Mathieu by Irene Ferris Read Free Book Online Page B

smile. “I like my slaves pretty,” it said as it ran its hands over Mathieu’s face.
    Mathieu screamed as bones shifted under the profane touch. The pain was overwhelming, making the borders of the gray world red and black at the edges of his vision.
    As quickly as it came, the pain was gone. “That’s better,” the Angel spoke again. Mathieu studied the Angel’s face and eyes as the creature spoke again. “Pain, Fear, Blood, Sex, Love. I know I can get four of the five now. And I’ll bend you to the fifth one soon enough.” The angel licked its lips and smiled.

C hapter Ten
    Jenn spoke quietly behind him. “I’m okay. I’m ready to move on.”
    Mathieu looked at her and saw that while she was in pain, she was no longer radiating it like she had before. “Let’s go then.” He stood and brushed the dirt from his clothes as he waited for her to struggle to her feet. He bore her pack on his back as she was too tired to carry it herself. “We don’t have far now. Your friends will be there and you’ll be able to rest.”
    “Good. Resting for just a little while would be good. My head is killing me.” She sounded as if she was about to drop any second.
    He stood in the fading light, looked ahead and then back at her. “I don’t suppose you brought anything that would illuminate your path?”
    “Uhm. I don’t think so. I’m not really sure what’s in there. They just gave it to me when I got here.” She made as if to reach for the pack on his back but he avoided her touch.
    He frowned in the growing darkness before sighed and shook his head. “Follow me closely. I will light your way.” He paused and glanced around nervously. “We’re safe enough for the moment, but I do not want anything to see us.”
    Nodding hesitantly, Jenn asked, “Who would see us? There’s no one around for miles except our people.”
    Mathieu looked back at her with dark, frightened eyes as he absently scrubbed at invisible dirt on his hands. “You mean what would see us. Your people do not concern me.”
    After a quick glance at the dark woods, Jenn raised an eyebrow. “They’re our people while you’re working with us. You need to get used to that.”
    Mathieu raised an eyebrow back at her before repeating, “They do not concern me. There is more in this world than just humans and their intrigues.” He turned quickly and started downslope.
    Jenn rushed to stay close behind him and nearly collided with him when he suddenly stopped. He glanced at her before turning his attention to his hands. “Stay close, but not too close. I don’t want to hurt you.” There was a strange tone to his voice as he spoke. “It would kill me to hurt you, Yve… Jenn.” She said nothing, instead watching his hands as they gracefully traced symbols in the dark, symbols that seemed to shine and hang in the air for a few seconds before dissolving into a shower of faintly glowing golden dust.
    Mathieu took a few steps and smiled tightly. The dust fell and dimly illuminated a small path, leading through the trees and rocks to the track where the climbers left her earlier in the day.
    “You did it.” Marcus sounded amazed. He stepped forward and held Jenn’s arm as she dropped to the ground with a sigh of relief. “You brought him down.” He wrapped her in a crushing hug and nuzzled her hair while she limply rested her head on his chest.
    The clearing had been set up as a base camp, tents surrounding a central fire pit. He’d steered her to the tent they would share, her breath coming in small whimpers of pain with each step.
    After she’d caught her breath she answered back, “Of course I did it. Failure is not an option.”
    She sounded exhausted, stretched to her limit. He helped her pull her boots off and held open the tent flap so she could crawl in and collapse on the sleeping bags he’d rolled out for them to share. “I’ll be in in a few minutes.” She didn’t hear him. She was already unconscious.
    Marcus stood and