City Of Bones Novels & Stories

He had crafted a three-year game of breaking bones and breaking hearts -- and in the end, the one whose pride was shattered, whose dignity was ground to dust, was himself. "Miss Holloway, it's cold out here. Please, get in the car." Pemberton held the door open for me with quiet deference. I pulled my gaze away. I didn't spare the dark shape at the end of the street another glance. I ducked into the warm, luxurious cabin. The door shut with a heavy thud. The black motorcade rolled over the fresh snow and carried on toward the gleaming heart of the city, leaving behind forever the legless beggar sobbing in the drifts.

He grabs the edge of the house with his hands. “Hmm, nice view,” thought the vampire. The building was quite high and opened a marvelous panorama of the surroundings of the city, covered by a scattering of brilliant lights. In the distance, streams of cars could be seen, which even that night did not weaken much. Cars moved in a common system, small lights, outlining the lines of the streets. The city was presented as a single organism absorbing everyone into itself and making anyone a part of its system. Eyes that see the wisdom of the ages scanned the expanses built by man.

Beneath the pond lay another world entirely! ​A massive city, its buildings constructed from human bone and black stone, stretched before me. From every corner, a haunting blue light emanated. Thousands of skeletons knelt along the streets, as if awaiting the arrival of a great empress. And ahead stood the royal throne, where the woman with my exact face sat. ​She wore a blood-red gown and a crown of black diamonds. She looked at me with a cryptic smile. She had no pupils; instead, blue fire flickered within her eyes.

GRACE’S POV No. No, no, no. Absolutely not. I did not want to see Michael, not even if we had never met in this timeline. My breath hitched, sharp and painful, like my lungs had suddenly forgotten how to work. Michael stood across the road, one hand tucked into his pocket, the other holding his phone loosely. He looked…normal. Calm. Unbothered. Like a man waiting for someone or something, not like someone who had once murdered his wife, nor will ever.

And most terrifying of all, why did I feel the pull of something deeper, something ancient and tangled within my own blood? Days passed beneath a cold, shifting sky. The ruined city finally emerged on the horizon like a specter. A skeleton of stone and iron against the grey sky. Silver Crest, once a shining beacon of hope and power for the Moonbornes, now lay broken and ragged. Its stone walls crumbled and blackened by time, twisted iron gates rusted and half-buried beneath encroaching vines that clawed greedily over fallen towers. The scent of damp earth and decay hung thick, filling my lungs with the weight of forgotten history. I dismounted, the crunch of my boots against shattered stone

The warmth inside me swelled, hotter…heavier. Until my vision blurred at the edges. The weight in my chest was unbearable now, suffocating. The bones in my arms and legs felt like they might split open… and my organs out for the world to see Another crack. Then the dam shattered. The power didn’t flow out… It ripped free like a blood-lusted wolf that had been set free to hunt, an eruption so forceful it wrenched a scream from my throat. The man in front of me howled. His body melted like plastic, flesh dissolving into a pulsing mass of meat and flies.

"Say it again. What bone did you say this is?" "It's human bone! I am positive it is human bone!" Felix shouted, struggling against the guards. He warned, "Mr. Lane, it is illegal to own human bones. Most people can't tell the difference, so I know you've definitely been deceived. The one who did this is malicious and despicable!" The banquet hall was filled with murmurs again as Evan stared down at the bracelet. His hand was trembling as he asked Cecilia in a barely audible voice, "Whose bone is this?"

"Who's Bree Polene? I have no clue who you're talking about!" The officer continued, "Bree Polene is your ex-girlfriend and the driver who caused the major car accident in front of the office of the Eternal Fragrances Co. Are you sure you don't know her?" "I don't remember. I don't know about an ex-girlfriend, or a fragrance company, or a female driver. I don't know anything!" Zane shook his head profusely. "I'm a patient who requires in-patient medical treatment. Please leave me alone!"

Grinning at his own stupidity, Vanadine resumed his trek around the base of the citadel, heading for the area under the bridge. The first sign of bones came a few minutes later. A single femur, mossy and grey lay on the ground. It had been there for decades, if not centuries, Vanadine could see and he wondered who it had belonged to and if they had been elf or human or something else. Seconds later, the pile began in earnest. Ribcages, skulls, spines, and every other kind of bone from numerous species had been dumped here, food for carrion eaters. It had spread over a massive area, some of the bones at the base had been partly swallowed by the soil, sinking beneath the surface with the weigh

"Enzo, you're doing something wrong. The heat isn't worth the girl. Give her up, and this will be finished tonight.” Sienna's heartbeat accelerated. She began, "Enzo—" but he interrupted her with a quick look, his attention blazingly fixed on Mateo. "I said no," Enzo reiterated, moving slightly forward to keep Sienna out of Mateo's line of sight. "Get out while you can." Mateo's voice fell to a threatening growl as his hand jerked at his side. “Do you still believe you have the upper hand here? Enzo, you are no longer in charge. The city is evolving. The new players don't give a damn about the old rules.”