Queen Of Blood Read Online Free Page B

life—was on the cusp of
     occurring. The feeling scared the shit out of her.
    She glanced to her right and saw Alicia standing there. The dead woman’s eyes were stained a milky white, but they remained
     oddly expressive, conveying a hint of amusement.
    “Look, Dream, here comes a bus. I think if I were you, I’d consider stepping in front of it.”
    Dream looked to her left, where a block away a traffic light was turning yellow. In another few moments, the traffic would
     slow to a halt and she would be able to cross to the parking lot on the opposite side. She knew she should just focus on getting
     out of here and ignore Alicia.
    But curiosity forced her to ask the question:“Why?”
    Alicia smiled. She wiped another trickle of maggots from her lips and flicked them away. “Nasty things. There’s trouble coming,
     baby. You’re strong. Powerful, even. But this may more trouble than you can handle.”
    Dream squeezed her eyes shut. Enough. This was clearly just some especially malevolent corner of her shattered psyche fucking
     with her. Alicia was a hallucination, and the things she was saying were issuing from somewhere inside her, not from the mouth
     of some maggot-spewing ghoul. She hoped the realization would make the dead woman’s voice halt in mid-sentence…
    …but Alicia kept talking. “You thought it was all over when you left that evil place up in the mountains. But it ain’t,
     girl, not by a long fucking shot. The evil is still out there. It’s been dormant for a while, but it’s just been restoring
     itself, getting strong again. That woman, the one who killed me, she’s gonna come looking for you soon.”
    Those last words sent a deep, resonant chill through Dream. “No…”
    Alicia didn’t respond this time. Dream opened her eyes and looked to her right. The apparition was gone. She breathed a sigh
     of relief, but the chill invoked by the dead woman’s words remained.
    She shivered and began to thread her way through the stalled traffic. She unslung her purse and looked for her keys as she
     enter ed the parking lot. She cursed, not finding them at first, but then her forefinger snagged the key ring. Before she
     could get the keys out, though, she heard a vaguely familiar voice say, “That’s her.”
    Dream tensed. She’d reached the far end of the lot. It was darker here, removed as it was from the main thoroughfare and the
     lights of the bars. She heard movement to her right and her head snapped in that direction. She gasped. The girl from the
     bathroom was standing there, an ugly smirk on her face. Two boys were with her. Dream’s heart pounded. They stood between
     her and the Accord. Which meant she only had one option available—to turn and make a desperate dash back toward the street.
     But just as she started to turn, she sensed more movement behind her.
    Something hard and metallic struck the base of her skull and she crumpled to the asphalt. Her vision wavered for a moment,
     went black, and when things came back into focus another girl, this one taller and somewhat prettier, was standing directly
     over her. There were others, now, a total of five arrayed around her. One held a tire iron that was wet with her blood.
    The girl standing over her smiled.
    Then she spit in Dream’s face, the gob of saliva hitting her between the eyes.
    Dream tried to stand, but a booted foot smashed into her side, causing her to curl into a fetal ball. Then she felt rough
     hands on her, dragging her upright.
    And the girl said, “Get her in the van.”
    Dream struggled as they dragged her toward the open back of an old van. She opened her mouth to scream, but someone hit her
     again.
    The world went black.

CHAPTER THREE
    The smell of cooking meat wafted in from the kitchen. A faint undertone of Indian spices accompanied the aroma. The muffled
     sound of a television also emanated from that direction, as did the occasional clank of pots and pans being moved around.
    Chad Robbins closed