Read Online Ink Magic (Ink Sorceress Chronicles) by Erika Gilbert - Free Book Online Page A

hand as my tattoo snaked away from his glowing skin. “It was him,” he said. “He’s back.”
    “ Who?” I asked.
    “ Markus Bint.”
    Daniel gasped. “That’s impossible. Markus Bint is dead.”
    “ He’s not, I swear. He put me under some kind of trance. He touched me and his tattoo . . . it moved across my skin. Just like hers did. Oh my god. You’re just like him.” He backed away suddenly afraid.
    “ Hello?” I said. “I’m the girl who just saved your life.”
    “ But your tattoo. It came alive just like his did.” The guy back peddled, struggling to get as far away from me as possible.
    “ Keep still,” I said. “You nearly died. You should get to a hospital.” I had no idea how much I’d healed him. He could still have internal injuries.
    I tried to stop him and he lashed out at me. I easily managed to dodge his feeble punches, and I noticed his face bathed in sweat. He swayed on his feet, proving I was right about his not being quite healed.
    I was about to try and heal him again when Daniel stepped in my way. “You’re frightening him. Let me try and calm him down. Make yourself useful and call an ambulance.”
    Like saving a guy’s life wasn’t useful enough. I punched the number for emergency into my phone and listened to Daniel trying to comfort the guy.
    “ What’s your name?” he asked gently.
    “ Fred Williams,” he said, still keeping a close eye on me.
    “ Are you sure it was him?”
    “ I know that face, I remember him from the newspaper. He killed all those people and buried them in his basement.”
    I hadn’t heard about this. The idea of someone burying people in their basement made my skin crawl. Worst of all, people thought I was just like him.
    Daniel nodded.
    “ Should I call the police?” I asked.
    Daniel shook his head. “There’s nothing they can do.”
    When the ambulance arrived, Fred didn’t want me along for the ride. By that stage he was falling in and out of consciousness. Daniel didn’t want to leave me alone, not with some serial killing Ink Sorcerer on the loose. But I could see he wanted to question Fred some more, so despite my fear I urged him to leave me there.
    Standing in the street alone, I wished I’d let Daniel stay. With a guy who enjoyed burying people in his basement on my tail, I felt suddenly vulnerable. I had no idea what he looked like, or if Fred was the only person he’d sent to kill me. I was also aware of the fact that if it weren’t for Daniel, his first attempt at killing me would have succeeded. I wanted to call for a taxi, but for some reason I didn’t feel like trusting a complete stranger to drive me anywhere.
    I shuddered at the sight of the crumpled car, smashed into the wall and started to walk quickly through the empty streets.

 
     
Chapter Ten
     
    Despite being at work, mom somehow knew I hadn’t come home. I blamed our elderly neighbor. I don’t know how she does it, but somehow Mrs. Wilson always knows when I’m late. If I’m even a few minutes over my curfew, my mom gets to hear about it.
    I ignored several phone calls from mom, choosing to answer her texts instead, telling her I was fine and giving her a lame excuse about car trouble. Seemed she didn’t buy it and I soon had to turn the sound on my cell phone off all together. Judging by how much it vibrated in my pocket, I guessed my mom was pretty mad.
    I walked through the empty streets, trying to keep my imagination from going into overdrive. I thought I heard something moving on the rooftop above me, but when I looked up found nothing. As I moved on, the sensation increased. The occasional shuffling sounding, or heavy bump, as if someone was jumping from roof to roof, put me on edge. Every time I looked up to identify the sound there was nothing.
    I could only be one person. “Daniel?”
    He didn’t reply, but I knew he was out there somewhere. A roof tile crashed to the ground at my feet and something big slid down the roof. I couldn’t see