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"Huh" I was alone to the Krispy Krearden spade out of theanother hnuts Who did I have to kill to get some Count Chocula up in this house?
I flipped the spade over in the air, catching it by the handle while I gazed past the yard The row houses across the street all had bars on the s and paint peeling off the sides The old wolish Once I’d tried helping one of thes out to the curb, but she’d yelled atto steal it
They were all out on their stoops right now, cutting coupons or doing whatever it was that old ladies did Traffic packed the street It was always like this on a Saturday afternoon, especially when it was turning out to be nice day for a beach trip
My gaze crawled over the townies and the tourists as I continued to toss the spade in the air It was always easy to pick out the out-of-towners They wore fanny packs or abnore sun hats and their skin was either fish pale or sunburned
A strange shiver coursed overtiny bumps overthe passing croith a will of their own
Then I saw it
Everything stopped around s
No No No
He stood at the ht beside the front porch where the old ladies sat They glanced over at him as he stepped out onto the sidewalk, but they diser and returned to their conversation
They couldn’t see what I saw
No mortal could Not even a pure-blood could Only half-bloods could see through the eleic and witness the true horror--skin so pale and so thin that every vein popped through the flesh like baby black snakes His eyes were dark, empty sockets and his s I’d been trained to fight at the Covenant This was a thing that thrived and fed on aether--the essence of the gods, the very life force running through us--a pure-blood who had turned his back on the gods This was one of the things I was obligated to kill on sight
A daimon--there was a dai Whatever training I’d ed to retain vanished in an instant Part of me had known--had always known--deep down that this day would come We’d been outside the protection of the Covenant and their co The need for aether would eventually draw a daimon to our doorstep Daimons couldn’t resist the pure-blood ive voice to the fear, to believe that it could happen on a day like this, when the sun was so bright and the sky such a beautiful azure blue
Panic clawed at the inside ofmy voice I tried to yell, "Moh the bedroo me as I pushed and then pulled open the door A crash sounded from somewhere in the house The space between er than I re to call out her name as I reached her room
The door opened s slowed down
Her naaze landed on her bed first, and then on a section of floor beside the bed I blinked The pot of hibiscus had toppled over and broken into large pieces Purple petals and soil were strewn across the floor Red--so theasp drew in a et when a sparring partner would get in a lucky shot
I shuddered
Ti filledelse I saw her hand first Abnor for sole My head shook back and forth; es in front ofdown her shirt
No, no--absolutely no This rong
So--someone--braced half her body up A pale hand clenched her upper arm and her head lolled to the side Her eyes ide open, the green soods
Seconds, it had only been seconds since I’d opened the door, but it felt like forever
A daiet at the aether in the blood I must’ve ods--her neck had been torn into So much blood had been spilled
My eyes met those of the daimon--or at least, they met the dark holes where its eyes should be Hisopen to reveal a row of razor-like teeth covered in blood Then the eleether the face he’d had as a pure, before he’d tasted that first drop of aether With that glamour in place, he was beautiful by any standard--so s Nothing that angelic-looking could be responsible for the red stain on my mother’s neck, her clothes…
His head tipped to the side as he sniffed the air He let out a high-pitched keening sound I stu real could sound like that
He let go ofher body slip to the floor She fell in a messy heap and didn’t move I knew she had to be scared and hurt, because there couldn’t be any other reason why she hadn’tup, the dai inward