Read Online Blood by K. J. Wignall - Free Book Online Page B

nodded and looked at Will, who added, “Yes, that’s very generous of you.”
    Though Will was actually thinking he wouldn’t be coming back here, at least not in their lifetimes. He had no desire to return to a place in which he sensed more danger than in any of the city’s darkest corners.
    â€œYou’re welcome. Anyway, I’ll leave you to it.”
    Chris nodded again, to himself, and walked away.
    Eloise was left looking slightly shocked and clearly felt she had to explain Chris’s generosity. “I think they were pretty close to Jex. Maybe it’s making them feel protective.”
    â€œHow well do you know them?”
    â€œNot that well, but they’re the nicest people. They’re genuine, you know, about all kinds of things, the planet, spirituality, everything.”
    Will threw a glance at the picture of the witches and said, “What about all of this, the witches and the pentagrams?”
    Eloise looked put out by the question and sounded defensive as she said, “They’re open-minded, the same way I am.” He immediately felt foolish, only noticing now that one of the silver rings that adorned her fingers had a pentagram on it. “I don’t know why, but I kind of got the feeling you were open-minded, too.”
    â€œBelieve me, my mind is open to everything imaginable.” She smiled and he said, “What is it?”
    Eloise shook her head. “I don’t know. Just, sometimes the way you speak, it’s like …” She couldn’t pin it down and then distracted herself with another thought, saying, “Don’t think I’ve forgotten either that you haven’t told me anything about yourself yet. I’ve told you my life story and you haven’t really told me a thing.”
    â€œI told you I’m an orphan.” He smiled at her and said, “I’ll tell you everything, but not here. I’ll walk you back to your doorway and we can talk on the way.”
    â€œOkay, let’s go.”
    They stood up together. Will knew he’d have just a few minutes to create answers for all her possible questions, and the only thing he knew for certain was that he couldn’t tell her anything resembling the truth.
    He still believed that he was meant to meet her, as much as he’d been meant to choose Jex as his victim the night before, but he didn’t believe for a moment that Eloise knew how or why she could be of help to him. And right now, she was his only ally in the world, and whatever he did, he couldn’t afford to scare her away.

9
    â€œMy mother died in childbirth. My father remarried, but he died a few years later.”
    â€œIs that why you ran away, your stepmother? You are a runaway, aren’t you?”
    â€œLiving with my stepmother was impossible.”
    Will felt guilty for suggesting his stepmother had been cruel, even seven centuries after her death, because she’d been a kind and generous lady—his mother’s cousin, she’d kept alive in his mind the memory of the mother he’d never known. He had no doubt, too, that she would have mourned his death no less than if it had been her own child.
    â€œI can believe it. Everyone I know whose parents divorced ended up with terrible stepmothers. Even Uncle Matt’s girlfriends are always awful. Men just seem to get it wrong every time.”
    Eloise turned to see if he agreed with her, and he looked at her and smiled. “I hope I won’t be like that.”
    â€œI’m sure you won’t,” she said confidently, facing forwards again. “You could have gone to boarding school— that would’ve got her out of your hair most of the time. Where did you go to school anyway?”
    Will was actually enjoying creating this imaginary life for himself, the life of a twenty-first century teenager, albeit one with a slightly unusual background and an unspoken aristocratic