Read Tempt (Ava Delaney #3) for Free Online Page B

Becca’s movements was the unpredictability. She didn’t
appear to have a plan, her path was random, and she was so easily
distracted that even being chased by me didn’t stop her from
looking for a new hunting ground. What Esther had said about
hibernating—and mutating—had been interesting, but it only served
to put even more pressure on me to catch Becca.
    Since she had turned into… whatever she became at my trial,
she had pretty much left a path of dead bodies in her wake. We
might have been able to find her sooner if she left witnesses—or
even someone alive long enough to call for help—but she tended to
kill in clusters, and it was rare for anyone to walk away.
    Deciding
I wasn’t close enough to find her by scent only, I moved back to my
other skill, seeing things on a different plane of existence,
except I was going to put my back into it. I’d been pushing my
abilities further and further, wearing myself out, but it seemed to
get easier the more I tried.
    At
first, I had only been able to reach one other level. It felt like
a web surrounding me, preventing me from moving further. As time
went on, the web started to break, and I pushed through to another
plane. I could see further, differently than before. The energies
of humans and monsters alike were so vivid there, I could almost
reach out and touch them. Yet another item on the list of things I
badly needed to find out more about.
    I stared
at the ground and concentrated. My skin tingled, and it felt as if
my head were lifting off my body. Soon, a whole other world opened.
Esther and Peter’s energies pulsed nearby, their heart rates higher
than normal. Slowly at first, more and more red pulsing human
energies began popping up on my radar, then the empty spaces that
meant soulless vampires.
    I had
started to see other things without trying, energies that I
couldn’t name. But some types of energy seemed naturally easier to
spot, such as human and vampire… and the beautiful glow that marked
an angel.
    The
range of my vision expanded slightly. The borders pushed outward,
but it still wasn’t enough. Gasping for breath, I pushed harder,
feeling as though I were leaving my body.
    My ears
popped, and everything changed.
    I
stopped feeling the rain, or the wind, or hearing any noise.
Neither warmth nor cold touched my skin, just a disturbingly empty
vacuum that closed in on my body. In the distance, I saw shadows
moving, but the street where I stood had turned to a murky
shadowlike consistency, too.
    I moved
my leg, feeling as though I were pushing myself through deep water.
Not unpleasant exactly, but not a natural kind of feeling for
me—too heavy and slow, as if I were weighted down by an unseen
force.
    I
glanced at the car. It blew in and out of a shimmery existence, and
although I knew Peter and Esther were in there, I could no longer
hear their heartbeats.
    I tried
to make a sound. Something tacky pressed against my tongue, and no
noise came out. Fascinated, I started to try again but was
distracted by a movement ahead. I glanced in that direction, and
suddenly I was there, on a different street. The movement was gone,
and I was nowhere near the car anymore.
    Behind
was charcoal shadow, but as I stared ahead, I grew accustomed to
the different light and realised that everything was coloured a
muted burgundy and violet.
    Sensing
something to my left, I tried to spin around, wavering as a bout of
dizziness struck. Again, I was somewhere else. Someone, or
something, was nearby, but I had no idea how to find them without
jerking my body another mile away.
    My head
ached. The air was too heavy. Or maybe it was the lack of air. I
realised I wasn’t breathing, and that shocked me into action.
Steadying myself, I tried to move slowly the next time I saw
movement. A figure. Of sorts. Looking down at myself, I realised I
didn’t exactly look like a person anymore, either. Ethereal, I had
transformed into a wispy entity on a plane where I