Dire Blood (#5) (The Descent Series) by SM Reine Read Free Book Online Page A

searching for weak points, the things that would make him angry. It was like being jabbed in the forehead with doughy fingers.
    “Take an eyeball!” called a nightmare from the opposite walkway, skeletal fingers curved around iron columns as it watched him work.
    Another passerby suggested, “Up her quim!”
    Isaac was accustomed to having admirers suggest ways to coerce his subjects into talking, but he didn’t pay them any mind. They were too emotional about it. Too excited. Their aggression could feed the megaira and let it heal.
    He stopped behind the demon and tipped his head to study it. As with all prisoners kept in the Palace, the demon was naked so that it couldn’t conceal any tangible weapons. The sharp lines of its hipbones jutted out under its ribs like the ears of a cat. The arms were jerked over its head by an iron chain, and blood trickled from its thumbnails to its wrists. It had started its day standing, but those two needles alone had made its knees give out.
    The kneecaps. Hmm.
    “I will ravage your wife and shit on her face,” said the megaira in the infernal tongue.
    Isaac’s mouth twitched at its attempted threat, which was as close to laughing as he ever came.
    “I think I’m going to drive a needle up your right nostril next,” he replied in the same language that the demon spoke, almost smoothly enough to pass for fluent. It wasn’t a threat. It was a statement of fact. “By law, I am required to explain—again—that you can belay this act by surrendering the information desired by the Council and naming the leader of the rebellion.”
    The megaira’s skin flickered, baring the curves of its bones underneath. “My serpents will violate your wife’s every orifice and impregnate her with venom so that she dies from a rotting cunt.”
    Isaac gripped the demon’s chin in one hand while onlookers cheered. His subject attempted to squirm away, but the chains had little slack. Its stubby feet slipped on the tile. One end of the needle was blunted, making it easy to thread the point into one nostril and shove with the pad of his thumb. He met resistance and pushed through.
    That made the megaira stop talking and start screaming. Inky blood dribbled down Isaac’s thumb as tears squeezed from the corners of its eyes. He barely heard it wail over the delighted cries of his audience.
    He shoved the needle deeper, until the end barely stuck out from its nostril, and then wiped the blood on his hand onto the demon’s shoulder.
    “By law, I am required to warn you that my next action will not be to insert another needle, but to use the two in your thumbs to peel off the nails,” Isaac said. He doubted the demon heard him, since it was still screaming, but that wasn’t his concern. “You may belay this act by naming the leader of the rebellion.”
    The trap door to his left groaned open. The head of security, Veronika, stuck her head through without climbing onto the platform. Her arrival was met with disappointed shouts from the walkway. They knew what her presence meant.
    She had to catch her breath before speaking. “Inquisitor?” One of Veronika’s many jobs was to escort people to Earth, so she spoke smooth, perfect English.
    Isaac flicked the needle in the megaira’s nose. That light touch drew a reaction down the entire body of his subject. An arched spine, gritted teeth, another wail bubbling in its throat. Good .
    “Yes, Veronika?”
    “A new prisoner is on his way. He’s a human.”
    “I’m making progress here,” Isaac said. “Go ask Ariane to take care of this one. She enjoys processing the mortals.”
    Veronika glanced at the people watching from the walkway. The bloody sky behind them turned the figures to indistinguishable shadows, distant enough that they would be unlikely to hear anything quieter than a yell. She lowered her voice anyway. “He’s not getting processed. He’s going to court right now. You’ll want to see this personally.”
    If the head of