Infernal Ties by Holly Evans Read Free Book Online

a few things I’d sacrifice.  
    I looked down at my leg and said, “I sacrificed my blood, time, and energy.”
    It came out much sharper than I’d intended; I was overcompensating. He laughed softly and placed the scroll away with some reverence. The box clicked shut and somehow darkened in colour. It was quickly hidden in the shadows, and I couldn’t make out the outline of it despite knowing where it sat.  
    He leaned down and inspected the bubbling gloop before he said, “Pass me that beaker.”
    I sighed softly and handed him a glass jar thing. He pulled down his goggles, glanced at the jar thing and said, “I said the beaker, that is a measuring jug.”
    I gave him a dark look and said, “You haven’t told me about the blood.”
    He pursed his lips and picked up what was apparently a beaker. The gloop was slowly transferred into the beaker and placed on a rubber mat before he lifted the vial of blood, or what remained of it. A smile slithered across his lips.  
    “Yes, the blood. It’s really quite remarkable, not that you’d understand.”
    I kept my face blank as he looked at me, waiting for a reaction. “There is some human blood in there, but it’s broken and interlinked with something else. You see, that’s the real problem, it never quite became what it was meant to be.”
    I crossed my arms and waited. He grinned at me and did a little dance across the open space.  
    “This was a made creature, do you know what that means? No, of course you don’t. It means, dear girl, that someone spliced together a human and something else.”
    He looked at me, his eyes dancing, his cupid bow mouth spread into a delightful smile that threatened to pull me in. He rolled his eyes and placed the vial into a stand alongside a number of other vials.  
    “I’m wasted on you; your brother would be fascinated by such a revelation. And no, that blood was not your brother’s.”
    He turned away from me and huffed. “You’ll need to go and see your priestess. Something of this magnitude, of this intricacy, requires a much higher influence.”
    I smiled and said over my shoulder, “You mean a lowly alchemist couldn’t pull it off?”
    He didn’t give me the satisfaction of a response. Instead he became absorbed in his work once more and muttered about wasting his time and perfectly good talent. I walked out of his workspace feeling buoyed. Quin hadn’t been turned into some monster, at least not the one I’d met. I was quite looking forward to seeing Elise as well; she was one of the few people who dealt with supernatural affairs that I enjoyed spending time with.  

CHAPTER ELEVEN

    We weren’t quite into tourist season yet. The streets were relatively quiet as I walked down to Újezd with my thumbs tucked in my back pockets. The sun was faintly warm on my skin. My eye was drawn to the large wrought iron gates that framed the entrance to Strahov Park. I gave it half a moment’s consideration and continued on. I couldn’t help but smirk when I glanced across the road at Café Silhouette. Felix and his pack would never forgive me, but it had been worth it. His pack had needed putting in their place for a while; Quin had been too soft on them.  
    My chest constricted as I thought of him. I picked up my pace and put my head down, focusing on the task at hand. I barely noticed the bright colours of the flowerbeds as I jogged up the short steps near the funicular. I was in no mood to squeeze onto one of the plastic bench seats and wait for it to make its way up the steep hill. Continuing at a steady jog, I carried on along the old tarmac path into the dark evergreen trees and made my way up towards the top of Petřín Hill.  
    The nymphs whispered and giggled as I went past the older trees. Their voices tickled the back of my mind and begged me to pause. They teased me with words I couldn’t quite make out. I pushed myself up into an easy lope, my breathing getting more ragged; the hill was longer than I’d