The Graves of Saints Read Online Free Page A

giving Charlotte a fraction of a second to solve a problem.
    As mist she had no mass, and the window was closed up tightly.
    A ripple went through the white mist and she drew herself together, resculpting flesh and bone at the speed of thought. Copper-red hair, wool coat, beat-up Timberlands, she crashed through the
glass five stories above 2nd Avenue. One of the vampires shouted and both guns coughed again, but by the time the bullets reached her she was mist again, slipping downward toward the street. She
was half a block from 50th Street, maybe half a dozen from the UN. The Shadow Registry Office was on 46th, even closer, if she could just get there.
    The gunfire stopped. They knew she’d run for it and that meant they had to get down to the street, but Cortez had trained them too well to be nocturnal creatures. These fools were so
dedicated to ancient legend, to being the nightmares that had terrified humanity for eons, that they had themselves
believing
, just like old times. Without the cover of their creepy black
ensembles, they’d burn, which meant they had to be damned careful.
    Charlotte couldn’t afford to be careful.
    Transforming into a crow, she let out a caw and stretched out her wings, wheeling into the narrow alley that separated her building from the one next door. With a quick glance to make sure she
wouldn’t be observed, she shifted again, alighting upon the ground as herself and shuddering slightly, getting used to her own form. Shifting so much in such a short time always made her true
body feel a little foreign at first. She had never liked shapeshifting; it made her feel less human, reminded her she was a monster.
    A service door clanged open in the alley and she spun toward the sound, mind whirling. No way they’d gotten down from her floor this quickly. Charlotte blinked when she saw the vampire
emerge into the alley. She was tall and thin, with long blond hair beneath the same black hat the others wore, and Charlotte recognized her right off. Annabel, one of Cortez’s wives.
    Idiot
, she thought. She’d never considered there might be a third.
    In her frustration, she didn’t move quickly enough. The gun was already in Annabel’s hand. Charlotte felt the pain sear her chest as the bullet struck, even before she heard the
shot. A wave of nausea swept her immediately and she knew that her guess had been correct – Cortez had the toxin. She didn’t know what the UN had officially named it, but vampires
called it Medusa, because it effectively turned them to stone.
    Stone.
    She wasn’t a statue. She could move. She couldn’t shapeshift but she could run, and though the sky was white with thin clouds, the sun was strong behind them. Staggering backward,
she practically spilled out onto the sidewalk, cursing herself for her foolishness. If she had just stayed a crow she could have flown the distance to the Shadow Registry in a couple of minutes,
but she preferred to be herself, to stay on two feet, and she’d thought she had left the vampires behind.
    ‘Charlotte, you won’t get far like that!’ Annabel called after her.
    More shots rang out. One of them struck the back of her shoulder, spinning her halfway around. She flashed Annabel the finger and let her momentum carry her into the street. Brakes screamed as
cars skidded to a halt, two of them colliding with a crunch. Then she was across the street, racing down 2nd Avenue. Medusa had taken away her shifting, but she was still a Shadow, stronger and
faster by far than a human being.
    Annabel shouted something she couldn’t hear over the bleating car horns and the angry shouts of drivers. Charlotte glanced back at her building and saw the other two vampires emerge, and
then all three of Cortez’s assassins were giving chase. The wind blew the hat off of the taller male and his face began to burn instantly, blackening and smoking. Screaming, he raced after
his hat and the others ignored him, running on, but now they