Fury Rising (Fury Unbound Book 1) by Yasmine Galenorn Read Free Book Online Page B

nipple so hard she screamed. “I’m going to clean you up, you dirty slut. And then I’m going to tend to your little girl. When I’m done with her, I’ll give her the same treatment I’m about to give you.”
    He clicked a remote and turned on a classical violin piece. Then, covering his eyes with the goggles, he brought the scalpel down and the blood sprayed. As my mother screamed, a red mist began to rise, cloaking my vision. Everything slowed down, the world shining through a crimson filter. As her screams filled my ears, he turned up the music to drown out her screams.
    Furious beyond anything I had ever felt, I let out one long shriek, screaming for Hecate.
     

     
    I woke up, lying on the sidewalk in front of a magic shop. A tall man I recognized as a friend of my mother’s was staring down at me, a horrified look on his face. Jason knelt and gathered me in his arms. He carried me into the shop, where I passed out again.
    The next time I woke up, I was in a bed, with Jason’s sister watching over me.
    “Mom?” I knew the answer already, but I needed to hear her say it, to know that it was real.
    “We found your mother, sweetie,” Shevron said. The heartbreak in her voice said everything I needed to know.
    I struggled to sit up, squinting. My entire body felt numb. I glanced around and saw my bag on a chair near Shevron, along with my mother’s purse. Then reality hit me in the gut. I leaned over the edge of the bed and threw up.
    Shevron held my shoulders until the foam and vomit had vacated my stomach, and then as she wiped my mouth and gave me a drink to rinse, I passed out again.
    Later that day, I found out that someone had found my mother’s body in a gutter. It was charred to a crisp. The Devani’s report noted a fire reported in the Junk Yard but the bogeys took care of their own problems and no official response was mounted. Shevron called in a doctor, but I was unhurt—physically.
    Marlene’s name was added to the list of the Carver’s victims. There were twenty names on the list, too many to ignore. But Seattle was a big city and nobody could seem to find him. Jason wouldn’t let me go to the authorities to tell them my story. He warned me that they would take me away and that the Devani would control my every move from then on.
    So I kept quiet. Jason took me in and enrolled me in a school in Darktown. Nobody ever made the connection. Tam extricated my chips from the back of my neck and he managed to reprogram them. They retained my name, but my ID number was different and he programmed in a different background. He also negated the tracking system. It was as though the old Kaeleen Donovan had vanished, as far as the government was concerned.
    I never knew how I escaped the Carver and the Junk Yard, nor how I managed to land on Jason’s doorstep. It was a black area that I preferred to leave untouched. It would be another thirteen years before I saw the Carver again. And by that time, I was itching to face him.

Chapter 5

     
    Hecate’s office was on the third floor. She usually met with me once a month, more often when she assigned me to a case, but I was overdue this time. Truth was, sometimes I rebelled just to feel like I had a say in my own life.
    “You with me, Queet?”
    “Yeah, I’m still here. I’d rather not be, you know.”
    “I know, I know. Hush up.” Queet got on my nerves, but he had just as little say in his destiny as I did in mine, and I didn’t blame him for being churlish. It was one thing to be pushed around when you were alive, but to find yourself conscripted into service after you were dead? Not so fun.
    I pushed through the double glass doors, striding into the reception room. Coralie, a young woman with golden hair and wearing a white one-shouldered dress, sat behind the desk. She looked up as I slowed my pace and crossed to stand in front of her.
    “Fury, hello. Are you here to see Hecate? Hi, Queet.” She stared to my right, and I noticed that a