Free Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) by T.G. Ayer Page A

alley. None of the surrounding buildings had windows facing the alley.  
    There, Lily tightened the strap of her rucksack. She'd only removed the heaviest weapons from it. Good thing even Pariahs--walkers who couldn't shift into their animal form--could run or I would have had to leave her behind. Then she'd have been mighty peeved.
    I gave the nod and we both set off, Lily following close behind me so she could see where I was going.  
    It was difficult to enjoy the scenery as we went. Our speed meant most things passed by in a blur while wind dragged our hair away from our faces and flattened the fabric of our clothes against our bodies.  
    Still, what would have taken forty-five minutes in a car took us a mere fifteen.  
    I slowed as we approached the final turnoff, hung a left, and jogged along the dusty road. A few moments later, however, we were deep into a forest of elms and ash, following a shadowed trail. The trail ended at an imposing pair of black iron gates set into a twenty-foot high wall of rugged gray stone.
    As I'd expected, the gates opened as we approached, their grating sound of metal-on-metal setting my teeth on edge. High on the wall a security camera swiveled to follow our progress as we entered the property.  
    Behind us, the gates grated shut.
    We followed the graveled drive hedged in by expansive green lawns to its end--an impressively large stone castle complete with three towers, one on each front corner and the third on its back wing. With its dark, diamond-shaped paneled windows the castle looked foreign, with edges of fantasy and danger. Not at all like something that belonged on United States soil.  
    We walked up the steps to a large, ornate door. As I reached out to knock it, like the gates, opened before us. A small woman, wrapped and hooded in stone gray, her eyes trained on the honey wood floor held the door open with one hand and gestured down the wood-paneled hall with the other.
    I knew the way but I followed her gesture, taking a left to the waiting room outside Lady Kira's library. Then I dropped my messenger bag on the rich mahogany coffee table and sank into the dark leather of the sofa, prepared to wait.  
    Lily, on the other hand, took her time joining me, studying each painting and artifact along the route.
    "Do you know what that is?" she said, pointing a finger over her shoulder at what looked like an old pottery relic. Her voice, low and breathy, trembled with awe.
    "What?" I asked, not really interested.
    "It's the remains of the one of the oldest death talkers," she whispered.
    I rolled my eyes. "Lily, they wouldn't have their predecessor's remains hanging around in here. It's not as if it's a mausoleum."
    Lily narrowed her eyes and set her rucksack on the floor beside me. "It said so on the card."
    "What card?" I asked staring at the door to the library. Was Kira going to make me wait as long as she had on my last visit here?
    Lily pushed my shoulder to get my attention. "The card in front of the urn. It said the name of a death talker ancient." She shivered dramatically.
    I sighed and aimed a pointed glare at the library door. "Can we talk about burial urns later?"  
    "Sure," she said, flicking the urn a watchful look over her shoulder. "But you have to admit it is muy creepy."
    " Muy creepy?"
    Her mischievous grin flashed out. "Anjelo is back."  
    I smiled, then ignored her.
    Thankfully, a mere ten minutes later the library door opened and Nerina came out. Her expression said she wasn't very far from hugging me breathless.
    Okay, then.
    "Only you may enter, Kailin." She spoke softly, her expression apologetic.  
    As I rose to my feet I felt Lily tense. I didn't recall telling her she'd actually meet Kira with me. I'd only asked her to come along, and even that had been simply to placate Logan.  
    I glanced at her, a question in my eyes. Lily shrugged, nonchalant now she saw I wasn't bothered by Kira's demand.
    I took my messenger bag and followed Nerina inside