Fairy Tale: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 3) by J.A. Cipriano Page A
Authors: J.A. Cipriano
Ads: Link
dead.
I stepped around the edge of the doorway, pointing my Beretta inside and sweeping it across the room. My eyes opened wide, and I took a step backward.
Kishi lay bloody and battered across an immense four-poster bed. Sheets and other amenities had been flung away leaving the mattress bare. Sprays of blood dribbled down the bright, gilded walls to pool on the marble floor. It was far too much blood to have all come from Kishi.
I took a step into the room, sweeping it for enemies once more but finding no one. Kishi looked toward me, her eyes vacant with that thousand-mile stare I’ve seen on so many battlefields. I sucked in a deep breath and moved toward her. This wasn’t good… it wasn’t good at all.
Maybe my experience with the Prince of the Burning Ash wasn’t atypical. Maybe the only unique part of that whole experience was the ending. A shudder ran down my spine like a procession of icy bugs.
“Kishi?” I whispered. “Are you okay? Can you hear me?”
Her expression didn’t change. She lay there, staring off into space with blood oozing down her cheek. I reached out with my right hand slowly, tentatively. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I touched her, wasn’t sure I even should touch her. Not that it mattered. I was getting her out of here… now.
Her skin was stiff and cool to the touch, almost like a corpse that started cooling down. She was still breathing, so I knew she was still alive. What stole her heat?
Something crashed into the side of my head, pitching me to the side. My gun slipped from my hand as I hit the floor; my vision was blurry and black around the edges. I reached out for my weapon as something grabbed me by the ankle and yanked me away. My fingers scrabbled against the smooth tile, unable to find purchase on its slick surface.
I reached down to grab my swords, trying to twist my body so I could see my attacker. A surge of electricity exploded up my body, burning me to the core and making my heart skip a beat. Something seized my left arm and wrenched it violently upward behind my back. I screamed and tried to call my power but nothing came. A profound sense of emptiness filled me, like there was a big hole where my power should be.
“It isn’t often that I get to indulge myself with a Dioscuri… and this day I get two.” A spray of spittle splattered against the back of my neck. “The Queen has truly smiled on me this day. I do so love fresh meat.”
Weight settled on top of me, pinning my arms behind my back. I kicked back at my attacker and struck something the temperature of the sun. I screamed, flailing my body in agony.
He snarled and pushed my legs wide so I couldn’t hit him again. His body pressed against mine as he leaned in close, smothering me beneath his bulk. The smell of burning rubber filled my nostrils as he cooed into my ear. “You can’t fight the Breaker of Rage and Flame.” His voice crackled like an inferno in my ears, and his breath scalded my skin. “I will suck the power from your still warm flesh, then I will tear out your heart and swallow it whole while you watch…and when you lay there, your life leaking away across the floor, just before your vision goes dark, I will go back and finish your friend.”
The sound of a gunshot split the air, so loud that it reduced my hearing to a muffled ringing. Warm sticky fluid spattered over me. There was another blast, and the form on top of me swayed.
More gunshots ripped through the air, and the thing fell off of me. I rolled away. Kishi stood over us holding my gun. Blood pooled out of the thing next to me though I couldn’t quite see it. Light seemed to bend around it, masking its form from view.
Kishi pulled the trigger twice more and blood exploded from it, spraying me with warm, sticky goo. The Breaker of Rage and Flame shuddered, the glamor fading away from it to reveal an eerily thin Sidhe. He was so slim that he seemed more like a skeleton dipped in blue-black wax. He
I stepped around the edge of the doorway, pointing my Beretta inside and sweeping it across the room. My eyes opened wide, and I took a step backward.
Kishi lay bloody and battered across an immense four-poster bed. Sheets and other amenities had been flung away leaving the mattress bare. Sprays of blood dribbled down the bright, gilded walls to pool on the marble floor. It was far too much blood to have all come from Kishi.
I took a step into the room, sweeping it for enemies once more but finding no one. Kishi looked toward me, her eyes vacant with that thousand-mile stare I’ve seen on so many battlefields. I sucked in a deep breath and moved toward her. This wasn’t good… it wasn’t good at all.
Maybe my experience with the Prince of the Burning Ash wasn’t atypical. Maybe the only unique part of that whole experience was the ending. A shudder ran down my spine like a procession of icy bugs.
“Kishi?” I whispered. “Are you okay? Can you hear me?”
Her expression didn’t change. She lay there, staring off into space with blood oozing down her cheek. I reached out with my right hand slowly, tentatively. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I touched her, wasn’t sure I even should touch her. Not that it mattered. I was getting her out of here… now.
Her skin was stiff and cool to the touch, almost like a corpse that started cooling down. She was still breathing, so I knew she was still alive. What stole her heat?
Something crashed into the side of my head, pitching me to the side. My gun slipped from my hand as I hit the floor; my vision was blurry and black around the edges. I reached out for my weapon as something grabbed me by the ankle and yanked me away. My fingers scrabbled against the smooth tile, unable to find purchase on its slick surface.
I reached down to grab my swords, trying to twist my body so I could see my attacker. A surge of electricity exploded up my body, burning me to the core and making my heart skip a beat. Something seized my left arm and wrenched it violently upward behind my back. I screamed and tried to call my power but nothing came. A profound sense of emptiness filled me, like there was a big hole where my power should be.
“It isn’t often that I get to indulge myself with a Dioscuri… and this day I get two.” A spray of spittle splattered against the back of my neck. “The Queen has truly smiled on me this day. I do so love fresh meat.”
Weight settled on top of me, pinning my arms behind my back. I kicked back at my attacker and struck something the temperature of the sun. I screamed, flailing my body in agony.
He snarled and pushed my legs wide so I couldn’t hit him again. His body pressed against mine as he leaned in close, smothering me beneath his bulk. The smell of burning rubber filled my nostrils as he cooed into my ear. “You can’t fight the Breaker of Rage and Flame.” His voice crackled like an inferno in my ears, and his breath scalded my skin. “I will suck the power from your still warm flesh, then I will tear out your heart and swallow it whole while you watch…and when you lay there, your life leaking away across the floor, just before your vision goes dark, I will go back and finish your friend.”
The sound of a gunshot split the air, so loud that it reduced my hearing to a muffled ringing. Warm sticky fluid spattered over me. There was another blast, and the form on top of me swayed.
More gunshots ripped through the air, and the thing fell off of me. I rolled away. Kishi stood over us holding my gun. Blood pooled out of the thing next to me though I couldn’t quite see it. Light seemed to bend around it, masking its form from view.
Kishi pulled the trigger twice more and blood exploded from it, spraying me with warm, sticky goo. The Breaker of Rage and Flame shuddered, the glamor fading away from it to reveal an eerily thin Sidhe. He was so slim that he seemed more like a skeleton dipped in blue-black wax. He
Similar Books
