Hunter's Fall by Shiloh Walker Read Free Book Online Page A

remind Nessa of who she was.
    “Let’s go then.” He held out a hand to her.
    But instead of putting her hand in his, she smirked. “I’m used to doing things on my own, Mal.”
    A mischievous smile flirted with the corners of her lips.
    Not this time, old friend , he thought, ready to grab her once more.
    “Oh, no, you don’t.” Malachi lunged for her, but she disappeared, right in front of him, and his hands closed around thin air.
     
     
    T HAT big bully of a vampire worried too much, Nessa mused.
    “ You should have just jumped ,” Morgan whispered, her voice faint, but malicious. “Then you wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore.”
    “Shut up, bitch,” Nessa muttered, swallowing the knot in her throat.
    She might despise this life, might despise the God who’d trapped her here yet again, but she wouldn’t do that to Malachi. The poor vampire, he worried so, and he felt guilty, although none of this was his fault.
    She might hate her life. She might not care if she lived or died. She might not care so much that they worried about her. But she wouldn’t do that to him—wouldn’t jump while he watched.
    Her stomach rumbled demandingly and she followed her nose to a street vendor. A hot dog, loaded with chili, onions and cheese, wasn’t going to do much more than ease the emptiness of her stomach, but she wasn’t going to take the downtime she knew she needed. She needed a decent meal, a lot of calories, a lot of water and a lot of rest before she’d feel even close to strong.
    And she might . . . later.
    Just not right now.
    A glance up at the leaden sky didn’t tell her much about the time of day, but experience had her placing it at roughly noon. Gave her about five hours before the sun set. Five hours to make sure those vampires were dead. At least the old one. The two younger ones she could deal with even after sunset. The old one though—
    A cold ache spread out from the slow-healing vampire bite in her neck. He’d sought to bleed her out and he’d been low enough on his own blood that his vampiric gifts hadn’t been particularly strong. When vampires wanted, they could leave bites that were almost surgically neat and their saliva had a rather miraculous healing effect. At least they did when the vampire wasn’t hovering just this side of death.
    She finished up her hot dog and then turned the corner, heading for the subway. The red line would take her close enough to where she needed to go and it would save her much-needed energy.
    She moved slowly down the steps, hating the weakness in her body, hating how heavy her legs felt, how gritty her eyes felt. She plugged some money into a machine and got her ticket before joining the other bodies waiting on the platform.
    The train came to a halt in front of her and she moved on, surrounded by commuters, college students and construction workers. She breathed in the scents of life and felt a curl of envy whisper through her. These people were rushing home, rushing to work, living lives that revolved around work, family, dates.
    Everything Nessa wished she could have.
    Everything she never would.
    The envy flowered into full bloom. Nessa glanced around at the faces of the mortals and wished she could be anywhere but here.
    “Then go. No reason you can’t be anywhere but here.”
    That insidious cow. She couldn’t linger for long, but she could sure as hell speak up often enough to drive Nessa completely insane. Or try to tempt her into something foolish.
    On a good day, Nessa could ignore the bitch.
    But today wasn’t a good day. On the bad days, it wasn’t just lucidity that took a vacation. It was her common sense and self-preservation. On a good day, she’d never even dream of using her magic where mortals could witness it.
    Today, though, was obviously a bad day and if she was just a little stronger, she might have even done what Morgan wanted and let the magic carry her away.
    Weak and tired as she was, flying wasn’t just unwise,