Wardbreaker: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles) by J.A. Cipriano Read Free Book Online Page A

goes bump in the night is easy to kill, and there’re a lot more of them than there are of us.” I let out a slow breath. “Not all of us are looking forward to dying at the hands of a horde of undead monsters.” I didn’t add the next part of my sentence even though I should have. “Like Dirge had done…”
    “I’m not asking you to die for my cause, Lillim,” Luc replied, voice annoyed. “I’m just asking you to do your damned job and help me.”
    I glared at him as heat filled my cheeks. He was right after all. It was my job to stop monsters from taking over, and I had tried to abandon it. The thought made me sick to my stomach. I had tried to shirk my duty and foist it on a guy like Luc. It was stupid because at the end of the day, he was just a normal guy with a neat trick up his sleeve. Thinking he could do this without me getting my hands dirty was a laugh.
    “I might consider helping you if you told me what the problem really was. Going against an unknown threat is suicide!” I snapped. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll be gone so fast, you’ll see a dust cloud sitting where I am now.”
    “So you would just let me die down here? By myself?” he asked, suddenly angry. He smacked the steering wheel again and nearly swerved into a blue jeep on our right. “You’re supposed to be a hero, not some scared little girl.”
    I tried my best to ignore the barb, which was really hard, let me tell you, and instead said, “It’s not supposed to be this bad down here,” like it meant anything at all because it clearly was
that
bad down here.
    “I’m glad you feel that way, Lillim Callina of the Dioscuri.” He shook his head. “Where is Dirge Meilan when you need her? She would have just gone and killed all those vampires before teleporting back to her cloud city.” He gestured at me with one hand. “And here I have you, who won’t do anything at all.”
    “Don’t compare me to Dirge,” I said, the heat in my voice surprising even me.
    “And why shouldn’t I?” he yelled. “She was my friend. She trained me under the table. Helped me hunt down that werewolf who tore up the high school a few years ago…”
    “Dirge is dead,” I replied, and my voice was shakier than I’d expected. I thought I’d come to terms with her death, but evidently, I’d been wrong. So very wrong. Tears clouded my vision as Luc turned toward me, and I looked away from him. “She can’t help you. She’s not back from the grave. Sorry I’m not good enough.” The words tumbled out of me before I could stop them. “I’m sorry.”
    “Um, what’s going on?” he asked, confusion filling his voice. The car slowed, and I realized he’d pulled off the road.
    “Nothing,” I said, pulling off my seatbelt and flinging the door open. I was on the street a moment later, walking away from him and his stupid stolen Mercedes. “I shouldn’t have tried to help.”
    “Something is clearly wrong,” Luc said, feet crunching on gravel as he jogged toward me.
    I whirled around as he was about to touch me and grabbed his wrist. I squeezed, and he winced. “You keep talking about Dirge being so awesome, but you didn’t mean a damned thing to her,” I snarled, releasing him. He tugged his hand back and rubbed it. “Don’t you get that?”
    “We were friends,” he said, looking from his wrist to me and back again. “I don’t understand what just happened.”
    “You know how I know you meant nothing to her?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Because I don’t remember you. Not even a little bit.”
    “Um, so what? We’ve never met before,” Luc replied, bewilderment filling his face.
    “After Dirge died, well, she got reincarnated.” I poked my chest with my thumb. “Into me. Into little Miss Lillim who can’t do anything right and is always told about how awesome Dirge was. So thank you for letting me know once again that I’m not good enough. It’s awesome. I’d almost forgotten for a moment.”
    “Even