Read Online Almost Human by Secret Cravings Publishing - Free Book Online Page A

her. “Stop talking to her,
Alaric. Kill her. She came back wrong.”
    He snapped back to himself and decked her right in
the jaw. She landed on her ass on the ground. He pulled a sword
from under the bed and swung it at her neck.
    The blow that should have severed
her head passed through it, as if she were made of smoke. “Mortal
weapons can’t kill me.” Her voice gained a demonic echo and
Alaric’s eyes widened. She planted a foot in his stomach and he
crashed into the wall above the bed.
    He knelt on all fours, wheezing.
“Holy shit.”
    Sherra drew a knife and stepped
toward him. I pushed myself to my feet and hurled myself at her. I
grabbed her knife hand and nailed her with a kick to the face. She
stumbled backward, but didn’t fall.
    There was a sharp, blinding pain in my abdomen. I
glanced down to see another knife sticking out of it. She twisted
it and I howled, releasing her other hand.
    “Kori,” Alaric yelled.
    She yanked the knife out, and I clutched the wound
with my hands. I lifted them and stared at the blood. I knew what
to do with what little time I had left. I grasped either side of
her head as my knees buckled. I stumbled into her and felt a spark
of power flow from her. I ripped her magic from her and she
screamed in agony.
    “I cast you out,” I shouted in the old language. She burst apart
right under my hands. I collapsed on the ground without her
support. The door fell inward and all the residents of the house,
and Dagger, tumbled in a giant pile on the floor.
    I managed to lock eyes with Casey
and she screamed. “Kori. Oh my God.” There were several curses as
she kicked herself free of the heap. She rushed toward me and
dropped to her knees beside me.
    “Alaric, help me roll her
over.”
    I moaned as they did. God, the pain was
excruciating, but it was slowly starting to fade.
    I grabbed Alaric’s forearms and
sunk my nails into it. “Hurry, you have to finish the spell. Smear
blood under all the doors, and on the windowsills. My spell won’t
last forever.”
    He nodded. “Does it need to be
your blood?”
    “No, anyone’s will do.”
    He glanced across the room.
“Fallon, Misha, get on it.”
    I put my hand on Casey’s where she
tried to stop the bleeding. “Don’t bother. Internal bleeding. Not
that much blood left to lose anyway. I stole enough time to tell
you—”
    She grasped my hand. I had to
break off and take a breath. “I love you, little sister. I want you
to be happy. You need to get out of town. Hell, maybe out of the
country.”
    I had to take another pause.
    Casey shook her head before I
could start again. “No, this isn’t goodbye. You can become a
vampire. To a vampire this wound is nothing.”
    “No.” I tried to put as much power
behind the word as possible, but I got the feeling it was
lacking.
    Tears made tracks down her pretty
face. “Yes. You have to live. I can’t let you die. I need you in
the world.”
    “I won’t be a vampire.”
    “It’s better than
dying.”
    “I don’t want to spend my last
minutes with you arguing, little sister.”
    She dropped my hands and stood
slowly. “Alaric, turn her.”
    I coughed and blood splattered my
lips, the copper taste settling in my mouth. “Don’t make me get up
and beat your ass. I’m capable, damn it.”
    She ignored me and focused on
Alaric. “Do it. I don’t care what she wants.” She glared down at
me. “I’m a selfish spoiled, brat and I will have my way in
this.”
    Alaric looked into my eyes. His face was completely
blank.
    “Don’t you dare? You know better.
I’ll kill you if you turn me, you bastard.”
    He arched an eyebrow. “I’m so very
afraid. You already hate me. Turning you couldn’t make you hate me
less.” He glanced at my sister. “It might make her hate you,
though. You prepared for that?”
    “Yes. I know the consequences,
Alaric.”
    Black spots filled my vision and I let my eyes fall
closed. It took too much effort to keep them open.
    “Alaric,