Infernal Ties Read Online Free Page B

answers.  
    It was about time someone told me what the fuck was going on.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    I couldn’t face trekking through the public transport quagmire again, and the cab driver was late. I paced around the grass running the images of the thing through my mind. It looked as though it was in pain, the fear was almost palpable. I found myself feeling sorry for it. I pushed the thought aside; it was another beast, and it needed to be put down before a human stumbled across it. I squeezed my eyes shut and hoped that another hunter found it first. I was beginning to realise how many people I’d pushed away when the cab driver pulled up. Quin would have been able to alert a number of other hunters and pull a team together. I’d never been on good terms with them. I hadn’t tried.  
    The cab driver gave me an impatient glare as I walked around and got in. “Malá Strana.”
    He raised an eyebrow at me and said in rough English, “Address, please.”
    I smiled sweetly and called up the small well of patience. I didn’t know the alchemist’s exact address; I’d always left it to Quin. I wasn’t going to say, “The alchemist’s around the back of Starbucks.”
    “Starbucks, in Malá Strana.”
    He nodded and took off down the road while I was struggling with my seatbelt. I clung onto the door handle with one hand as he flew around the bends and took me back down the hill. I caught a quick glimpse of the view over the city from the top of the hill before we careened downwards and raced a tram to the bottom. I lurched forward when he hit the brakes and the driver cursed out the red light. The public transport option was looking better and better.  
    People were beginning to mill around as we got closer to the tourist centre of the city. The driver pulled up by the side of the road, and I jumped out before he threw me out. He gave me a dark look when I didn’t give him a tip; I bit my tongue and held back the comment about his driving. Instead, I looked over to the prettiest Starbucks in Europe. The dark wooden shutters sat open around the arched windows that were recessed into the pale-cream stone. Classic rectangular windows surrounded by elegant grey decorations were carefully placed on the floors above. It somehow managed to be both modern and traditional. My stomach growled when I smelled the fresh trdelník cakes being cooked, vanilla and a splash of cinnamon. They claimed that they were a very old Czech delicacy, but in truth the simple cakes were very much a modern invention. Not that I cared: Traditional or not, they tasted fantastic. I wandered past the wooden shed-type affair where the trdelník were being made fresh, and ignored my stomach in favour of the road leading past Starbucks. I had to find the alchemist.  
    Alchemists were often good sources of information, as everyone went to them for their potions and lotions, including Quin. He had talked about learning alchemy, but I shut him down; I was beginning to feeling guilty about it. I should have listened and encouraged his passion. He’d always been eager to learn and he drank in everything the alchemists were willing to tell him. He wanted so badly to train properly, but I didn’t want him losing sight of what alchemy was. Magic. It was at the heart of everything we stood against. Everything we protected the city from. I swallowed down the fear and grief that was swelling and scolded myself. He was alive and well. It wasn’t the time for regrets.  
    Shiny red topless cars sat parked on the corner, waiting to give tourists a tour around the block. It had always seemed a shame to me, to see the city that way. It’s too tactile to see from the back of a car, it needs to be walked. I picked up my pace when I spotted the old-fashioned-looking alchemist, complete with herbs in the window. It labelled itself as an old lékárna. A pharmacy was a nice little side business and cover. I pushed on the well-worn dark wooden door with the brass handle. It