The Suicide Forest (The River Book 5) Read Online Free

They shared a confused look,
then Steven followed Roy. Roy opened the door and walked out, heading to
Steven’s car.
    Steven walked through the door and turned back to June. “I’m
sorry, I don’t know what happened.”
    June looked like she wanted to cry. “Did I do something
wrong?” she asked Steven.
    “No,” Steven said, “I don’t think it was anything you did.”
    “Steven!” Roy called from the car. “Come at once! Now! ”
    As Steven watched he saw a small cut form in the flesh of
June’s neck, a couple of inches below her chin. Her skin was wrinkled there, as
it was in many older women, and he watched as the cut widened to be about an
inch wide. Blood began to drip from the cut.
    “You’re bleeding,” he said to her, point to his own neck. “On
your neck, here.”
    Her eyes grew wide and she held her fingers up to her neck.
She felt the warmth of the liquid and pulled her fingers away so she could
examine them. When she saw the dark red on her fingers, she gasped and raised
her other hand to her throat.
    “Go inside and bandage it,” Steven said.
    “ Steven! ” Roy bellowed, insistent.
    “I’ll call you when I know what’s going on,” he said, leaving
her at the door and returning to the car.
    “What was that about?” he asked Roy, outside the car.
    “Get in the car and drive,” Roy said. “We need to get out of
here.”
     
    ◊
     
    After they were several blocks from the house, Steven
repeated his question. “Tell me why I left her bleeding on the porch like
that?”
    “We were the cause,” Roy said. “Had we stayed any longer, it
might have been worse.”
    “We were the cause of what?” Steven asked. “What did you see
in the trance?”
    “The reason she was all banged up in the first place was
retaliation for our visit to her yesterday,” Roy said. “In the trance, I didn’t
get much past the River before I saw the blade at her throat.”
    “Blade?” Steven asked, incredulous. “At her throat?”
    “I had the distinct impression,” Roy said, “that if I went
any further, whatever or whoever was controlling the blade would use it on
her.”
    “There was a cut on her throat,” Steven said, “as I was
leaving her at the door. I saw it appear.”
    “If you had come when I called,” Roy said, “she might not
have been cut. I realized we needed to remove ourselves from the house for her
safety.”
    Fuck , Steven thought. I was only trying to answer her questions, give her
some kind of comfort as we were running out the door, abandoning her. Instead I
almost killed her.
    “This is beyond me,” Roy said. “It’s demonic on a level I
have no experience with.”
    “Demonic?” Steven asked, driving through the streets of
Beacon Hill. “I thought you didn’t believe in evil.”
    “I told you I believe there are things that are the opposite
of good,” he said. “And I meant it. There are. Whatever this is, it’s not a
ghost, and it’s not human. So that leaves it in the third category you
mentioned.”
    “We can’t leave her like this,” Steven said. “We told her
we’d help her.”
    “We won’t be helping her by getting her throat slit,” Roy
said. “I can tell you right now, we’re outgunned on this one.”
    “I jumped in the River,” Steven said, “as you were starting
your trance. I smelled something so bad I had to jump back out.”
    “It’s demonic,” Roy said. “I’ll have to call Dixon, see if he
knows someone who can help us.”
    “What,” Steven said, “like a priest?”
    “I doubt it,” Roy said. “I don’t think a priest would know
what to do with this thing. Probably just get her killed.”
    “What about June?” Steven said. “We can’t just leave her
hanging. We need to know she’s alright.”
    “You can call her,” Roy said. “Tell her we’re reconsidering
if we can help or not. I don’t want her even thinking we’ll be back. It’s too
dangerous for her. And don’t tell her that, either. No sense in worrying