Page 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1

Lucero Beach was beautiful in the afternoon Perfect weather for a strawberry daiquiri, with a balh to beat such a glorious day, just a lazy ti on the pier with the boys of the Boneyard, our beers and cocktails deith condensation, sipping our drinks quickly because they war but the rush of water, and faint, distant strains of steel druuitars

Hi I’m Dustin Graves and I’ friends, to be coet in Valero And content to be replacing o for the span of one blissful, carefree afternoon Just the one

It was just me and the boys – well, so out in the sun without bursting into flames I sat with Herald at a wooden table over the sa out as buddies, just friends enjoying a little bit of brunch We ith Prudence back then, and ith Prudence that day, too, but this ti

How things had changed, I thought, looking down the table to find Mason and Asher deep in conversation about soured, some kind of heated, impassioned discussion between a nephilim and a necromancer They really didn’t have very ot along ically just the same

Asher’s laughter cut across the table, easy and musical over the slow rush of wind and waves, the distant calls of seagulls It was good to see hihtness and luster The wound I cut into Mason’s cheek by accident had healed over, too, leaving his skin as unblemished as when he’d first joined the Boneyard I sht, and some stayed the same

The sound of waves rushing drew my attention out towards the ocean, towards the pristine blue of sky and sea Crystalline water frothed into peaks of pure foam as it hit the sands I watched the sea, and I re here as a kid with my dad and my mother I watched the sea – and I remembered the Great Beasts

Daorously No No, no This was a day I was dedicating to myself and my family, one of those in-between periods ere allowed to spend ti out slivers of normalcy in the spaces between now and the end of the world

Yet a single thought about Tia back, and instead of tu waves and a war with meatha Black

I tossed back the last of hed Herald frowned, then squeezed ers

“Proble okay?”

I forced a s back into learned and practiced responses Herald’s frown deepened, and his grip on hter

“You really don’t need to lie to me, you know Of all people”