The Graves of Saints Read Online Free Page B

clutched their own hats to their heads, making sure the wide brims blocked most of the sun. They looked so utterly ridiculous that any
other day Charlotte would have taken the time to laugh, but there was nothing funny about being hunted, and that was exactly where she found herself – hunted on the streets of New York.
    Just blocks away
, she thought. And she ran.
    Fear drove her to abandon any pretense at being ordinary. People shouted in surprise as she sprinted past them so fast that there was no disguising what she was. A woman screamed and dragged her
curly-haired daughter out of the way. On the corner of 49th Street a falafel vendor ducked down behind his cart and crossed himself. She darted between cars, not waiting for a break in traffic. The
driver of a UPS truck had his eyes on her instead of the road and struck a double-parked cab. A Lexus skidded to a halt to avoid crashing into the truck and Charlotte dodged between the
vehicles.
    More screams pursued her down the street, but she knew that these were not because of her. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw Annabel and the two males crossing the street. A police car
was among those jammed up by the first collision Charlotte had caused, and as the cop climbed out, gun drawn, one of the males punched a hole in his chest. The gun went off, shattering glass, but
the vampires kept coming as if nothing at all had happened. Annabel vaulted onto the police car’s roof and began leaping from car to car while the males dashed between them. Then they were on
the sidewalk and people were shrieking and jumping aside.
    If it had been night, Charlotte knew they would have caught her already. She’d be dead by now. It made her wonder what they’d been thinking, attacking during the day. The only way it
made sense was if they had been watching her place for a while, waiting for her to come back. She’d been gone for nearly a week. Somehow she’d managed to get into her apartment last
night without them noticing, but when she’d gotten up this morning, they had spotted her, maybe through a window, and had come after her in daylight because they were afraid she might leave
town again before they could take her down.
    Charlotte raced past the Manchester Pub. A dog started barking and she dodged left to avoid tripping over its leash. There were too many people on the sidewalk ahead and she shouted for them to
move, keeping close to the building, sliding along with that uncanny speed, knocking over a diplomat with a briefcase.
    She saw the baby stroller just in time to avoid colliding with it or with the woman pushing it, but as she passed them – the woman recoiling from her as if Charlotte were on fire –
she crashed into an old man exiting the corner market with a sack of groceries. The bag tore as the two of them fell in a tangle of limbs, spilling cans and fresh produce to the ground. The man
cried out as his head struck the sidewalk.
    No
! Charlotte thought, reaching for him, anguished over the thought that she might have killed him. But though he must have been eighty at least, the old man groaned and started to prop
himself up, staring at her as if she were insane.
    ‘What is wrong with –’ he began.
    ‘Ohmygod I’m so, so sorry!’ she said, extricating herself from him and climbing to her feet. Shaking her head, she backed away from his anger and confusion. ‘I’m
sorry. I’ve gotta go. I’ve gotta –’
    The look in the old man’s eyes turned to fear and she knew he wasn’t looking at her anymore. Charlotte spun just as the male caught up to her. He grabbed her by the throat, his
fingers digging into her flesh, cutting off the flow of air she didn’t need. In the shadow of his hat brim, he grinned widely, his fangs extending to demonic proportion, and she knew then
that the time for guns and bullets was over. This leech intended to tear her apart.
    Charlotte struck in a blink, plucking out his left eye. The vampire screamed and