Take Me To Your Reader: An Otherworld Anthology by Amy A. Bartol, Tiffany King, Raine Thomas, Tammy Blackwell, Sarah M. Ross, Heather Hildenbrand, Amanda Havard, C.A. Kunz Read Free Book Online

for your life."
    Whatever fear I was feeling at his anger and strength is pushed back at the mention of May 's name. "She's never getting him!" I promise with a scowl.
    " You might feel differently when she's ripping your teeth out one by one," Clyde counters.
    " I'll take my chances," I growl.
    " You won't be alone!" he retorts. "I'm obligated to protect you. Wherever you go, I go—and I gotta tell you, we're outnumbered and outgunned. Without his ashes, we have nothing!"
    " I don't want your help! I want you to leave me alone!"
    His lips stretch in a grim line. Pivoting, he dumps me on the passenger seat of Mattie 's truck before he slams the door shut. He's at the driver's side door in only a fraction of a second, climbing in and starting the ignition. "I don't care what you want. You'd better start listening to me; I'm the only friend you've got."
    " My friends don't abduct me, Clyde," I retort, going for the door handle to escape.
    His hand glows with green fire as he lifts it up. My door is frozen shut. I try to lift the lock, but it won 't budge.
    I glance back at Clyde, breathing heavily.
    "They do if you're marked for death."
    The rain begins to fall outside. It spatters the windshield in soft drops that cut the beams of the headlights. As I look out at it, a hulking shape ape-drops from a tree in front of us...and then another and another and another. A shadowy figure sidles down the dog-eared ivy from the rooftop of the house. Fear like I 've never known before makes me feel as if I'm swallowing marbles.
    Clyde groans next to me. Urgently, he looks in the backseat and finds the brown bag he gave me at the store. Plucking the tube of sunblock from it, he twists off the cap. He lifts my hand in his and squeezes a huge dollop onto my palm. "Smear this on your skin," he says.
    " Who are they?" I ask.
    " They're Gramercies," he says. "Put it on!" He shoves my hand toward me.
    In shock, I rub my palms together, and then apply the lotion to my legs.
    "Get your arms and face, too," he urges. "Hurry!"
    Absently, I rub my arms, and then with what is left, I apply it to my face. While still rubbing my skin, Clyde holds up the vodka and takes a giant gulp of it.
    "Did you put that on your lips?" he asks.
    " No," I shake my head.
    " Good. Don't." He lowers the vodka and hides it behind the steering wheel as he pours a little in his hand, rubbing it on his neck like cologne.
    " Are ya gonna share that?" I grasp the neck of the bottle, touching his hand.
    He flinches and yanks his arm with the bottle back from me. Smoke and red welts rise from where I touched him. "Ahhh!" he hisses. "Do me a favor and try not to touch me with that crap. And if you want to live, play along!"
    The doors of the truck all unlock, seemingly on their own, and fly open. The shapes move so fast they blur, and then stop just outside the pools of light from the truck. This must be madness, I think. I 've gone mad.

Chapter 5 – ASHES TO FIRE
     
     
    "Just so you know, we're probably dead, unless you want to tell me where Matt's ashes are," Clyde mutters grimly. I shake my head no. "We're screwed," he says under his breath, before he stumbles drunkenly from the truck to face the men outside.
    Thunder rumbles in the distance as rain makes dark marks on Clyde 's t-shirt. He raises the vodka bottle to his lips and takes a huge sip. Pulling it away from his lips, he wipes his mouth on his sleeve, swaying a little. After squinting into the darkness, he grins broadly. "Heeeyyyyy! It's the Gramercies!" he laughs drunkenly, gesturing in their direction with his arm. "Gramercies...do you guys ever just laugh at the irony of your name? You know, since you're all such ruthless, unmerciful bastards?" He takes another swig of vodka.
    Five men prowl forward from the shadows and into the pools of light from the headlights. One has on a long, black leather coat with a soft cowl-like hoodie over his short blond hair "You're funny, Clyde, for a member of the Parish