terrorized the neighborhood. But Skye could hear them in her aching heart. How many were they killing in retaliation? Were any of them escapees from the bullring? Would it have been better for Pamplona if the hunters had not come?
    “This is why we do not fight,” Maja said to Jenn. “We only heal.”
    Skye stared down at the floor, and Jenn moved to her side. Protectively, Jenn laid a hand on Skye’s arm.
    “Someone has to fight,” Jenn shot back.
    “I don’t mean to judge you,” Maja said. “I agree. Someone has to fight. If, perhaps, more had fought earlier, we wouldn’t be in such a desperate situation now.”
    Two of the witches and Holgar went on recon in an effort to assess when it would be safe for the group to head back to their well-concealed van. Everyone cleaned up, and the witches gave the hunters fresh clothes. About three hours later Maja herself joined an escort of four witches to magickally protect the hunters as they snuck back to the van.
    Antonio drove. It was a distance of two hundred fifty miles, and they were cutting it close to sunrise. It was true that vampires could not walk in the sun. If Antonio stayed out of direct sunlight, he would be safe, but the rays of the sun fatigued vampires and made it difficult for them to function. They felt a pull to go down to the earth—into coffins, catacombs, basements, sewers—which was one of the reasons the gods of their faiths ruled the underworlds: Hades, Baron Samedi, or in the case of Antonio’s sire, Orcus.
    During their drive home Jenn called Father Juan and told him about their failure via cell phone. So many had died, and they still had no idea what had happened to the resistance members they had gone to meet.
    “I’m sorry,” Jenn concluded.
    “Time for tears later,” Father Juan replied.
    Skye performed round after round of healing spells on the team, concentrating on Jamie, who began criticizing “the mission” as soon as the van doors were shut. He didn’t have any specific criticism; he was just angry, and Jenn’s “ineptitude” was fair game, at least in Jamie’s mind. Skye made a few attempts to defend her, reminding Jamie that Jenn was in charge, not him, which made him even angrier.
    “Yeah, about that,” he began.
    Finally Holgar growled pointedly, and Jamie fell to swearing under his breath about things being all arseways.
    It was still safely dark when they reached the gates of the University of Salamanca, but Jenn could hear the trilling of birds singing to the dawn. Father Juan shepherded them straight into the chapel, where he put on a white chasuble—a priestly overgarment, the color choice to honor the dead—and conducted a brief Mass for the repose of the murdered innocents, and to give thanks that