Dirty Little Misery (Miss Misery) by Tracey Martin Read Free Book Online

which, we should get to the office. You’ve got to give some blood too, I think.”
    We’d paid when we ordered, so I finished my water and got up. “Wait, Anna was being serious? You want my blood?”
    “It’s standard procedure. They take a bit of blood from all of us from time to time to keep in storage. You never know when you’re going to get blasted by a nasty spell, and it helps the lab techs develop counter-charms if you have an untainted blood sample for comparison.”
    Great. Lucen and I had once wondered what the Gryphons would find if they did a full analysis of my blood. Now that I knew I was part-satyr, I was even less thrilled at the possibilities of what they might discover.

Chapter Four
    When we got to the Gryphons’ building, Andre went to file his report and I was dumped at HR. Apparently, I’d been right to think that the Gryphons didn’t hire consultants very often because the HR woman who was stuck with me didn’t know what to do until several phone calls clarified the situation.
    Unfortunately, the clarification left me with a mountain of paperwork I had to fill out for her. After that, a photo was required so I could get my own spiffy ID badge with SPECIAL CONSULTANT printed on it. My photo was awful, but the badge meant I wouldn’t have to go through normal security checks again, and I could carry charms into the building. My knife, however, remained off-limits. Only Gryphon-issued weapons were permitted, and I was not permitted a Gryphon-issued weapon.
    From HR, I was shuffled to another section of the building where I was made to endure a physical, followed by the promised blood-drawing. I was poking at the bandage taped over my stab wound when Bridget entered the exam room.
    She was wearing her regular uniform today, and her light brown hair was pulled into a ponytail. “Coffee? I thought it was time to have the one we didn’t have yesterday.”
    “That depends.” I adjusted my shirt. “Am I allowed to leave yet, or is there more of my brain to pick and my body to poke?”
    She didn’t even smile at my quip. Typical Bridget. “I meant I brought you some coffee. And, no. Or, yes. I get to take you to your last stop for the day.”
    I joined her in the hallway where she handed me the promised cup of coffee. “I need this. Thanks.”
    “I thought you might. Andre said you were yawning a lot earlier.”
    “Yeah, I had to work late last night and was not expecting a call this morning. Speaking of which, what are you doing working on a Saturday? Don’t you get time off?”
    Bridget rubbed her eyes. “It’s the Aubrey case. The furies aren’t cooperating—big surprise—but neither are the sylphs. You’d think they’d want justice, but they trust us so little that they’d rather stew.”
    The sylphs probably didn’t consider Victor going to jail to be justice. Neither did I, for that matter, since Victor had merely been the murderous puppet. His fury master needed to be brought in too. But also I knew firsthand the sylphs wouldn’t be satisfied until all involved were dead, and they’d prefer to handle that business on their own. As any pred would.
    “Any leads on the fury who was pulling Victor’s strings?” I asked as we turned a corner. I knew which fury had addicted Victor, but by sight only. I didn’t have a name, and Raj—the furies’ Dom—was playing dumb, protecting his own.
    Bridget wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Nothing yet, and Aubrey isn’t being helpful. He knows that given how many people he killed, he’s not going to get much for himself by cooperating, but I don’t understand why he’d protect the fury.”
    I suspected I did. Victor had liked being the thing’s addict. He got a high off misery, like I did, but unlike me, he’d never wanted to use his freakish ability for good. He’d wanted an excuse to chase the high, and the fury gave that to him. On his master’s orders, Victor got to torture and kill, and soak up all the suffering he