Beasthood (The Hidden Blood Series) Read Online Free Page A

feet from the dark wood coffee table as her aunt strolled into the room. Jaz hadn't moved from that spot on the sofa since she'd come down the stairs at half six that morning .
    She wasn’t an early bird but ever since her horrifying, real-life nightmare, she’d found it almost impossible to sleep well. She had even resorted to sleeping pills though she hated anything like that. Pills for sleeping, pills for depression (which she refused to take). Pills, pills, pills. She despised it, but when you haven’t had a good night’s sleep for so long you get desperate.
    She’d taken them the night before and had been mighty pissed off that they hadn’t worked. She’d had less than three hours sleep- probably less than two. She gave up counting the hours months ago.
                  Shadows were heavily set under her eyes as she gazed up at her aunt. This was not her therapist Aunt Ruth, but her father’s sister Aunt Erica. She was a kind and bubbly woman and reminded Jaz of her mother in personality. Though, Jaz noticed, Aunt Erica had a much more worldly countenance about her.
    There was something wild and free about her that Jaz couldn’t explain; but she sensed it. Though her aunt was a well-dressed woman, in trouser suits and expensive shoes, Jaz could still picture her camping high up in some mountain, eating freshly caught fish for breakfast. She liked her a lot though she’d only known her about a year.
                  Aunt Erica had appeared on their doorstep at the end of April last year. Erica had introduced herself when Jaz had come back from a day out with her best-friends Ellie and Lisa. It was the back end of the Easter holidays, she recalled.
    Jaz was surprised and puzzled that her dad had never mentioned he had a sister. She always thought he had just two brothers. She’d never seen pictures of her either.
    He'd said, “Erica has been living abroad for a long time. It upset me to mention her because I never got to see her.” But Jaz didn’t buy it.
    She suspected, especially after observing her parents reactions that there was some unsaid tension between them. She didn’t know why and didn’t want to get in the middle of it, but whatever it was, it caused her dad to watch her aunt cautiously at times. Her mum -she swore- had looked almost afraid, but it was swept away by a forced smile in Jaz’s direction whenever she realized she was being watched.
    Jaz had long since accepted that this was the way things were and didn’t think it was her place to bring up whatever was in the past between them. They seemed to have reconciled now and that was all that mattered.
    Time heals all wounds , she thought. She hoped that included her too.
                  Her aunt watched Jaz now with displeasure. She didn’t like to see her niece in such a state. She looked extremely pale, exhausted and had lost weight, Erica observed.
    This has gone too far, she thought resolutely.
    “ This is an unexpected pleasure, Erica,” Jaz’s father began.
    “ Well you know me John, I like to surprise.” Jaz didn’t see her father’s face tense. His whole body tightened as he eyed her aunt uncomfortably. Erica ignored him and sat down next to Jaz, gazing half-heartedly at the TV before turning to look at her niece. “You haven’t been sleeping.” It wasn’t a question. Jaz simply nodded, not wanting to peel her eyes away from Scrubs and the funny escape world of JD. She was feeling sensitive today and knew that if she looked at her aunt right then, she might cry. “Have you taken anything to help?” Erica asked softly.
    “ My sister prescribed her with some sleeping pills,” Rachel, her mother, answered.
                  Aunt Erica barely looked at her. She couldn’t take her eyes off her niece. She was very worried about her. Jaz just wasn’t herself.
    “ They don’t work,” Jaz mumbled.
                  Aunt Erica bobbed her head once as if she