Haunted Moon Read Online Free

ovals, and on his face, a mere hintof nostrils. A crown of ivy wove around his forehead, and he wore a cape of moss and lichen.
    “Are you Elder Fae?” I had never seen a creature like him, not even back in Otherworld, and he fascinated me. The closest I could think of would be Wisteria, the floraed who’d joined forces with the demons, caught in a frenzy of hatred toward humans.
    He cocked his head to the right. “No, I be not Elder Fae.”
    And then I knew what he was. “You’re an Earth Elemental!”
    Slowly, he nodded. “I am. I am a part of the land itself. I am the guardian of this boneyard. And now, the bones are walking, where they should not be walking. Unnatural magic is afoot and has evil intent.” He glanced around and motioned, and another of his kind appeared from the shadows. They moved like leaves on the wind, like walking trees.
    Honored—Elementals didn’t appear to just anybody, especially since a number of witches tried to summon them up in order to control their movements—I curtsied.
    “I know. My friends and I are here to help put the bone-walkers and the wayward dead back in their graves. But I must find my friend—the not-so-human—before they harm him. Can you take me to him?”
    I waited, forcing myself to be patient, so
not
one of my virtues. But when dealing with Elementals, patience was key. Especially Earth Elementals, who moved cautiously until they were certain of their course, at which point they could surge forth like an earthquake or landslide.
    After a moment, during which they exchanged chattering noises that sounded like sticks rattling, he turned toward me again. “Your friend is in the clearing directly beyond this thicket. He is hurt. If you will clear the wayward ones, we will not forget your help. We guard the bones of this space, and they should not be abroad. Bones are for memories. Bones are to feed the earth and the worms. Bones are not meant to be walking above the ground without flesh and soul attached.”
    “You’re right about that,” I whispered, as I started past them.
    As I passed by, the Earth Elemental caught my wrist in his hand. A heavy, laden sense of gravity sank me to my knees. “You are young in the world, still. There are ancient powers waking from their slumber. Some are beneficial. Others hunger from the depths. Be wary, Priestess: Not everything that answers to the moon will understand the changes wrought in this world. The Mother is ancient, and some of her children nearly as old.”
    And with that, he let go and I stumbled forward. I tried to get his warning out of my head, but the words rang in my ears as I pushed my way through the cedars to yet another clearing—the graveyard itself.
    And there was Chase, propped up on a tombstone, looking petrified as a bone-walker made its way toward him. Unlike zombies, who moved slowly, bone-walkers could shuffle along at a pretty good clip. And once they reached you, if you couldn’t get out of their way, you were toast unless you could totally demolish them. Given an open space and no obligation to destroy them, running away was usually the safest option.
    Ghouls were different from both bone-walkers and zombies. They were faster than zombies, even though they were also animated corpses. And far worse, they absorbed life energy as well as eating flesh, and so were doubly dangerous.
    A glance at Chase told me he wasn’t going anywhere soon. He was leaning against the tombstone, one foot raised. In one hand, he held his Glock 40, even though bullets were no real use against the undead, especially skeletons. Chase was good with a gun—deadly accurate—but the bullets wouldn’t stop what was coming our way, and he knew it.
    He glanced at me as I headed toward him. Six two, with dark hair cut in a slight shag, he was swarthy with olive skin, brown eyes, and a suave manner. He was muscled and lean, but right now, he mostly looked like he was in pain.
    I hurried over to him, eyeing the bone-walkers