Grim Rites by Bilinda Sheehan Read Free Book Online Page B

my magic. I expected to feel the usual heartbeats of those around me; humans had a particular hum to them, and part of me had always wondered if perhaps it was their soul I could feel, but I’d never bothered to examine it too closely.
    But this … Nic was right, there was nothing. Even if everyone was asleep, I should have been able to feel them.
    “Shit,” I said, panic curling in my gut. Without waiting for Nic, I strode forward up the path that led to Mia’s porch. There were only four steps and I took them two at a time, allowing me to reach the door swiftly.
    A symbol etched on the door caught the corner of my eye, but when I tried to focus in on it, it simply disappeared, shimmering just out of view. I pounded on the wood, the sound echoing through the empty air. If Mia was home, she’d know who it was long before she opened the door.
    Silence slipped back in around me and panic gripped my stomach. Taking a step back, I eyed the door before lifting my leg and kicking it with every ounce of force I had.
    You could have just magically popped the lock… the voice in the back of my mind reminded me, and I groaned as pain ricocheted back up through my hip into my back.
    I didn’t wait; moving into the house, I crept through the downstairs rooms. The place was a mess, exactly how I’d imagined it would be, but there was something about the living room that sent my senses into overdrive. Something had happened—the mess wasn’t just because Mia didn’t have a maid.
    Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I peered up into the gloom and started forward.
    A hand on my shoulder sent a thrill of fear through my body and I spun around. Magic spread inside me like a wildfire as I rammed my would-be attacker back against the wall.
    Sparks danced along the tips of my fingers as I stared into Nic’s amused eyes, one arm pinned across his throat holding him in place.
    “I don’t think you realise just how hot a woman who can protect herself really is,” he said with a smirk.
    Heat flooded into my face and I released him just as suddenly as I’d grabbed him, forcing my magic back down into the place it belonged inside me. I’d been so on edge, I hadn’t even realised just how close to the surface my power had been. One false move and I’d have fried Nic….
    That thought alone was enough douse the spark of my power completely.
    What was wrong with me? If it kept on behaving so erratically, I was going to kill someone, and as far as the law was concerned, when it came to death by magic, there was no such thing as an accident.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked, his smirk disappearing.
    How was I supposed to explain it to him? Sorry, I almost fried you and I’m concerned I might actually kill someone with my out-of-control magic, didn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
    “You shouldn’t sneak up on me. I could have hurt you,” I said, choosing to go on the defensive.
    “I didn’t, you just didn’t hear me calling you,” he said sharply.
    Great, so not only was my magic growing at such a pace that it was spiralling out of control but I was also losing touch with my surroundings. How was I going to do my job if I was so consumed by my own thoughts that I couldn’t tell the difference between the good and the bad guys?
    “There doesn’t seem to be anyone here, anyway,” Nic said, softening his voice as he gestured to the downstairs.
    “I haven’t looked upstairs yet,” I said.
    “Don’t you think if your friend was here she’d have come down to investigate the sound of someone kicking in her front door?”
    He had a point, but that didn’t exactly make me feel better. What if she was here but was hurt or…. I let my own thoughts trail off, unfinished. I couldn’t keep thinking like that.
    Letting a small tendril of my magic creep forth, I stepped onto the stairs, the timber beneath my feet creaking noisily. If she was upstairs and hurt, then I would know it….
    My magic found something and my steps faltered.