Read Online Darkening Dawn (The Lockman Chronicles Book 5) by Rob Cornell - Free Book Online
Authors: Rob Cornell
Tags: Suspense, Fantasy, Thrillers, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, supernatural, Vampires, Ghosts, Psychics, Paranormal & Urban, Superhero, Superheroes, Terrorism, Thrillers & Suspense, Werewolves & Shifters, Spies & Politics, Assassinations, Pulp
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known she would have to choose eventually.
It always came to this.
Her tears blended with the water pouring over her. She wiped her face. Double-checked for any remaining blood, then turned off the spray. She dried herself with one of Kenny’s towels stored in a cupboard under the bathroom sink, then dropped the towel on the floor. She wasn’t worried about leaving DNA evidence. A mortal forensics technician wouldn’t know what to make of what she left behind.
There were other hunters besides mortal law enforcement, though. Hunters who knew how to look for signs she could not erase. The only way to keep them off her trail was to avoid bringing attention to her acts. She would fail any attempt at that here.
Elka dressed back in her Chuggers uniform, the feel of the synthetic fabric especially abrasive after she had spent time in her natural form, in her natural skin, the touch of her mane along the back of her neck, the warmth of her white hair across her flanks.
She returned to the living room to survey the gore to make certain she couldn’t sufficiently eliminate any trace. The artery in Kenny’s neck had stopped pumping blood, but the pool left under his headless body had soaked the carpet so thoroughly the nap had flattened like the hair on a wet dog. Probably had soaked through clear to the floorboards by now.
His head had wedged between the floor and wall not far from the entrance to the kitchen. One eyelid had stuck open, making it look like he was winking at her. Ragged flaps of flesh hung from his throat with the look of torn leather helped along by the browning blood.
The air stank with the blood’s signature metallic scent.
Elka saw little hope of salvaging the scene. Even if she waited till nighttime to remove the body, the blood would never come out no matter how hard she scrubbed. And waiting until night would increase her chances of discovery as every minute passed.
“Pisser.”
She had no choice.
Once again she would have to disappear, create a whole new life, start from scratch.
Run, as her people had for as long as their history.
Like prey.
Chapter Fourteen
W HAT’S HAPPENED WITH US ?
Jessie sat in the backseat of the small jet, contemplating this question. She would never get a chance to answer it for Wertz. And never mind all the questions she had about what had happened back there.
The jet’s engine sounded like a low hum, almost soothing like white noise. A half-empty bottle of water sat on the table in front of her, ripples quivering on the water’s surface as the jet hit some minor turbulence. Across the table sat Ree. He kept glancing at her. He would open his mouth as if to say something, then clam up and pretend he hadn’t looked at her at all.
Eight pairs of seats with tables between them lined either side of the jet’s interior. The four agents who had escaped from the safe house with her, and the one who had picked them up in the van, occupied some of these seats. Two sat together, while the remaining three sat alone, their expressions solemn, eyes glazed over while they looked inside themselves. Jessie knew what they were doing because she was doing the same.
What’s happened with us?
That question would haunt her forever.
What had happened?
They used to be so close. He had treated her like his own daughter, did his best to step in for Mom and Dad—leaning more toward Dad with his overprotective ways. Hell, only six months ago everything had seemed fine. But as Jessie had come closer and closer to her eighteenth birthday, something inside her had changed. A bit of her old rebellious streak snaked its way back into her. The pressure of fulfilling a prophecy that looked impossible after three years of steady work and so little to show for it became crushing, suffocating.
There was no way she could eliminate all the supernaturals on the mortal plane. She would have to live to a thousand—and maybe not even then.
She sighed and looked out the circular window to
It always came to this.
Her tears blended with the water pouring over her. She wiped her face. Double-checked for any remaining blood, then turned off the spray. She dried herself with one of Kenny’s towels stored in a cupboard under the bathroom sink, then dropped the towel on the floor. She wasn’t worried about leaving DNA evidence. A mortal forensics technician wouldn’t know what to make of what she left behind.
There were other hunters besides mortal law enforcement, though. Hunters who knew how to look for signs she could not erase. The only way to keep them off her trail was to avoid bringing attention to her acts. She would fail any attempt at that here.
Elka dressed back in her Chuggers uniform, the feel of the synthetic fabric especially abrasive after she had spent time in her natural form, in her natural skin, the touch of her mane along the back of her neck, the warmth of her white hair across her flanks.
She returned to the living room to survey the gore to make certain she couldn’t sufficiently eliminate any trace. The artery in Kenny’s neck had stopped pumping blood, but the pool left under his headless body had soaked the carpet so thoroughly the nap had flattened like the hair on a wet dog. Probably had soaked through clear to the floorboards by now.
His head had wedged between the floor and wall not far from the entrance to the kitchen. One eyelid had stuck open, making it look like he was winking at her. Ragged flaps of flesh hung from his throat with the look of torn leather helped along by the browning blood.
The air stank with the blood’s signature metallic scent.
Elka saw little hope of salvaging the scene. Even if she waited till nighttime to remove the body, the blood would never come out no matter how hard she scrubbed. And waiting until night would increase her chances of discovery as every minute passed.
“Pisser.”
She had no choice.
Once again she would have to disappear, create a whole new life, start from scratch.
Run, as her people had for as long as their history.
Like prey.
Chapter Fourteen
W HAT’S HAPPENED WITH US ?
Jessie sat in the backseat of the small jet, contemplating this question. She would never get a chance to answer it for Wertz. And never mind all the questions she had about what had happened back there.
The jet’s engine sounded like a low hum, almost soothing like white noise. A half-empty bottle of water sat on the table in front of her, ripples quivering on the water’s surface as the jet hit some minor turbulence. Across the table sat Ree. He kept glancing at her. He would open his mouth as if to say something, then clam up and pretend he hadn’t looked at her at all.
Eight pairs of seats with tables between them lined either side of the jet’s interior. The four agents who had escaped from the safe house with her, and the one who had picked them up in the van, occupied some of these seats. Two sat together, while the remaining three sat alone, their expressions solemn, eyes glazed over while they looked inside themselves. Jessie knew what they were doing because she was doing the same.
What’s happened with us?
That question would haunt her forever.
What had happened?
They used to be so close. He had treated her like his own daughter, did his best to step in for Mom and Dad—leaning more toward Dad with his overprotective ways. Hell, only six months ago everything had seemed fine. But as Jessie had come closer and closer to her eighteenth birthday, something inside her had changed. A bit of her old rebellious streak snaked its way back into her. The pressure of fulfilling a prophecy that looked impossible after three years of steady work and so little to show for it became crushing, suffocating.
There was no way she could eliminate all the supernaturals on the mortal plane. She would have to live to a thousand—and maybe not even then.
She sighed and looked out the circular window to
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