Verity found Imogen in the kitchen, standing and staring in bewilderment at the kettle. The ghost sat carefully down at the table, folded her arms, put her head down, and burst into tears. Verity's first impulse was to put her arms around the old woman's shoulders, but of course, she couldn't. Instead, she stood there awkwardly at a distance. For the most part, Imogen had coasted through the first few days after her death...
Olivia woke with her head pounding, her vision blurred as a dark shape loomed over her, sickly-sweet floral perfume stifling her. Voices washing in and out like waves crashing on the shore. Fragments of memory exploded in her aching head. An impulse came over her, to run and run until her legs gave out. Heart bounding, she threw herself out of bed, tearing at the sheets that tangled around her shins, and she crashed onto...
Leona sat on the bench and called court back in session. There were three cases on the docket for the evening session. The VJS had all cases decided by the presiding judge. Leona sat stiff and formal, as she scanned the courtroom. Molly with Raven, her lawyer, sat on the left side wall of the bench. Sebastian and Carlo waited in a holding cell behind a closed door to the right of the bench. In front of the bench were two...
An icy breath awoke Verity. She lay still, her eyes closed. "Would you like a cup of tea, dear?" asked a familiar elderly voice in the dark. Verity opened her eyes to see Imogen looking down at her. The cheerless watery light of morning shone through big French windows. Verity sat up, wiping her bleary eyes and trying to remember why she'd gone to sleep curled up on the sofa in the icy cold living room, when there were se...
As the sun set, Leona awoke from her sleep, ready to take on the role of judge and jury in the cases of Carlo and Molly. It was a position her brother usually held, but he was in Europe on vampire business with Andrei. Leona went to the other casket and woke her consort and creation, who was formerly Slade's police partner. The women entered the VJS squad room looking for Slade and Eran to gather news of the day. Leona sp...
Carlo drove around the city, thinking of where to go and what to do. He knew he was alone now and any fae who helped him would face the same punishment that he would get. He needed a place to hide and gather his thoughts for the future. Carlo thought, "All my things are in my special area at the tavern. If I can get there, I can plan my departure from this city. I can take a few faes with me to have support as we travel....
By evening, Imogen had fallen into a doze in the chair by the fireplace, her nerves worn out, and Eli had vanished without a word. This left Verity practically alone, to examine her surroundings at her leisure. At the mantlepiece, she investigated the curious assortment of ornaments: a collection that ranged from ugly worthless knick-knacks to objects of considerable beauty and perhaps considerable value. Out of it all, o...
First of all, Grace wanted a room with a sturdy lock on the door: the werewolf's victim must be secured in readiness for her painful and disorienting first transformation. They chose the guest bedroom which Olive had already cleared of most furniture and other obstacles and got Eli to move Olivia again, careless as if she was a sack of potatoes. Then Grace sent Eli out to find chains, and Imogen dissolved into tears again...
It all happened so fast. Eli grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck and the animal wilted into submission at once, whimpering. Olivia lay in the grass, still and silent. Imogen hung back, not daring to look. "Is she -" her voice wavered. Without touch, taste or smell, events were passing unstoppably before her, like a nightmare she couldn't wake from. She couldn't hold back the tide of dread over-topping her composure....
Olivia, despite warnings from her mother, intended to carry out as much of the redecorating as she could by herself, and had decided to try her hand at stripping the wallpaper in the guest bedroom. This latest flurry of activity fascinated the cats: several of them overcame their misgivings about Olivia enough to stalk and harass the falling curls of paper, coming over to rub against her legs when her work ran on into fee...
Olivia woke to slippery blood on her thighs, her nightdress clinging. She got up, the cradle of leaden pain between her hips making her slow and clumsy as she stripped the sheets to see that she'd bled through to the mattress. This was not an auspicious start to her plans. Even before entering the house, she'd noticed the weathered and cracked paintwork, the slates missing from the roof, that broken window in one of the r...
Twilight had surrendered to the full dark of night before Olivia remembered to call her mum and let her know that the funeral had proceeded without incident (mostly) and that she was settling in. "Don't forget it's only a couple of weeks before you start at the library," said her mum. "I haven't forgotten." "It's a good job for you, and I don't want you wearing yourself out over all this business with Auntie Imogen's hous...
A black cat almost tripped Olivia before she'd even crossed the threshold, winding around her shins in enthusiastic greeting, no doubt hoping for food. Auntie Imogen had always collected cats. China cats, to begin with. Cloth cats, carved wooden cats, cats of every workable material. Later on, after her mother's death had closely coincided with the death of the family cat, and the last of the small band of servants who'd...
As the mourners filed into the pews, Olivia shuffled in amongst them, head down and focused on reaching her seat. She jumped when she felt a tap at her elbow, and looked round to find a small, pale young woman leaning over the back of the pew from the row behind her. She was perhaps a couple of years younger than Olivia, wearing a pretty black dress and resting a lacy black parasol on the back of Olivia's pew. Olivia didn...
He stalked through the forest, eyes missing nothing. He'd been hunting for most of his life, stalking the beasts who stalked the world. How little everyone knew. How blind humanity was! Abel stopped believing in God a long time ago. All he believed in now was himself, his mission, and the fact that the apocalypse was on its way; and that it would be started by what he hunted. They were fell beasts, his prey. They looked...
