Eternal Prey Read Free Page A

me.”
    “So they’ve done this before?”
    “Yeah. The last time they came was sixty-five million years ago. The dinosaurs went extinct then. Now it’s humanity’s turn.”
    “Who gives them access?” She’d cooled her temper with a cold splash of reality. Humans were in big trouble.
    Utah shrugged. “There’s always a higher power.”
    Translation: he didn’t know. Or maybe he was just avoiding answering the question. Lia figured with Utah you could never tell.
    “And all this will go down on December 21?” Guess the Mayans really did know their stuff.
    “Exactly at 11:11, winter solstice. Unless we can get rid of all the immortals. Nine and Eight are gone. We still have to deal with Zero and the other seven.”
    The sound of a car slowing down ended her questioning. Utah went to look and then beckoned to her.
    She made sure she got the passenger seat. Lia didn’t want to chance Utah sitting beside her. He bothered her in ways she didn’t understand, didn’t want to understand. Utah slid into the backseat.
    “Lia, this is Tor. He’s my brother.”
    Tor looked exactly like Utah, except that Tor had short, spiky hair and a better attitude. He grinned at Lia. “I remember you from Philly. Eight kidnapped you and Jenna. Took you to the Museum of Art. We saved your butts.”
    “My butt thanks you.” Lia figured she sounded as grumpy as she looked because Tor left her alone. Instead, he pried the night’s story out of Utah.
    While Utah and Tor discussed things, Lia worried about her car. If she found a burned-out hulk tomorrow, she’d use the insurance money to buy a car with a big engine. For a human, survival in this shadow battle going on right under the world’s nose depended on speed and smarts. And the smart needed speed to escape.
    She came out of her funk in time to notice that Utah and Tor had changed the subject.
    “So how did Fin draw you back into the fold, bro?” Tor didn’t take his eyes from the road while he talked. And he was driving under the speed limit.
    Ah, the careful brother. If she had to hang with one of the Eleven, then Tor should be the one. Instead, all she could remember was her adrenaline rush as she’d chased Utah across town.
    “Fin pointed out that we need the vampires. Without them, it’ll take longer and be a lot tougher to get rid of Zero and his bunch. And that means he won’t be able to bring Rap back anytime soon. He’s right.” Utah didn’t sound as though he liked admitting Fin could be right about anything.
    Tor nodded. “And with you killing off the vampires, they won’t be signing on to our team.”
    Lia turned to look at Utah. “You took out Adam’s top enforcer two nights ago. Don’t expect an invite to any vampire parties.”
    “Yeah?” Utah’s lips tipped up in a half smile that made her swallow hard. She stomped on the reaction.
    Lia had to know something. “Bring Rap back?”
    Utah didn’t say anything for a moment, but then he shrugged. “We’d gone to a little restaurant in South Philly for cheesesteaks. Vampires ambushed us. Rap didn’t get a chance to free his beast before one of them took his head.”
    “And?”
    “His body died. His soul didn’t.” Utah met her gaze, his eyes almost black in the darkness. “Fin can remove souls from bodies. That’s how he saved all of the Eleven. He sends the souls to a safe place near a strong natural power source until he can return them to a body. Rap is tucked away underground somewhere near Sedona, Arizona, right now.”
    “What’s stopping Fin from bringing Rap back now? Lord knows you need all the help you can get.”
    Utah looked frustrated. “Fin needs his power to keep Zero off our backs. Hard to believe, but Fin says Zero is stronger than he is. Fin tries to distract the bastard with a constant barrage of psychic attacks. A soul transfer would drain too much from Fin. Besides, Fin needs the right body. So Rap will have to wait.”
    What kind of being could manipulate souls?