Grave Dance (Alex Craft, #2)(43)

He shook his head. “Not sure yet. The wards were taken down from the inside. You want me to hazard a guess at who might have done that?” His whispered words were sharp, leaving no doubt whom he was referring to: Falin.

I couldn’t think of any reason Falin would dismantle the wards. He was unconscious when last I’d seen him, and even if he did wake, it wasn’t like the wards prevented him from leaving. I opened my mouth to say as much and then snapped it closed again. Now wasn’t the time to argue.

“Stay here,” Caleb whispered as he crept along the hal way.

That was a good suggestion. Unfortunately, I wasn’t taking it. I closed PC in the bedroom, and then, clutching the dagger tight, I fol owed Caleb.

Someone had turned the lights on in the front of the house, which was good for my eyes but probably not the best sign, since we’d turned them off after we’d finished the movie we’d watched before bed and I’d said good night to Caleb and Hol y. Caleb motioned me to wait as he opened the door to the den. He stepped inside and then gave a sharp hiss. I fol owed a moment later.

What the hell? I mouthed as I gaped at the room beyond.

The front door of the house stood wide open and dozens of ravens fil ed the room. The inky black birds had gathered on every available surface. Four perched on the flatpanel TV, their talons scratching against the plastic. At least a dozen sat on the back of the couch, and more were on the coffee table and on the end tables.

They stared at us with beady black eyes. Every last one of them.

“Uh, Caleb?”

“I have no idea,” he said, his whisper so quiet I barely heard him.

Another raven swooped through the open front door. It screeched, wings flapping as it drew near, and I jumped aside. The bird landed on the doorframe we’d passed aside. The bird landed on the doorframe we’d passed when we entered, and I backed farther away as a second raven joined the first. Crap, we would have to walk under the birds to get to the back of the house. Two more ravens flew into the room.

“This is like that Hitchcock movie,” I said, taking another slow step away from the birds. They were blocking access to the front door and the door to the hal , but there were no birds between us and the door to the garage Caleb used as a workshop or the door beside it, which led to the stairs to my loft. I backed toward those doors, trying to keep an eye on al the ravens. The birds continued to stare. “They’re giving me the creeps. Aren’t they big for birds?”

“That’s an understatement.” Caleb shifted his grip on his mal et. “I guess we cal animal control? We should probably wake Hol y and get a hotel room for the rest of the night.”

Yeah, except how were we supposed to reach Hol y?

And what had attracted the birds into the house in the first place? This couldn’t be normal. I reached out with my senses, looking for a spel or charm that would have attracted the birds. What I found was seriously not what I expected.

“Oh, crap.”

Caleb turned halfway around, but he never looked away from the ravens. “What?”

“Those aren’t birds. They’re constructs.”





Chapter 13


Constructs. Just like the cu sith in the Quarter. I opened my shields, already knowing what I’d find. In my second sight, the ravens vanished, becoming instead misty shapes surrounding a nasty clump of twisting magic. I snapped my shields closed again.

“We have to get out of here,” I whispered, reaching behind me for the doorknob to the stairwel . We could escape out through my room and then circle around to the back door to get Hol y. My hand landed on the knob, and I twisted it quickly.

It didn’t turn.

Damn it! We never locked the doors to the stairs, but Caleb had insisted since Falin was staying upstairs. I fumbled with the lock, final y having to turn my back on the birds to unlock the door. I twisted the knob again, jerking the door, but it just shuddered.

“The bolt lock too?” I asked, my voice raising with a mix of exasperation and panic.

“Alex,” Caleb hissed, and as if my name were some sort of signal, the ravens screeched.

The room fil ed with the sound of wings beating the air, the roar almost loud enough to block out the screeching.

The birds dove forward just as I threw the lock.

“Get down,” Caleb yel ed and shoved me back toward the wal .

The ravens swooped at us, shiny black talons flashing and sharp beaks thrusting forward menacingly. Caleb uncorked his vial with his teeth and threw it at the nearest bird. A hazy green miasma exploded around the raven. It bird. A hazy green miasma exploded around the raven. It gave a sharp croak of a cry and then dropped. Caleb kicked it aside, but two more had already taken its place.

He swung his mal et. The sound of bones snapping made me cringe, even though I knew the birds weren’t real. But this bird didn’t fal . Caleb’s death blow smashed its rib cage and it vanished, a smal copper coin hitting the carpet a moment later.

Neither one of us had time to be amazed because there were more birds, so many more birds, to take the first’s place. They swooped at us, talons extended.

I lashed out with my dagger, hitting one of the ravens in the wing. It went down, but didn’t vanish. Climbing to its feet, the raven spread its uninjured wing wide and rushed me, its head darting as it lunged at my leg. Damn. You have to hit to kill.