Dark Kiss Of The Reaper Read Online Free Page B

the hours on the nurses’ schedule Manda had put together weren’t adding up right.
    She checked her watch. Half an hour before Manda came on and could straighten this mess out. Sara logged onto the computer and worked another project to wait for the night shift to arrive.
    Through the hall windows, the sky purpled behind clouds that hid the full moon. The hospital had already quieted down as visiting hours were over. In another hour, the corridor lights would dim. The hum of machines, usually unheard during the bustling day, would vibrate in the background like a chorus of mechanical crickets. A lot of people didn’t like hospitals. Didn’t like what went on in them. But to Sara, there was a safety here like nowhere else. Yes, bad things happened within these walls. But there were two sides to every coin.
    Life breathed its first breath here, made its first cry. Lives were saved, people healed. And sometimes...sometimes death came as a relief to those who suffered, both patient and family alike.
    There was nothing to fear within these walls.
    Nothing at all.
    Chapter Three
     
    Since Manda needed to go through patient charts before she’d have time to go over the schedules, Sara headed to the visitor’s room to coax a bottle of water from the ancient vending machine. The room was dark, but she didn’t flip the switch. Between the machine’s soft glow and the residual light from the hall spilling in there was plenty to see by.
    She dug in her cardigan pocket for the dollar bills kept for just this purpose. Nothing. She checked the other pocket and sighed. Time to refill the singles.
    Empty-handed, she turned and thudded into something hard.
    And warm.
    And so not a hallucination.
    “Sara Donovan.”
    The voice skittered through her with familiar heat. She knew it, before she even looked up. “You...” Backing away, she lifted a finger to point. Her hand trembled.
    “Azrael,” he said, as though she’d forgotten.
    “I know who you are.” A frightening thought shuffled her back another step. She bumped into the vending machine and swallowed, wondering if something bad was about to happen to her. “Why did you come back? Are you here for me?”
    He nodded, a slight smile softening his beautiful mouth. “I had to come back. You can see me.”
    A little shiver ripped down her spine. So that was it. She’d seen what he’d done to Edna – whatever that was – and now he was here to make sure she kept her mouth shut.
    “If you try anything, so help me, I’ll scream loud enough to wake the dead.” She raised her hands as she had the night in Edna’s room, this time flattening them like blades. “I know karate. I can kill a man twelve different ways without breaking a sweat.” Complete and utter lie, but considering the circumstances, very forgivable.
    The smile thinned. “I am not here to harm you.” Something dark flickered in his eyes. “Only to understand more about you.”
    “You don’t need to understand anything about me except that I’m going to start counting, and if you’re not gone by the time I hit three, the screaming begins.”
    “Scream all you want. Anyone who comes to your aid will find you in an empty room.”
    “You can’t run that fast.” Or maybe he could. He’d disappeared into thin air the last night she’d seen him.
    “I don’t intend to run anywhere.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her with such intensity her head swam.
    Her hands dropped a half-centimeter. “What do you mean?” But she already had a feeling.
    “No one sees me but you.”
    Crap. That was the feeling she’d had. “That’s crazy. Or it means I’m crazy. And I’m not.” She swallowed, exhaled hard. Her hands fell a little lower.
    “You’re not crazy. But you are special.”
    She groaned softly. A guy who thought he was death personified also thought she was special. Was there anything that said loser more than that? “I think you might be the crazy one. Actually, I know you