Angel Souls and Devil Hearts by Christopher Golden Read Free Book Online Page B

twelve feet of open space, its edges crumbling, and a fall of sixty or seventy feet, minimum, waiting
below. The easiest way to go was out the window and onto the ledge which ran around the building on each of its three topmost floors. Once there, it was a simple task, as long as the next quake
took its time to make their way along the ledge to the next room.
    Cody smashed the remaining glass away from the shattered window frame and helped Allison through. The couple who’d been staying in the next room had either not been in the room or had
already fled the hotel. The stairs, on the way down, were cracked and crumbling, and when they reached the lobby, they joined a large group trying to get a look into the hole without falling. As
was true in any disaster, it would be some time before the police could clear the gawkers away.
    Cody could see the bottom of the hole now, and all of the debris and furniture strewn there. In fact, he could see Allison’s suitcase sticking out of the pile. The top of the junkheap was
about thirty feet down. Cody thought of coming back for Allison’s case later. But first . . .
    “Okay, people,” Allison said, in English, to the crowd. “We don’t know when there will be another . . . an aftershock, and this is about the worst place to be if and when
that comes. Why don’t we all get into the street and wait for help to arrive?”
    She received a dirty look from the hotel manager, who was now surrounded by people chattering at him about their losses. Several people were apparently injured, but it didn’t seem as
though anyone had been killed, at least not any guests of the hotel. In any case, people were beginning to file out now, and she and Cody turned to follow.
    “ Ma che diavolo succede ?” a voice exclaimed behind them.
    Neither Cody nor Allison understood more than a few words in Italian, but they got the idea. Back at the hole, an older, white-haired man was peering into the depths, and as they watched, he
backed off slightly, as if frightened.
    Before they had reached the edge, Allison knew what they would find, and she was sure that Cody knew it too. But to see it was horror. The hole was now only ten feet deep, blocked after that
point by a shimmering pool, a silver mirror that rippled with each stone that fell from the crumbling floor to touch its surface.
    “ Out !” Cody yelled. “All of you get out of here, now! Get out of the city, as far away as you can. Go!”
    The manager approached, determined to put a stop to Cody’s raving.
    “Sir,” he began, his English flawless, “I’m afraid if you do not lower your—”
    Cody rounded on him, changing, his face growing fierce, feral, eyes burning red and canines lengthening to almost absurd proportions. His voice was a bass growl, from deep inside him.
    “ Let me make something perfectly clear! Hell is breaking loose! If you want to live, leave. NOW !”
    The manager was gone. Cody whirled back toward the giant fissure, awaiting the emergence of whatever was beyond that portal, his blood boiling, hunger rising within him along with anger and
frustration.
    “No.” A hand grabbed his arm, and he turned with a snarl only to see Allison looking at him sternly, no fear in her face.
    But she should fear, he thought sadly, when the hunger comes on. Normally he was in complete control, but when his temper flared the hunger became nearly overwhelming. Bloodlust.
    “I’m hungry,” he growled.
    “Come on, Will! We’ll deal with hungry in a minute. For now, let’s get out of here. We’ve got to figure out the extent of what’s happening, otherwise the cavalry
may be useless. Let’s go.”
    Into the street they ran, only to find that the people from the hotel had simply gathered there.
    “Away,” Allison yelled at them. “You have no idea what’s coming. Run, damn you! Have you forgotten Venice so quickly?”
    That got to them. The whole world had seen the videotape of Venice, and now as they looked into