Darkening Dawn (The Lockman Chronicles Book 5) Read Free Page B

dead.”
    “We can’t leave it here for civilians to find. Easiest way to dispose of it is you.”
    “That’s what I’ve become? A garbage disposal?”
    Ree’s shoulders shagged. “Come on. Don’t look at it that way.”
    “This is sick. It’s wrong.”
    “Hey!” Boomer stood up from his place by Spike’s side. “What the fuck you care about a dead uni? That thing killed Lynn. That’s what’s wrong.”
    That horrible sugar scent gagged Jessie. She pinched her lips shut and focused on the bookshelf across the room so she wouldn’t have to see either Spike or the unicorn bleeding on the floor, or have to meet eyes with any of the team, all of them judging her now because Returning a dead supernatural somehow offended her ethics.
    Boomer made a good point. Why did she care? Was she too tied to her childhood ideal of unicorns? It felt deeper than that. It felt like a misuse of her power. Where that idea came from, she didn’t know. But it had embedded itself into her deeply.
    “I…” Her gaze found the smear of Spike’s blood on the book spines. She squeezed her eyes shut. “I can’t.”
    “You can’t?” Boomer asked. “Or won’t?”
    A hand touched Jessie’s arm. “Jessie, look at me.”
    She opened her eyes on Ree standing close by.
    He spoke low. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you have to do this.”
    “When did Returning the dead become policy?”
    “When did Returning any supernatural become a problem?”
    Just now , she thought, and please don’t ask me why. Her eyes dipped. She couldn’t stand the disappointed look from Ree. Disappointed and worried, like maybe he thought she’d gone a little crazy.
    “Listen,” Ree said, voice soft but firm. “This isn’t up for debate. This is a direct order. Return the uni. Now.”
    She wanted to argue, to tell him how disrespectful using the Return on the dead was, a blasphemy of the worst kind. But it wasn’t entirely her argument. More something she felt . Definitely nothing she could explain. Besides, she doubted Ree would change his mind. These Agency types didn’t have a reputation for flexibility.
    “Fine,” she said. Her voice shook. “But I’m telling you right now, this is wrong. It’s not what the Return is for. And I have a feeling karma’s going to kick my ass for doing it.”
    “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he said and stepped aside, giving her a clear view of the unicorn corpse.
    Forgive me.
    Jessie drew her power to wield the Return.

The Dark

Chapter Four
    M ORE THAN THREE YEARS LATER , Jessie Lockman still sometimes dreamed about the dead unicorn.
    At the edge of wakefulness on this morning, she heard it whinny in pain and felt the warm spatter of its blood across her face. Its horn sparkled in the sunlight as it tumbled into the tall grass of the open prairie they stood on. It lay flat on one side, its dead eye rolling back to stare at Jessie accusingly. Then it spoke.
    “Yo, wake up.”
    Jessie wrinkled her brow. She wiped away a drop of blood from the corner of her mouth. That’s when her tongue found the fangs in her mouth.
    I’m a vampire again.
    “Hey, yo. Wake up.”
    This time the voice came from the sky, cloudless and a shade of blue so washed out from the bright sun it nearly looked white. The ground shook. She shook. Then the sky cracked open and a face stared down at her, skin as pale as the sky it had split, except for his rosy cheeks, as if he’d stayed out in the sun too long.
    After a blurry second, Jessie blinked away the last threads of sleep and her mind caught up.
    The guy with the boyish face shook her again by the shoulders. “Yo, girl, are you straight?”
    Jessie let out a long sigh as she remembered the night before. Most of it anyway. Sneaking out of the safe house. Taking a cab to a club she’d heard rumors about. Showing the bouncer her ID at midnight, and his cool smile as he wished her a happy birthday and stepped aside to let her in.
    Discovering the rumors were