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Chapter One snippet...
They say that when a banshee sings, someone dies.
It's
true.
But
only
if
we mean to kill.
I
pulled
my
knifeblade
tighter
against the gangster's throat and jammed
his heavy body harder into the rainbow-sprayed brick wall with my hip.
Tall
shadows stabbed into the grimy alley beneath a hot moonlit sky, and the
evil scent
of his blood watered my mouth.
Unluckily
for
him,
I
meant
it, all right.
Sweet
poison
music
swelled
in
my lungs, dripping with enspelled emotion
and blood. I crooned a withering curse, and his dark-stubbled cheek
blistered
under my breath. "You murdered three of my friends, Sonny Valenti. All
I
have to do is sing."
Summer
heat
tingled
my
hypersensitive
ears like a distant symphony, the
dry air murmuring below distant traffic noise and soft breeze. Beside
me,
moonlight glinted silver in Joey's hellgreen eyes, his blond hair
gleaming
white. He slipped closer, a lean black shadow in his dark suit, and his
voice
slid like a needle, bright and easy under my skin where it belonged.
"Easy, Mina. Let him talk."
My
name
in
his
mouth
made me shiver. Joey DiLuca is my boss—he pays, I
fight—and I know he doesn't deal death lightly. If Joey says Sonny
deserves to
die, that's fine with me. Joey's the thinker in this outfit. I just do.
I
yanked
Sonny's
black
curls
back in my fist, easing the knife off a
little to let the blood run. He's a big tough guy—he's not the Valenti
family's
chief headkicker for nothing—but I held him no problem. With my
spellsparked
reflexes, I'm stronger than I look. "Tell us who helped you, and
this'll
hurt a whole lot less."
"I
never
had
nothin'
to
do with it." Sonny struggled, his face
scraping bloody streaks on the jagged bricks. "I never even knew what
they
done. Get the fuck offa me."
Joey
tapped
his
shiny
black
cane impatiently on the concrete.
"Persuade him, Mina."
I
inhaled,
tingling.
Summer
warmth
soaked my tight leather vest, safe
and comforting. The music of midnight in Melbourne, sparking neon,
stifling
heat, a storm's sharp ozone tang and the throbbing roll of thunder. My
ears
exulted at the delicious vibration. To a banshee, everything is music.
Melody
wrapped around my tongue like a fairy lover's kiss, and I sang
sweet terror...
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