Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 34989 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34989 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Behind him, the front door creaked open and Christoph’s eyes widened. Keeping his gaze locked on Christoph, Sky held out his left hand. “Did you find it?”
“Y-yeah. S-second shelf,” Nolan stammered. A chilled two pounds of ceramic suddenly weighed down his hand. From the corner of his eye, he could see the dark-blue glazed jar Red had made for him to hold their nasty concoction. There was a special ward inscribed on the bottom that kept the contents from eating through the fired clay.
“Nolan! Come here at once,” Christoph ordered.
Sky placed his hand on the lid and paused. “Nolan, do you want to go with Christoph?”
“N-no. I…” Nolan hesitated and lowered his voice to a whisper. “It feels like he’s pulling me to him. Like I have to go.”
“You don’t have to go anywhere with him, I promise. If you wish, you can go rest in the house. I’ll get rid of him.”
“No.” The single word was sharp as a knife blade. “I’m staying right here with you. Not leaving you.” But even as Nolan spoke, Sky’s sweater tightened from the back as if Nolan had grabbed a fistful.
“Of course,” Sky agreed easily, even as he twisted his lips in a snarl at Christoph. “Could you hold this for me?” He lifted the lid off the jar and held it out over his shoulder toward Nolan. He accepted the lid, but it came with a choking, gagging sound. Even Sky’s stomach roiled and rebelled as the first whiff hit him. So nasty. But totally worth it. This fuckstick deserved what Sky was cooking up for hurting his sweet Nolan.
“This is your last chance to leave peacefully,” Sky hollered even as he stuck two fingers into the jar.
“Give him to me now, witch!”
That was what he was hoping for.
Sky turned his attention to the yard and made a clicking sound with his tongue as if calling an animal to his side. “Time to wake up, babies!” he cooed in between the clicking noises. “Wakey-wakey! Daddy has nummies for you!” He pulled out a rancid, purple pickle that smelled like he’d fermented it in rotting flesh, and flung it into the bushes right in front of the porch. He pulled out another and tossed it into a different bush, repeating the process about half a dozen times.
Each time a pickle landed, the bushes twitched and shook as if something was moving. But that was nothing compared to the sharp crunching and smacking noises that also rose from the dark shadows.
“Holy shit,” Nolan whispered. Sky glanced over his shoulder to find Nolan’s wide eyes locked on the shifting bushes. The same bushes he’d walked past at least three times now and probably had never paid a bit of attention to. Not that Sky would expect him to. During the daylight hours, they appeared to be pink old-fashioned roses in neat, rounded mounds. But they were a gift from Mad that had gone a tiny bit wrong thanks to Sky’s special touch with dirt.
“Hey, Christoph! Catch!” Snickering to himself, Sky fished out another evil pickle and flung it over to the vampire. He stupidly caught it, though the bloodsucker had just barely torn his eyes from the twitching and crunching bushes as the pickle twirled through the air toward him.
As the pickle cut through the air, the bushes caught the scent and sent out vines lined with long thorns, chasing after the pickle. All along those vines were roses. Each had a center that opened up to reveal sharp, daggerlike teeth that wanted to steal the pickle and chomp on anything that smelled like that pickle.
Christoph screamed as a dozen vines shot at him. He threw the pickle into the yard, but that only deterred about half of the vines. The other half continued to him, trying to wrap around his limbs and pull him into their domain. Christoph cried out, backpedaling and fighting off the vines. His handsome face was pale and sweaty in the neighbor’s porch light. Strands of his formerly perfect hair now stuck to his face.
So maybe the petty, insecure side of Sky felt better to see him looking less than perfect.
The driver jumped into action and rushed to Christoph’s side as the vampire fell on his ass in the neighbor’s yard. The poor man batted away a couple of vines and helped Christoph to his feet as a new laugh echoed from the sidewalk.
Sky’s head swung about in time to see two figures appear from nothingness on the sidewalk. Sky flinched and Nolan swore behind him. He’d heard whispers surrounding Winter Varik, but this was definitely a new level of creepy. How the hell did you protect yourself from a vampire who could be invisible? That was not good.
It was a little more settling to see his witch mate, Fox, standing behind him with his arms draped over his shoulders.