Wrong Side Of Dead by Kelly Meding Read Free Book Online Page A

his cheek. His wings were back—another mark of his absolute fury. “Ava is the future of our race. I will kill whoever took them.”
    “And I’ll help you.”

Chapter Four
     

12:55 A.M.
     
    Eleri’s squad showed up ten minutes later. A vampire ally from before the Watch’s inception, Eleri was one of the few vampires I trusted with my unprotected back. Her squad was an interesting mix of ex-Handler Conrad Morgan, ex-Hunter Paul Ryan, a Cania named Crow, and a Felia named Sanchez Drake. With the squad was a Gifted human named Brett Lewis. Never officially a Hunter, Brett was often brought in to do freelance work for the Triads and had, likewise, been recruited into the Watch as a floater—not assigned to any single squad.
    Like Wyatt and me, Brett had a tap to the Break, and his particular ability was a kind of telepathy called post-cognition. He could sense recent events in a particular area, usually as a series of images and flashes, especially if high levels of emotion were involved.
    I was damned glad to see him.
    Phin offered clipped answers to Eleri’s questions while observing Brett, who had squatted next to the overturned books in the living room. Brett closed his eyes. I felt the snap-pop of his tap as he accessed the magic of the Break. Lately my ability to sense when others were using their Gifts had increased—a development no other Gifted could explain.
    Just one more quirk of being me.
    “A woman with curly hair was asleep here,” Brettsaid. “A noise startled her. A red feather. She fell, knocked over the books.” He was silent for several long seconds, then stood up. “That’s all I sense here.”
    “A red feather could be a tranquilizer dart,” Eleri said. “I imagine that sedation is the only method by which so many Therians were captured so quickly.”
    “You’re probably right,” Phin said.
    “Where else?” Brett asked.
    Phin led the way upstairs to Ava’s room. Brett was quiet for a long while as he examined the room, touching toys and the crib. He shook his head.
    “Nothing,” he said.
    “Are you sure?” I asked.
    He quirked an eyebrow at me, the message clear—was I an idiot for questioning him? “Yes. The child was probably asleep and didn’t feel anything.”
    “But the room’s a mess.”
    “Probably for show. To freak you out, which it’s obviously doing.”
    Okay, so I was starting to really hate this guy. Even if he did have a good point. The sight of this room had horrified me, and I couldn’t stop imagining the dreadful things that might have happened to Ava. It made the entire kidnapping that much more personal.
    “Across the hall,” Phin said. “There’s blood in that room.”
    Brett nodded. We followed him out. He took two steps into Joseph’s room and stopped. Gazed around. He shivered—nearly imperceptibly, but perfectly timed with a slight Break snap-pop sensation. Two more steps, closer to the bloodstain. He angled slightly, giving me a view of his partial profile, and closed his eyes.
    “An elderly man wakes. He seems startled. Concerned. He moves”—Brett’s eyebrows arched—“very quickly out of bed. A red feather hits the pillow. He’s fightingsomeone smaller, younger. He’s struck. Falls. There.” He pointed straight at the stain.
    “Who’s fighting him?” Phin asks.
    “They’re unclear. I can’t decipher faces, but they’re likely Halfies.” He opened his eyes and turned. “Half-Bloods are difficult to detect with my ability, because their emotions are radically altered from what they ought to be. They’re harder to pinpoint and therefore harder to see clearly.”
    It made sense. It was an annoying handicap, but it made sense.
    “Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Lewis,” Eleri said.
    “You’re welcome. Was anyone else in the house during the incident?”
    Phin shook his head, lips pressed tight, as unhappy with the results of Brett’s visions as I was. “At this hour?” he said. “No, it should have been just