Ibenus (Valducan series) by Seth Skorkowsky Read Free Book Online Page B

gone into? Was he dead? She'd seen him the day before when she trailed them. He looked odd with his enormous nose, but he wasn't a monster. Why would they murder an innocent recluse and keep her alive after threatening them? "Where are you taking me?"
    "Quiet," the woman behind her growled. "You're lucky to be alive right now, so shut up."
    "We're taking you somewhere to talk," the Englishman said, not looking up from his phone screen. "You wanted to talk, so that's what we're going to do."
    "Then why am I handcuffed?"
    The man turned around. He'd have looked handsome with his dark hair and sharp chin if he didn't appear so angry. "Because you pressed a shotgun against my friend's head, and I'm not going to risk you doing that to anyone else."
    Victoria ground her teeth and looked back out the window, dark images of water boards and bright interrogation lights playing through her imagination. She knew why they were keeping her alive. And once they discovered what she knew and how she'd found them, she was dead. Well, they'd never get it from her. Victoria wondered who was on the other end of that phone.
    Five minutes later, the Englishman nodded ahead. "There. That's good."
    Luc pulled the van up to a concrete biking trail alongside the river. A lone picnic table sat beside it, looking out over the water.
    The Englishman stepped out of the vehicle and opened the sliding door. He'd left his gun belt and khopesh in the front seat. "All right." He held up the handcuff key. "Let's talk, Detective Martin."
    Victoria eyed the key. James had taught her this trick. The false promise of freedom for information or to merely wear down the prisoner's resolve. She could play this. A faint grin pulled at her lips as she extended her cuffed wrists.
    He unlocked them and dropped them in his pocket.
    "Thank you," she said, hiding her surprise.
    He led her to the table and sat down. A symphony of frogs and insects droned along the riverbank. "Please," he said, gesturing to the other side.
    She took the seat and the brunette with the scimitar sat down beside the man, her sword still in her hand.
    "Don't worry about the sword," he said, catching Victoria's gaze.
    The woman gave a wicked little grin. Her left eye had swollen a little since she'd peeled off her mask. A little memento from their fight. "It keeps you from screaming."
    "No," the man said, a scolding edge to his voice. "It prevents anyone from hearing you scream. But you're not going to do that, and we're not going to hurt you." He gave a cold look to the young woman. "Are we?"
    The sound of rolling tires drew Victoria's attention. The girl, Sam, parked Victoria's car behind the van. The blue LED of a phone's headset glowed from her ear and she was speaking. How many people were they talking to?
    The bench creaked as Luc sat down beside Victoria, but he kept his distance.
    "You said you wanted answers," the Englishman said. "Ask."
    Victoria swallowed, her mind stumbling as the ten thousand questions all raced to the front. But the most important, the simplest, pushed itself out first. "Who are you?"
    "We're demon hunters," he said plainly.
    "Demons," she repeated, eying his tactical attire. "You don't look like priests."
    "Not that kind of demon. We kill monsters…physical manifestations of demonic possession."
    "Monsters? Like that thing that attacked me?"
    He nodded.
    "And that's what was in that house tonight?"
    Sam approached and handed Luc a computer tablet without even looking at Victoria. She walked back to the car as he scrolled through the screen.
    "Yes," the Englishman said, ignoring them. "That was a tengu. It's a…different breed."
    "I don't understand. How is a monster a demon?"
    "It's…" He sighed and ran his finders through his dark hair. "There are thousands of monsters in folklore from all over the world. Most of those are just superstition, but some of them are real. They're demonic spirits, that when they possess a host, human or animal, they transform them into a