Walking Shadow (The Darkworld Series Book 2) Read Free Page A

little, and he’s just a
friend.”
In fairness, the only time Alex had seen Leo was when he’d been standing near Howard, who would make any person of average height look like a dwarf. But there wasn’t anything between us, anyway. He’d said I looked
pretty
at the winter dance before Christmas, but he’d been drunk at the time, and I didn’t exactly put much faith in things people said when inebriated. Another reason to avoid Conrad like the plague.
    And now here he was, in Blackstone Cemetery at midnight. It was absurd.
    He looked at me now, eyes widening. “Ash?”
    “Um,” I said. “Hi, Conrad.” There was no point in pretending. I was a terrible liar.
    “You two know each other?” said Berenice, looking from him to me with a calculating expression I didn’t like at all.
    “Um, I know Ash, from our course. I’m Conrad, by the way. The vampire.”
    I felt a bizarre urge to laugh. I couldn’t imagine anyone
less
vampire-like. How many vampires were short, chubby, and blond? More to the point, he looked so timid that the idea of him attacking anyone was incongruous. He trembled all over, and he moved closer to us, giving the nearest row of graves a wide berth as though expecting their inhabitants to rise from the ground and attack him.
    Berenice sniggered openly. “The
vampire
,” she said, tossing her hair imperiously. “And you have something to say to us?”
    Conrad gaped at her, as if he’d momentarily lost the ability to speak. I’d have felt sorry for him under normal circumstances. Berenice wasn’t known for her kindness to strangers. Or to anyone, really, apart from Howard.
    “Well?” she said.
    Conrad stuttered, “Um… I… er… well, I don’t want to be annoying, but could you help me? Other vampires are being killed, and I… I think I might be next.” His voice rose an octave.
    “How do you know?” said Howard, sitting up and swinging his legs over the tomb he sat on. Like the others, he now gave the vampire his full attention.
    “Well. Um, the last vampire to die was a student, right?”
    “Yeah,” said Cyrus. “Will Reynolds. He was a third year, on my course. Do you know who might have killed him?”
    Conrad hesitated. “Um. I’m not sure. I just thought, since students were dying, that I might be next and I panicked. I saw Ash with you guys and I figured you might be able to help me…” He trailed off.
    “Well, you thought wrong,” said Berenice. “We won’t be your bodyguards. Whatever’s happening to your sort isn’t our problem.”
    “Berenice!” said Cyrus. He turned to Conrad. “Sorry.”
    “It’s fine,” said Conrad. “I wouldn’t ask, only I’m desperate. Do any of you have an idea about who’s killing people?”
    “We thought
you
might,” said Leo. “Even the Venantium are clueless.”
    “Look, we’re disturbed by this, too,” said Cyrus, “but there’s no proof yet that it’s only vampires who are the targets. Any of us is a potential victim.”
    “Thanks for the reassurance!” said Berenice. “I’d rather not risk my chances by associating with a walking target, thanks.”
    “Then don’t,” said Leo. “Take your selfish ass elsewhere.”
    No one could pull off the wounded expression quite like Berenice. Everyone either rolled their eyes or shook their head at her, except Howard, who looked Conrad up and down suspiciously.
    “Prove it,” he said. “Prove you’re a vampire. How do we know this isn’t a joke?”
    “Do I look like I’m joking?” said Conrad. He looked white-faced and desperate.
    “We’ve met some pretty good actors,” said Howard, eyes narrowed.
    “Are you wearing a shield?” said Claudia, squinting at him. “Damn shadows make it hard to see.”
    “Um, yeah. My dad taught me how to do it, I…”
    “He’s telling the truth,” said Claudia. “He’s not a threat, or a spy.”
    “It’s true,” said Leo, nodding.
Are they seeing something I’m not?
I stared at him, too. He stood half in shadow,