Minutes to Midnight Read Online Free Page A

zombies, Fetches, lemures,
and all manner of oogie stuff," I protested around a mouthful of
potatoes. "You know about Revenants. Why the disbelief?"
    "Because I've been here longer than you and
I haven't bumped into a Revenant the entire time. And what would
one of those things be doing in the cemetery at night? That's just
so…cliche…" He continued laughing as he left the kitchen. "Finish
up and put the dishes in the washer, and I'll make sure no sparkly
undead get in."
    I didn't want to ruin his
little laugh-fest with facts. Corrections, really. First of all,
vampires were not reanimated corpses. Not in the zombie sense. They
were in fact humans who shared their bodies— bonded with , for a better tern—with
spirits known as First Born from the Abysmal Plane. Laymen would
call the place Hell, so they'd think of a bonded human as a
demon-possessed human. In truth, the Abysmal was the yang to the
yin in the planes. The opposite was the Ethereal Plane, or Heaven.
Two halves that encircled the universe.
    How did I know this?
    Because one of my closest friends was a
vampire. They called their combined creation Revenants. His host's
name—the human—was Jason. And his First Born, the creature that
shared its power and long life with Jason, went by the name
Mephistopheles. They were one, and they were separate.
    I hadn't told Mike about Mephistopheles, or
Jason. In fact, the only person I'd really referenced was Nona. I'd
come to Savannah for a sort of do-over on the surface. But in
truth…I was looking for me, and allowing time to heal wounds that
one day would give strength to what was coming.
    Not to mention all my friends had been
threatened by an Angel named Gabriel—the one that removed the year
of my life. She promised me that if I didn't distance myself from
all of them, she would kill them, one by one.
    Starting with Nona's daughter, Zoë.
Something inside of me didn't want Zoë harmed. I didn't want anyone
to hurt because of me. And because it was obvious my presence alone
did enough emotional damage to Zoë, leaving Atlanta seemed the
right thing to do.
    My memories were fine until after I'd been
marked by the Cruorem. Then it was like fast forward and I was
surrounded by Revenants, witches, a Wraith, and a society created
to watch and if need be, direct creatures from the outer
planes.
    Creatures like me.
    They said Zoë and I were lovers. But I
just…couldn't…remember…
    "Well, whatever it was," Mike was saying,
"it knew you were a Guardian, and it might have saved your life. No
idea who?"
    I shook my head. "No. And that scares me
more than the walking undead."

 
     
    THE PERiPHERAL

     
     
    Mike's idea of getting an early start was
heading back to The Night Pub where we got the tip about
Bonaventure Cemetery. The bar was one of Savannah's landmarks. It'd
been several things over the years, from a boarding house to a
brothel. The building sat in what was once Savannah's red-light
district, diagonal to Franklin Square.
    The name came from a time when this part of
town was known as the Red Light area and the building was used as a
brothel. Later the building was turned into a three story single
family home before it sat vacant for a number of years. It was
finally bought in 1995 and turned into a bar. The place was always
busy.
    And there was always the rumor of ghosts.
Recent ghost-hunting shows had brought attention to Savannah over
the years, and a local hunter team had a successful night at The
Night Pub.
    I've been a ghost magnet all of my life and
I'd been in the place a dozen times and the only thing I saw
regularly were drunks, women, and a floor covered in peanuts. If
there were ghosts, they were on an extended vacation.
    The place wasn't open when we got there.
Hours on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were 1 p.m. to 3 a.m. I
expected to be knocking for some time, and given Mike was a bit of
an obsessive when he made a decision, I settled in for the long
haul. But for some reason, the moment Mike