First Do No Evil: Blood Secrets, Book 1 Read Online Free Page A

wounded. Stomach retching from the metallic scent of spilled blood, he crept closer.
    Blackbeard raised his head and arm off the ground.
    Danny squeezed the trigger. No more ammo.
    The motherfucker laughed.
    Danny knew he’d never make it to the pillar, but he kept moving, dodging, ducking his chin to protect his windpipe.
    A muzzle flash.
    He heard a flutter and felt a dull thud in the vicinity of his heart.

Chapter Three
    Not a scratch on her.
    Sky still breathed in, still breathed out, still lived. The one dearest to her heart lay motionless in her arms, yet she’d survived.
    Again .
    Burnt smoke thickened the air and stung her nose, causing fluid to leak from her nostrils onto her upper lip. Her heart squeezed in odd pauses and rapid runs, at times banging so hard she feared it would discomfit Edmond, whose cheek rested against her left breast. Coated in warm viscous fluid, her fingers stuck in Edmond’s hair as she examined his wound. A fist-sized chunk of his skull had been blown off. Where his left eye had been, now gaped a pulp-filled socket. His body slumped against her, a heavy, lifeless mass.
    Edmond was gone.
    She knew this, but she couldn’t stop herself from checking for a pulse. She’d been repeating this ritual—examine wound, check for pulse—since the moment the bullet shattered Edmond’s skull. She considered gently moving him off her lap to perform CPR, but was afraid what remained of his skull would come apart without her support. She couldn’t let Edmond go.
    “I’m here, Sis. I’m here.” A low, comforting voice penetrated the fog that cushioned her mind—Garth.
    A broken wisp of breath escaped her lips. Her big brother was with her, and she thanked God that he was okay. Then remembering that other, terrible Halloween, she curled her fingers tightly around Edmond’s collar. She clung on to him with every ounce of her being, but she couldn’t hold on to the present. Time started skipping like a scratched record played on an old phonograph.
    She didn’t want to go back there, to that other time and place. But there was no way to stop it. The room went dark around the edges; the atmosphere grew dense, palpable. Disoriented, she batted a hand through heavy air, tried to get her bearings. She was seventeen again, and she wanted nothing more than to rush into the safety of Garth’s arms. Her head throbbed. Her eyeballs vibrated in their sockets. Black. So black here, in this place. She wasn’t sure if it was day or night, whose corpse she rocked—Edmond’s or Papa’s.
    But then, a soft moan, drifted from across the room. “Help…me.”
    And just the same as a hypnotist can snap his subject out of it on the count of three, Nevaeh’s plea jolted Sky back to the present. That other night was over. Papa was dead. Now Edmond was too. She couldn’t change those things.
    But this day, this moment was not yet fully written, and there was still much she could do. The old Sky didn’t belong here; she’d only get in the way. Shaking her head hard, she drove away the ghosts of her past. No time for frightened children today. The girl inside was banished, and in her place stood Dr. Skylar Novak.
    As if from afar, she heard her voice reassure, “Stay calm and don’t move, Nevaeh. Help’s on the way.”
    Just as she’d feared, when she eased Edmond’s corpse off of her, the remaining capsule of skull fell open. Her heart lurched, but she managed to hold back the scream that rose in her throat. Pressing her palm against the plastic cushion of the booth for balance, she rose on liquid knees. Out of her peripheral vision, she caught sight of a young man racing toward the door. The kid with the hockey mask.
    That’s right . Run . Get away from this place .
    As he barreled past, her hand reached out and clamped onto his sleeve. “ No! ”
    He kept running, his jacket slipping down his arm as she held on tight. The jacket fell to the ground, and she wound her fingers around his wrist. “ No!