Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Sky frowned. “No, they can go inside, but I’ll have the advantage in there. If there’s a chance of running into vampires, I’d rather it be there than in a neighborhood filled with sleeping families.” A fight between a witch and vampires was not something anyone wanted to wake up to on a Sunday morning.
“Got it,” Nolan said. He lifted the phone toward his mouth. “Owen, get your ass to the cemetery and wait inside for us. We’ll call or text when we’re there.”
“But—”
Nolan cut off his brother’s argument with the push of a button, ending the call. The smile that pulled up the corners of his mouth spoke of a deep feeling of satisfaction. “Ready to go?”
“Just need my jacket and my supply kit from the hall.” Anxious energy buzzed through him, waking his sleepy brain better than an entire pot of coffee. He felt as though he’d had a full night’s sleep when it was likely that he’d caught no more than three hours on the couch with Nolan. Maybe it was that Nolan was a good sleeping partner. Yes, he needed to test that theory. It was very important.
“Sky, I want—” Nolan started, but he had that grateful and apologetic tone of voice and Sky wasn’t having it. He paused in the middle of grabbing his jacket and pointed his finger at Nolan’s mouth.
“Don’t say it.”
“What?”
“Don’t thank me, and don’t apologize. You’ve done enough of both. If you do, you’re going to owe me two dates instead of one.”
Nolan’s wide eyes and open mouth dissolved into a smirk. “That’s not the threat you think it is.” Nolan reached past him and picked up the bag of supplies he’d brought with him last time while Sky was left drooling.
Evil man.
Evil, teasing man was going to break him.
Not nice at all.
Unlike the trip into Hartford, it took them only fifteen minutes to zip across to Taylor’s Crossing, with its ornamental pear trees beginning to show off their white flowers, sleeping tulips, and neat brick homes with colorful shutters. It wasn’t much different from their own neighborhood of Millstone Creek. Maybe a bit quainter. There was a coffee shop that made great blueberry scones here.
Neither of them spoke on the way to the cemetery and Owen didn’t attempt to call again, so Sky took that as a sign the troublesome man was following Nolan’s directions. The cemetery wasn’t difficult to reach, sitting at the edge of town. It was lined with a tall, wrought-iron fence and matching gate.
“You should text your brother to make sure he got inside,” Sky murmured as he glimpsed the fence under the dim streetlight. He frowned at the glitter of misty raindrops accumulating on his windshield and sparkling in the air. An annoying drizzle had begun within minutes of them climbing into the car. The ground wasn’t too wet yet, but it was adding a new sharpness to the air. Sky had no problem with graveyards. They were among his first playgrounds as a child.
But he hated slogging through a cemetery during or after a rain. Everything turned so boggy, and he never remembered to snag his galoshes.
“I doubt there’s a place in the world Owen can’t sneak into. A fence isn’t going to keep him out,” Nolan replied as he typed. He looked up as Sky slowed the car to a stop in front of the main gate. “But how are we getting inside?”
Sky flashed the sexy and somewhat sleepy man beside him a smile. “I haven’t found a graveyard yet that I can’t get into,” he bragged.
With the headlights illuminating the front gate and his right foot firmly pressing on the brake, Sky extended his right hand toward the old lock. Energy swirled up through him, tingling along nerve endings and making the hair on his arm stand up. His powers were always at their strongest when corpses surrounded him. When he was young, the idea had frustrated him and creeped him out a bit. Years later, he’d grown accustomed to the idea and found it convenient since humans loved to hang on to their rotting relatives.
He sent out a tiny push of magic. The inner cogs and latches turned, unlocking the gate. A second push of magic sent both arms of the gate swinging open.
“Show-off,” Nolan teased.
Sky lifted an eyebrow at him. “Would you rather get out and climb over the fence?”
“Nope. Feel free to show off all you want.” Nolan held up his phone and waved it. “Owen said he’s at a big mausoleum at the back with some enormous pine trees. You know where he’s talking about?”
“I think so.” Sky might have had a few jobs in this cemetery, but the problem was that he’d had a lot of jobs in a lot of graveyards over the years. After a while, they all blurred together into one massive graveyard in his mind. But Owen had stated that he was toward the rear, so that was at least a starting place for them.