Page 22 (1/2)

"Ri, you co?" Eli says frolance at hiht in"

Eli stares at me for a moment, then cocks his head "You okay?"

I s"

More stares, then a nod He follows the others inside and closes the door Eli learned a long tio to allow me space This is one of those tiaze toward the gates I focus on the boy’s voice, and everything silences but hiht to the along the cobbles to the street The boy’s voice, his whi up the sidewalk Another set of gates co around, I leap those, too It’s a church The whi around the old stone building A ceraveyard I feel it Another presence With the boy No heartbeat, though Not a good sign At least I hear the boy’s heart Fast, but strong

Hurrying across the graveyard, I slip over the ground soundlessly I see shadows co inside, I find the boy crouching in the corner Alone His eyes widen when he seeshilance Al off the wall of the tomb, and land in a crouch several feet away Beforea va dark jeans Black T-shirt Black jacket Gray skully Maybe midtwenties At least, that’s how old he looks

"Plus a few hundred years, darlin’," he says in a heavy brogue "You’re a nice surprise"

I glance at the boy, still crouched in the corner of the tomb "Run, kid Get out of here Now"

The boy doesn’tin his shoes And froestion "Get outta here, kid Now Go home to your family Stay off the streets"

This time, the kid scrambles out of the tomb and hauls ass out of the ceht in front of s drop Not just two incisors All of thes that look like they can bite a head off

He grabs foracross the stone and rock I ju at ot round

"Think you can escape me, little huround, then pushes his foot intoto one knee, he draws close tofast, he kicks rinning atme the fuck off

My hand slips tothe tip to his spine, I smile "Yeah It will--"

He’s suddenly off ofinto the trunk of an old tree Eli is completely morphed "Babe, your blade?"

I leap to my feet, aim my blade at the newcomer, and throw Hard It buries to the hilt Eli backs up, just as the body begins shuddering The va over, I kick my blade out of the valance at Eli "He was about to kill a kid I heard hi from the Crescent"

Eli drapes an ar he got away?"

I lean into him "Yeah He was scared shitless But he finally ran" We’re under a streetlight, and I look up into Eli’s face "I had hiive you space, darlin’, but if you think I’uys alone"--he kisses me on the nose--"you’re crazy"

Much later, we’re all in the study, going over maps of Old Town In front of Eli and me, an intricate layout of the vaults An entire network--no, an entire town--once existed beneath Edinburgh

"With poor or virtually no ventilation and at ti conditions, many inhabitants died there," Jake says "Candlemakers, whiskey merchants, shoe cobblers; they all had businesses below the city As I said before, the plague wiped out most of them, and the vaults were left untouched for centuries Superstitious lot, the Scots, and for good reason" He grins "All those cold wisps of air and hair-raising spectral shoves are, in fact, real"

I just stare at him

"There are any numbers of places to hide down there," Darius adds "But we’ve a suspicion, based on e know about these particular Fallen, that they use the vaults strictly as a place of torture," he says, his face soleht "So where e find the who and e are?" Although one, I believe, already knows me

"Once you’re spotted the first time, that’s it," Jake says "They already know of Gabriel,his head toward Sydney, who still pores over the old Celtae to" He looks at me "Use it wisely As for us," he continues, "Gabriel has charates"

Well that’s a relief