Queen Of Blood Read Online Free Page A

strike the mahogany bartop and begin to squiggle
     across the polished wood. “You and I both know you left that fucking house of horrors a changed woman. And I don’t mean just
     changed in the head. You got yourself some of the same supernatural mojo that Master asshole had. You always had it in you,
     but he woke it up. You can do things normal people can’t. You’re stronger. Smarter. And you can change the shape and substance of the world around you,
     just by thinking hard enough about it.”
    Dream shook her head. “No.”
    “Yes.” Alicia’s fingers began to stroke Dream’s inner thigh. “You know it’s true. And it scares the shit out of you. So you’ve
     done everything you can to hold that power back, to suppress it. But the pressure’s building up inside you. Some of that psychic
     energy is spilling out. And me…well, I’m one of the consequences of that. Some of that energy mingled with the bit of
     my essence you’ve carried with you all these years. And that got all mixed in with your guilt. It was inevitable I would manifest.”
     Another soft, dry laugh. “And that I would look this fucking awful, I guess. Seriously, I ought to bitchslap you for this
     Night of the Living Dead Black Bitch look you’ve stuck me with.”
    Dream was still shaking her head, but it was just automatic, desperate denial. Another part of her—a part the booze was meant
     to numb—acknowledged the truth of Alicia’s words. But truth changed nothing. She would work harder to suppress it. Drink more.
     Drug more. Whatever it took. “I have to get out of here.”
    The barmaid looked up from the glass she’d been polishing. “Whatever. Go talk to yourself somewhere else. But you owe me three
     bucks for that beer.”
    Dream fumbled with her purse, digging for bills. “Okay. Sorry.”
    Alicia continued to stroke her thigh. “I’ll tell you a secret, Dream, something I never seriously considered telling you when
     I was alive. I always wanted to get it on with you. You were the only chick I ever felt that way about. I was always too scared
     to tell you, of course. Didn’t want to risk ruining our friendship.”
    Dream’s hands were shaking as she at last managed to extract her wallet from the purse and undo its snap. She withdrew three
     dollar bills, considered withdrawing a fourth for a tip, but decided against it when she got a look at the barmaid’s face,
     which was a mask of pity and disdain.
    “Remember what I said. You made me. I’m not a ghost.” Alicia’s fingers ceased their stroking motion and squeezed. Hard. “I’m
     also not exactly the woman you remember. But I’m close, Dream, I’m real fucking close. And I am always with you.” She squeezed
     even harder, really bearing down. “And I was with you in the bathroom when you put the hurt on that geek. That was some fucked-up
     shit, baby. Nothing like the sweetheart I remember. Shit, you should change your name to Nightmare, would suit you better
     these days.” She ran the coarse end of her gray tongue over her bloated lips. “Personally, I think it’s an improvement. You
     don’t get anywhere in this world without kicking some ass.”
    Dream threw the three single bills on the bar and slid off the stool. Some instinct caused her gaze to flick toward the young
     dart players, and she felt something stab her heart as she saw the way they were looking at her. Frat Boy’s finger made a
     circle in the air around his ear, the international loony symbol.
    She hurried out of the bar and stood outside on the sidewalk, watching the traffic on the two-lane street whiz by. She heard
     music wafting from another bar on the same side of the street, “People Are Strange,” that old Doors chestnut. Hearing it now,
     in these circumstances, raised gooseflesh on her arms and the back of her neck. A creeping sense of paranoia threatened to
     overcome her. She sensed that something important—something on the order of a seismic shift in her