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

security thought that the new prisoner needed Isaac’s personal attention, then it was likely to be the case. He examined his handiwork again. Something besides blood and ichor was dripping out of the megaira’s nose now. Brain matter, perhaps? Isaac wasn’t even sure that the demon had such a thing.
    “I’m going to leave these needles in place,” he explained to the megaira, who had replaced the screaming with sweating and panting. “I don’t have any particular desire to remove your thumbnails or cause you further damage, but I will do it when I come back if I must. I hope a few hours of thinking will help you make the right decision.”
    He felt another jab of its mind against his. A sharp pinch in his temple said that it had plucked a thought from the undercurrent trickling through his brain.
    The megaira labored to speak. Its voice whined around the needle in its nasal cavity. “If you’re not so concerned about your wife…” A cough. A gurgle. “Perhaps I could become carnally acquainted with your daughter’s corpse.”
    Isaac sucked a hard breath through his nose.
    “I don’t think I want you to talk until I come back,” he said, his voice cracking on the last word.
    He selected one more needle and slammed it into the underside of the megaira’s jaw.
    Its muffled squeals followed him down the ladder.
    The courtyard was quiet at that time of morning; most demons were already at work, so only gardeners wandered through the flesh orchards. They gave the limbs protruding from the earth the occasional jab with a stick to make sure they were still fresh enough to twitch. As Isaac passed, one of the hands failed to react. The gardener jerked it from the soil, roots and all.
    Veronika was waiting for him nearby, beside the sculpture of Lucifer. She wore the leathers of Palace security—it was almost like the biker gear that humans wore on Earth. It was a recent change to the livery of Palace employees. The citizens of Dis liked to be trendy and emulate whatever was happening topside, but official garb was slower to update, so the security team had only recently stopped wearing scale armor.
    She had her daggers—which were more like butcher knives—sheathed at her thighs, but every line of her body said that she was on edge, as though waiting for an attack. The nightmare’s mouth was in such a severe frown that it nearly bisected her jaw from her face.
    “What is it?” Isaac asked, wiping his hands clean on the towel she handed him. The open air of Dis scratched at his raw throat and burned his skin. He failed to suppress a cough.
    Veronika headed for the door to the south wing, and he matched her stride. “Bounty hunters, sir. They’re bringing a man down from Earth. He’s scheduled to arrive this morning and will be immediately put in front of the Council.”
    “But there were no bounties on any topside humans. I would have seen it.”
    Veronika waved her wrist in front of the door, and it unlocked. “The Council already paid a fee to the ones bringing this man in, so they must have put out the call.” She rested her hand on the handle without opening it, as if waiting to see Isaac’s reaction. He gave none. A secret bounty from the Council was interesting, but not unusual. “Abraxas paid in cash. Earth money.”
    “How much?”
    “Half a million American dollars,” she said. “Taken straight out of our security budget, according to the treasurer—and please keep that to yourself, because I’m not supposed to know.”
    Now that was interesting. Isaac struggled to keep his face blank. “What’s his crime?”
    “Transubstantiation and violation of The second law. He’s accused of turning from a human into a demon.” Veronika opened the door and he went inside.
    “That’s not possible,” Isaac said.
    “Yeah, I thought so, too. But James Faulkner is apparently the most powerful witch on Earth, so he must have found a way.”
    Isaac stopped halfway into the hall.
    “What did you say