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Netherworld: Drop Dead Sexy(29)

By:Tracy St. John


Tristan’s eyes narrowed, but his tone remained cold, not creeping into anger territory. “Have you remembered anything about your murder?”

It was as if he’d asked me, “Did you remember to pick up milk on your way home?” His gentle concern so evident earlier today had disappeared. For some reason, that hurt.

Somehow I swallowed the pain and matched the evenness of his voice. “Not yet.”

Tristan turned to address the griffin. “Augustus, can you tell me anything?”

I looked at the beautiful creature regarding me with calm, golden eyes. I had the insane urge to run my palm over his feathered head. I’d never seen anything so amazing.

His beak opened and he spoke. “The thief of lives will find her and she will find him. Judgment will be passed and the assassins scattered.”

As stunning as he was, Augustus’ voice screeched unattractively. The absence of flexible lips made his statement come out, “Buh beep ub libes will bine her and she will bine him. Budgmen will be pasb an the absabsims scabberd.” I couldn’t believe I understood him, but somehow I did.

The faces of those surrounding me were grim with concentration. I scowled at Tristan, impatient to be let in on the secret. “In English?”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Augustus is an oracle. He sees the future, or at least the future as it is happening now.”

Well that answered … not one darn thing. I sighed. “Talk slow, okay? I’m feeling stupid.”

That got me a ghost of a smile from Tristan, and something in my chest loosened. Seeing a spark of humanity in the vampire eased a little of my trepidation. “The future is not fixed. Every decision we make changes what might be.”

Patricia nodded. “Augustus can only see where your current path will take you.”

I thought about the griffin’s words. I dared to speak to the magnificent creature, who regarded me with those gentle, golden eyes. “The thief of lives will find me? The man who murdered me? I’m not so sure I like the sound of that.”

Dan spoke and Lana echoed him for those who couldn’t hear him. “Augustus, you said assassins, plural. There’s more than one killer?”

Augustus blinked slowly and looked at Dan. He could see the dead? “Future killers and thieves everywhere. But they are led by the one who bleeds the children of the streets.” His gaze returned to me. “This one has many enemies to overcome. My child, thwart them and your shackles of death shall be lifted for half the time. The thief of souls shall make you a thief of the body.”





His tone was so kind that I couldn’t take offense to his words, but I still defended myself. “I’m a lot of things, Mr. Augustus, but a thief is not one of them.”

Tristan placed a cold hand on my shoulder, and I barely restrained a shiver. “You can’t take his words literally,” he said. “Griffin communication is filled with figurative speech.”

Patricia frowned as she watched Tristan touch me. “And the murkier the meaning, usually the worse the news.”

Augustus looked away from me to regard her. He sighed. “Sweet vessel, the want of you will drive a good man to greatness.”

She didn’t seem to hear the sadness in his voice. Patricia smiled with surprised pleasure. She lost some of her frozen vampiness with the expression, and another centimeter of tension eased for me.

Perhaps she softened because the astounding creature had called her sweet. I didn’t think she heard that adjective thrown her way too often. “Thank you, Augustus.”

I muttered to myself, “Well, at least he’s pretty to look at.”

The griffin heard me. He somehow communicated a smile despite the rigidity of his beak and offered me a little bow. I ducked my head, shamefaced. I really did need to shut up.

Tristan said, “Dan, you know what to do.”

Dan patted my shoulder, the touch barely registering on Isabella’s skin. He might have been nothing more than a spiderweb brushing by on a breeze. “I’ll be at the library when you’re done, should you care to join me.”

He turned and left, and I watched him go, more than a little uneasy to be left behind with the vampires. It felt like my only friend in the world walked away, leaving me in the midst of enemies. But Dan wouldn’t leave me if I was in danger. I hoped.

Tristan reclaimed my worried attention. “Brandilynn, if you can recover your memory, you may be able to avoid a second encounter with your killer.”

I thought hard, trying to reclaim the events that led to my body being dumped in the woods. Where had I been? Who had I seen? My mind dredged up little tidbits of random life, stupid things like brushing my teeth, drinking coffee, running errands.