Demon's Hunger by Eve Silver Read Free Book Online Page A

battle to weave the wall between dimensions. There will be no more enemies, only allies. You of all of us know that there are many shades of gray, Baunn."
    No, not so much. He'd believed that once, believed that maybe there was hope for those whose souls were stained gray but not black. He'd learned the hard way that demons—regardless of whatever beautiful form they took—were demons, dark and twisted, and no amount of wishing would make it otherwise. He'd fallen back on his ideas of black and white, then. Good and evil. No more shades of gray.
    The Ancient made an impatient gesture, again strangely out of character. "Allying to the Solitary is the only way."
    Clearly, he believed his own rhetoric. Baunn could hear the conviction in his tone. "You can tell yourself that, but what of the humans we're sworn to protect? They'll be—what?—no better than cattle?"
    "They are what they are," the Ancient said, his tone hard. "And an oath is only as valid as the strength of its giver's belief. My belief is that this way is best."
    Anger roiled in Baunn's gut, at Asher and at himself. But he wasn't one to point a finger, that whole stones-and-glass-houses thing. He'd made his share of mistakes.
    For a moment, he just stared at the statue of the Madonna, and he remembered. Ugly regret oozed through him. He didn't want to remember what he'd done, the choices he'd made. Lousy goddamned choices made in the name of love.
    Leaning forward, he rested his forearms on his knees. "You offered up an innocent, Asher, a human—"
    "Clea Masters is no human. She is a sorcerer," the Ancient interjected.
    Baunn studied him with curiosity. Asher evinced no apparent guilt over his failed plan to offer up Clea Masters—a woman who had had no idea that she was a sorcerer—as a sacrifice to open the portal between the mortal and demon realms. Clea had survived his machinations and come into her full power, but in the process they had almost lost both her and fellow sorcerer Ciarran D'Arbois.
    "And that makes it right? You were going to let the demons sacrifice her, take her blood, use her to bring the Solitary to the human realm. At the time, none of us knew she was a sorcerer. We thought she was human. And you planned to let her die."
    "For the greater good. Mortals have a term that applies; Collateral damage ."
    Baunn slapped back his rage. "We protect humans. We protect the wall between dimensions, hold back the demons that would bring chaos. That is our role. We are sworn to the Pact One human life lost to collateral damage is one too many."
    "When was the last time you did aught to protect anyone but yourself, Baunn? I wonder that you dare point a finger at me after your decades, nay, centuries of negligence."
    Baunn clenched his fists, skewered by the ugly truth of the accusation.
    The Ancient looked away for a moment, then back. The long fall of platinum hair spilled over his shoulders as he moved, so pale it looked white in the dimness.
    "If you had predetermined your position, Talyn, why did you seek me out?"
    "I dunno." Baunn tapped out a staccato rhythm, his fingertips pounding the wooden pew. "Because I wanted you to deny it. Explain it. Something . I wanted to be wrong."
    The Ancient nodded. "I will bring the Solitary at my first opportunity. In fact, there are those already working with me to accomplish that very end."
    "There will be no opportunity." At least Baunn had that comfort. He might not have seen his brothers in the Compact of Sorcerers for more years than he cared to count, but he stayed in touch enough to know the basics of what was going down. Ciarran's wife, Clea Masters, was the conduit, the magical key that could open the wall between the realms of man and demon. And by all accounts, she was as good and pure of heart as could be, strong and noble. Honorable. Brave.
    "Clea would never willingly open the gate between dimensions," Baunn continued. "And with Ciarran's power mated to hers, she can't be forced." He did a