Obumbrate by Alivia Anders Read Free Book Online Page A

here."
    "Listen to me, right now. You need to go to the police. Let them know what you saw. I'm getting in the car right now."
    "Jayson, if I go to the police, they'll arrest me on the spot. It's too much like Chase's death. How coincidental can you get? The second I'm home, and they're dead?"
    "Running from the police is the last thing you want to do-"
    "And turning myself in is on the same list," I sighed. "It's me they're after, not Gram, not Gran, not Chase."
    "Who's after you, Essie?"
    I started to answer when another set of footsteps sounded behind me. I turned around to come face-to-face with the woman I'd spotted in the apartment. Slowly, I lowered the phone from my face, pressing it against my leg so Jayson couldn't hear.
    "Who are you?"
    "Now, must we start with all the tense formalities? Or can we skip them and get straight to the part where you come along with me?"
    I held out my free hand and ignited a ball of brilliant blue flame. "Why does nobody answer my questions?"
    She gave me a sharp, cryptic smile. "Who I am is none of your concern." She extended a hand out to me, flicking tresses from her long ponytail over her shoulder. "This can be done easily or painfully. I'd rather take you in whole, and not in a jar. But I can promise you that, voluntary or not, we will get what we want from you."
    "What is it you want?"
    "The same thing everyone wants. Your blood." Her fingers wiggled at me impatiently. "It'll be over before you know it, just come with me."
    My eyes locked on her outstretched hand. I studied the curvature of her fingers, the slender black nails sharpened to small points at the top. Just at the peak, a fleck of dried blood clung to a single one. I thought of my grandfather and grandmother, fighting off the woman before me, her nails slashing through skin and muscle and veins, their blood forever on her hands.
    I exploded.
    Fire expelled from my body, a sheet of flame arcing down the alleyway. I could hear the woman curse before exploding into smoke the exact same time I raced to make my exit. Kicking several piles of trash behind me, I ran down the opposite end, phone locked tight in my hand.
    As soon as I had darted down another alley, I brought the phone back up to my ear. "Jayson, are you still there?"
    "What the hell is going on?" He screamed on the other end. "Who the heck was that and why the hell was she talking about your blood?"
    "I think she's an unhinged mental patient," I lied between breaths, running through the darker end of an alley. "Listen, you can't come here, it's too dangerous." I had no idea how this woman was tracking me, but I had a good feeling that it had something to do with my blood.
    Jayson started to angrily reply when a high-pitched whistle blew out all other sound around me. Something hot and sharp sliced across my cheek, taking the cell phone with it. I let out a scream of terror as the phone ricocheted at the far end of the wall. It burst into crunched glass and plastic fragments. Behind me, the woman laughed with sinister glee.
    Rage built in my chest, hot spikes ready to release. My veins throbbed just beneath the skin. The time to run was over, I had to defend myself.
    Scrapping my heels into the gravel, I turned around to face my captor. She grinned wickedly in relish of the challenge, releasing her nails to long black spikes as she leapt up to attack. My body reacted instinctively, the click of fire igniting over my palms in defense. I threw myself into a slide against the ground, bringing my hands in front of my face. The image of a flame-blower came to mind and I breathed, blowing off a burst of blue fire at the woman.
    She shrieked and curled inward, collapsing onto the ground in a smoldering heap. I barely had time to scramble to my feet before she was on hers, charging at me once more. I twisted my body to the side, barely missing the talons of her hands. I pushed a jolt of fire at her, catching the end of her ponytail as she spun back, pressing herself to