Life Still Sucks book 2

I shook he my ad and kept walking, brushing it off as my imagination. After everything we'd been through, my mind was bound to play tricks on me. But the whisper stayed with me, clinging to the edges of my thoughts like cobwebs.

Eli.

It came again, clearer this time, like someone standing just behind me. I froze, every muscle tensed, and slowly turned.

The street was still empty, eerily so, like the city itself was holding its breath. The broken streetlamp flickered again, casting erratic bursts of light and shadow across the asphalt.

"Who's there?" My voice sounded stronger than I felt, but the words echoed hollowly in the silence. No answer.

I gripped the edge of my jacket, feeling for the silver blade tucked inside. It had been a long time since I'd needed it, but old habits die hard.

The breeze picked up, carrying the scent of damp earth and something metallic-coppery, sharp. Blood.

"Eli..." The whisper shifted, deepening into something more guttural, less human. A shiver ran down my spine as the shadows seemed to stretch and twist, pooling unnaturally in the alley ahead.

And then I saw it-movement, just at the edge of the light. A figure, tall and gaunt, stepped forward. The air around them shimmered, bending like heat waves off pavement, and their eyes-too bright, too wild-locked onto mine.