The Graves of Saints by Christopher Golden Read Free Book Online Page B

of coffee and sat down
across from her.
    ‘I know, it’s a TV show cop cliché. But it’s here if you want it. Actually, the coffee around here’s pretty good,’ he said, taking a sip as he slouched back
in his chair.
    Charlotte hadn’t hesitated. She’d taken the coffee and swigged it, wishing for more sugar but relishing it just the same. A little bit of civilization in the midst of madness. And
she hadn’t spent a moment worrying about what kind of signal it might send that she was so willing to drink . . . to accept what he offered. Either he was playing some kind of head game with
her or he wasn’t; she couldn’t bring herself to care.
    ‘Thank you,’ she had said, and she thought he’d known she’d meant it as gratitude for both the coffee and her life.
    ‘I’m not going to drag this out,’ Metzger had said. ‘Octavian says you can be trusted, and that’s good enough for me. Whatever issues my predecessor had with him, I
don’t share them. So in a few minutes I’m going to have someone come in and explain the Covenant to you and then you’re going to sign it, both because you say you want to and also
because if you don’t, you won’t leave here alive.’
    The strangest part of that bit of interaction had been that when he’d said it, Metzger had smiled in such an amiable way that Charlotte had smiled in return. She’d found herself
somewhat charmed by a man who had just threatened to kill her, and so she had told him that she had come there specifically to sign the Covenant and nearly been killed already by assassins who
wanted to make sure that never happened. Metzger had turned thoughtful, then.
    Two soldiers – Song and Galleti, though she hadn’t known their names at the time – had come in with a pen and a copy of the Covenant. Charlotte had only skimmed it, but she got
enough of the gist. It wasn’t hard to imagine what humans would want by way of promises from vampires.
I won’t hunt humans. I won’t take blood without permission. I’ll
be a good little Shadow.
    Then the interrogation had begun, about Cortez and the killers who had been hunting her, about Octavian and how she’d come to meet him, about what she’d done while she’d been
answering to Cortez, and after. It had gone on for so long that she’d lost track of time, until Sergeant Omondi had come in to interrupt his commander with news that he was needed on the
phone. Metzger had been irritated, right up until Omondi told him it was Peter Octavian calling and that he’d said it was urgent.
    Less than thirty minutes later, they’d been boarding a helicopter, Charlotte and a handful of people who made their living hunting down vampires. Now here she was riding in the back of a
chopper with them like she was somehow part of the team, and it felt like one of those dreams about going to school in your underwear. Charlotte had been vulnerable most of her life, and she
didn’t like it. She had been drugged and raped and murdered and transformed into a monster, and the only upside of all that horror was that people couldn’t physically hurt her anymore.
Medusa had taken that away and now Charlotte felt haunted and uneasy, acutely aware of every possible threat to her well-being.
    The thrum of the chopper pounding at her ears, she glanced out the small window beside her. The pilot had said the trip would take about forty minutes, so she figured the sprawling lights below
must be the city of Philadelphia. That was good; it meant they would be landing soon. Thus far today her luck had been for shit – sort of par for the course of her life – but if it
turned in her favor at all, she would never have to get on a helicopter again.
    ‘You don’t look good,’ a voice called.
    Charlotte glanced up to see Metzger watching her with ice blue eyes. He arched a wiry gray eyebrow as if punctuating the comment, turning it into a query.
    ‘I’m fine,’ she said.
    Metzger cocked his head to indicate he hadn’t