Once Bitten (Shadow Guild: The Rebel #1)(10)

I could feel it.

There was a small alley next to the shop, but it was filled with rubbish bins and looked creepy.

Still, it called to me.

What the hell was going on?

A couple appeared on the street—a man and a woman, each dressed casually. They headed toward me, and I leaned against the wall, trying to be inconspicuous.

There was something about the people that snagged my attention. It wasn’t their attractiveness, though they were both better looking than average. The woman was pale and slight, while the man was tall and lean, with surprisingly broad shoulders for such a frame, and a dark mop of hair.

They gave me a glance, then looked away, clearly uninterested.

Good.

The woman turned down the alley filled with bins, walking right through them. I barely kept my jaw from dropping, which was good, since the hot guy looked back at me once, confusion crinkling his brow. Then he followed the woman right through the bins.

Oookay.

That was freaking weird.

Heart pounding, I stared after them. The darkness of the alley swallowed them up, and I was alone again.

What the hell had just happened?

Maybe I was going mad. My head was spinning with wild ideas. Had what I’d seen been real?

Nah. People didn’t walk through bins.

“But they did. I saw it.” I pushed myself off the wall and followed them.

I could see crazy visions by touching things, so why couldn’t there be weird rubbish bins?

My heart thundered in my ears as I walked toward the alley, my gaze glued to the dark entrance. I should be cautious, but I wasn’t. No time for that.

Something strange in the air prickled against my skin as I hesitated at the bins. I was so close I was almost touching them, and the stench was enough to make my eyes water.

“Here goes nothing.” I stepped though the bins, the prickle strengthening, and entered the alley. My head spun with the insanity of it all, but I plowed forward.

The alley itself was dark and gloomy, and reeked of rubbish that wasn’t there.

I shook my head to drive off the thought and walked forward.

There was only one door, and it was not inviting. The tiny windowpanes at the top were so grimy that I couldn’t see through them, and the door itself was coated in enough filth that I could barely tell that it had once been red.

But the sign above the door…

Bingo. The Haunted Hound.

I pushed on the door, feeling that same weird prickle against my palm.

What the hell was up with that?

The door gave way, and I stepped into a busy little pub that was about half full of people.

Okay, weird. It wasn’t even ten a.m., and yet, all these people were there, eating breakfast on the dark wooden tables. Normally, pubs weren’t open at this hour. Or serving breakfast.

Except this place was hidden behind magical rubbish bins, so…

Magic.

Thinking the word made me feel insane, so I drove it out of my mind.

Quickly, I took in my surroundings. It was a nice place, done up in gleaming dark wood and fancy old beer advertisements. The bartender looked at me with curiosity, her green eyes bright. She was tall and slender, with the broad shoulders of a swimmer. Her blond hair was cropped in an overly long pixie that made me wonder if I should hack mine off. It’d be more convenient.

There was something about her, though…a light that shined around her.

Almost like an aura.

I shook my head. Damn it, that was crazy thinking, and I didn’t have time for that.

I strode toward the bar, determined to look like I knew what I was doing. I stopped in front of it, and she gave me an easy grin, revealing perfect white teeth.

“What’ll it be?” Her voice was light and airy.

What the hell should I order at this hour? Truth was, I’d kill for a cup of tea to settle my nerves. “Tea, please.”

She nodded and turned back to the kettle. Most of the bar was dedicated to alcohol—there were at least six beer taps, including some for Real Ale, and shelves full of booze. But there was a pretty silver electric kettle near the sink, and I watched her go to work.

All around me, the air prickled with something I couldn’t identify. It gave me the strangest sense of déjà vu. I swear I’d felt this before.

Breath held, I slid onto a barstool.

I’d reached my final destination—I just needed to figure out why the victim had a matchbook from this place when he died. It was possible the cops could find a link to this location and show up, but as long as the dead guy hadn’t had two matchbooks on him, I’d have a little while.

From my stool, I had a view into a mirror over the bar. I could see the patrons behind me, and upon closer inspection, a lot of them looked kind of…weird. I swore that one of them had vaguely green skin. Not in an “I’m going to puke” kind of way, but more of an “I’m from Mars” fashion.

Nah.

But another one looked to have tiny horns peeping up from his hair.

Double nah.

Then I spotted the woman with three eyes.

Well, shit.

I blinked a few times, mind racing. The man in my vision—the killer—he’d seemed to have fangs. I’d thought it was crazy at the time, but…

The woman’s third eye, which sat right in the middle of her forehead and was a beautiful lavender color, made contact with mine. She blinked, and it was entirely too realistic.