Walking Shadows Read Free Page B

 
    I don't know.  
    Oh fucking great. I at least thought YOU had a plan.
    It's going to consume Manuel's soul through the blood—consume his sins.
    And that's when I heard it. A man's voice calling out. It sounded like a cat at first, and since there are a lot of strays that hang out at Mom's, I didn't really think much about the noise till now. Wondered why a cat was in a nightclub making noise.  
    I narrowed my eyes at this creature and if I stared directly at its chest, I could make out a rainbow of little lights. They twinkled like Christmas lights. Were those little things actual souls?  
    To my surprise, Manuel tilted his head to the side as if opening up his neck for a snack.  
    Oh hell no! My Manuel.  
    I slipped between the two just as Vanilla Ice Sin Eater Dominion Guy came close. He had his right hand out with a knife—ready to slit Manuel's throat—
    Until his outstretched hand hit my incorporeal body. He snarled, hissed, and jumped back to the front of the still bodies of the clubgoers. His face was a mask of rage and surprise, and his eyes were red now. Not just the iris. He looked like he'd been drinking.  
    That guy's voice called out even louder now. And the lights in whitey's chest twinkled brighter. My ears buzzed.  
    "What is this?" Oh, and it had such a lovely singing voice. All gravely and kinda Harvey Fierstein-ish.
    The thing practically growled. I narrowed my eyes at it, but stood my ground. I hadn't felt anything from the contact, but then I was incorporeal. "What the hell are you supposed to be? Looks like the white rabbit bit Neo."  
    He tilted his head to the side. Yeah…pop-culture reference totally a waste on this one. "You're not anything I've seen before. But," and his voice returned to the pleasant singsong he'd used before. "No matter. My work here must continue." And he flicked his wrist at me.  
    A big-ass white sword came out of that wrist and he attempted to skewer me. I shot up and flipped back to stand on top of the bar behind Manuel. With a slight flick of my own wrist, I summoned my sword. Of course mine was black with a bright red flame to it. I was pretty sure I could change that look—I just had to figure out where the preferences were in this new human-to-Wraith step.  
    "You're…you're not one of the Abominations. But you have the feel of one."  
    Abominations? "You mean one of the First Born?"  
    "Do not call them that. They are not the first. The Seraphim is."  
    "Wow…you're one of those crazy kinds of followers."  
    He dove at me. I shoved Manuel out of the way—and he tipped over. Didn't even bother to catch himself. But at least he was out of the line of fire as I jumped down and blocked the first attack. Whitey feigned and then came at me from the side. I managed to bring the sword down to block, but he slid his away, twisted, and got a really good hit in on my upper arm.  
    The pain was like…
    "Motherfuckinggoddamnitwhoowthatfuckinghurt!"  
    Yeah. I said that.  
    I stepped back and looked down at my skin. I had a huge slice through the upper arm and it wasn't healing. In fact, it looked like it was bleeding black blood.  
    Black blood? What the hell?  
    "I smite you, the wicked. I sense in you the worst kind of Abomination. You are Irin, but one tainted by the Abysmal essence. It is your soul I shall free this night." And with that, he came hacking and slashing at me again.  
    Oh no you di'n't just call me an Abomination. I'd already been through all that with some other crazies and I was not about to go through it again. I was born an Irin, but turned into a Wraith. I'd been a Phantasm potential and I'd been master of the universe.  
    And I was not taking that kind of crap from some two-bit, white-assed, bishi-looking Ethereal murderer. I countered every move even though I was slowly getting pushed farther away from Manuel. Morgan was screaming in my head to kill it—but how did I do that? He landed another hit—and I landed my