Red Blood (Series of Blood Book 2) Emma Hamm (the beginning after the end read novel .TXT) 📖

“Okay.”

Lyra was stunned. E didn’t want to argue with her any more? Surely there was more anger bubbling in that head.

“That’s it? You aren’t mad at me?”

“Frankly, I expected you to mess this up,” E replied. “But you are going to fix it. And I trust that you are capable of that.”

“That—” she stumbled over her words, “that actually means a lot coming from you.”

“We happen to like you, Lyra. Just make certain that this is actually fixed. I find I am anxious to meet the person I am going to have to work with to save the world.”

Lyra scoffed. “Yeah sounds like you have a worse job than I do.”

“Perhaps more difficult.” E winked. “But certainly not worse. If the rumors I have heard about the Graverobber are true, then I think you have quite a fight waiting for you.”

“I’m good at fighting. How are you going to keep this from Wren?”

“I’ve gotten better at hiding things from her.” A troubled expression caused Wren’s brows to furrow. “I assume she would not be happy to hear that.”

Lyra mimed zipping her lips. “You keep my secret, and I’ll keep yours?”

“Deal.”

Wren turned around and walked away. The soft swish of her pajama pants were the only sound she made, which lead Lyra to believe that E was still in control of her body.

“That’s a ticking time bomb right there,” she murmured.

She almost wanted to be there when Burke found out that E was using Wren’s body whenever it wanted. Did that mean that E could just take over whenever it wanted to? Lyra highly doubted that. Wren wouldn’t have agreed to something like that.

No matter how much E denied it, a large part of its strength came from Wren. She was an unusual creature herself. Any other person would have succumbed to madness when it joined with E. She had not. Somehow she had managed to pull out of the depths of her own mind and take control again.

Lyra would always give her mad respect for that. She was still one of the few females Lyra could be around without getting snarly at.

Lyra’s Siren had hated other females and passed that thought along to her host. Competition had to be dealt with firmly and removed from the vicinity of males. Shame that she hadn’t met anyone quite as attractive as herself.

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and marched her way towards her room. Today was the day. If everyone wanted her to make contact with the Graverobber then she could do it right. She would go to that graveyard again. She would make certain that she spoke with him and didn’t get distracted.

This time she wasn’t going to screw up.

As she closed the door behind her, she could hear heavy footsteps following her.

“Damn it,” she muttered. “Jasper go away.”

Her bedside table held the small crystal that would teleport her to the graveyard. She had left its twin in the moss just inside the iron gates. She just had to get to the table before Jasper distracted her.

Three sharp knocks sounded on her door. “Lyra?”

“Shit,” she whispered. She always felt so guilty leaving him when he wanted to talk. He was like her brother; she should always be there for family.

But the crystal was calling to her. Or perhaps it was the haunting memory of a monster underground who needed her to understand him.

She sighed and rushed towards her cabinet.

“Hey, listen. You were acting strange at breakfast, so I thought something might be wrong. Can I come in?” Jasper called from the other side of the door.

There was that guilt she was expecting.

She should stay. She should talk with him and not make him worry any more than he already did about her.

The crystal in her hand started to heat.

“Fine,” she muttered at it. “But I’m going to feel bad about this later.”

She raised the purple stone to her lips and exhaled until she could see her breath on its surface. Then she felt the strange pulling sensation at her navel and disappeared from the room.

“Mungus, I need you to hurry,” Wolfgang muttered as he held his hand out. “I only have a few moments to properly apply this bandage. Do not anger me further! I will put you back in your casket!”

A glinting pair of scissors was settled gently into his palm.

“Thank you.”

He turned back towards the feathered animal on his office table. The bird was unusual in that it changed colors every few seconds. Magic had affected the natural world, and Wolfgang enjoyed investigating every change it made.

Magic was every bit a part of him as the blood running through his veins. He was an exception to the rule and therefore was closer to its effects than most. If he concentrated, he could see the threads that connected all creatures and life.

Even now, there were tiny strings of gold light that connected his fingers to the bird. It hopped sideways and then paused when it heard his soft murmuring.

Wolfgang had always been good with animals. He wasn’t quite human, and they understood that. Neither was he one of the startling creatures that had changed their world. He was like them in a way. Locked on the same planet and changing to adapt to his new environment.

A pair of magnifying glasses perched on his nose and made his eyes appear three times their true size. He peered at the small wire that was wrapped around the bird’s delicate leg.

“A carrier pigeon of sorts?” Wolfgang asked it.

The bird cocked its head to the side but did not reply.

“Oh, that’s quite alright,” he murmured. “There aren’t a lot of things around here that talk that much.”

He leaned forward to peer at the wire once more. He had never understood why people insisted upon using birds to deliver messages. Even now, when there were so many other options, there were those who refused to utilize the new tools at their fingertips.

The scissors in his