Fever Read online

‘It’s possible,’ Callum answered, and Eve felt a knot of apprehension form in her belly.

  ‘Very possible,’ Alanna added. She glanced at Callum, as though waiting for him to say something more.

  ‘Did you come for a kind of final report on Amunnic?’ Eve asked when Callum remained silent, studying her with his shrewd grey eyes.

  ‘I emailed you guys all the details,’ Luke said. Eve noted that he didn’t seem particularly pleased to see Alanna.

  ‘Did it feel the same as when you’ve killed other demons with your power?’ Callum asked Eve.

  She shrugged. ‘Pretty much. It didn’t feel like it took quite as much power as killing Malphas, but I had my hands right on Amunnic. Maybe that made a difference.’

  ‘Was he able to bite you?’ Alanna asked, and Eve thought she asked the question with way too much eagerness. Like she wanted Eve to say yes and give her all the gory details.

  ‘No,’ she answered. Callum raised an eyebrow. ‘He did scratch me though. More than scratch, really. He dug that claw of his right into my neck.’

  ‘Drawing blood?’ Alanna asked, with that same strange eagerness.

  ‘Yeah. I could feel it running down,’ Eve told her.

  ‘We believe that is what killed the demon.’ Callum hesitated. ‘That may be why you felt that you had to use less power. Your blood is poisonous to Amunnic.’

  ‘What?’ Jess burst out. ‘That makes no sense. Human blood can’t be poisonous to Amunnic, surely. He lives on it.’

  ‘Eve, remember we took a sample of your blood the last time we were here?’ Callum asked her.

  ‘You said testing it might help you come up with more ways to kill demons, since I can kill them without one of the special swords,’ Eve replied. ‘Is that what you found out? That my blood is poisonous to demons because I’m the Deepdene Witch?’

  ‘We found a reference in our archives. The only thing Amunnic is unable to survive is exposure to the blood of another demon,’ Callum said. Usually his gaze was strong and direct, but he dropped his eyes for a moment.

  Luke frowned. ‘What does that have to do with Eve’s blood though?’

  The knot of anxiety in Eve’s stomach grew larger and harder. She suddenly didn’t want to hear what Callum would say next, especially when he looked her in the face again and she saw a mix of revulsion and pity in his eyes.

  ‘We got the results of the tests on your blood back,’ Callum told her. He hesitated.

  Alanna shot a pointed look at Luke, then said, ‘Eve, the results revealed that you have demon blood.’

  Also available in the Dark Touch series:

  Shadows

  The Hunt

  And coming soon:

  Betrayal

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  DARK TOUCH: FEVER

  A RED FOX BOOK 978 1 849 41147 9

  First published in Great Britain by Red Fox,

  an imprint of Random House Children’s Books

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  This edition published 2011

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  Series created and developed by Amber Caravéo

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