Sinister Seraphim of Mine (Overworld Chronicles Book 8) by John Corwin Read Free Book Online Page B

station where an Obsidian Arch had once stood. We stepped through the doorway and into the massive cavern. Yellow ambient light suffused the cavern. Giant coiled forms dominated the center of the room. The red scaly hide of Gigantor—Altash—was closest to us. His gargantuan purple—girlfriend? Mate? Bromance?—rested on the other side. Since I still didn't know her real name, or if she was actually a female, I decided to stick with Lulu unless and until either of them tried to eat me for being a jackass.
    A much smaller dragon, this one only the size of a car, slithered up to us. Scars puckered his side where a mad Arcane had once tethered him to a Tesla coil and used him as a power source for his experiments. The irises in the dragon's parietal eyes dilated when he saw us. His long, lean muzzle opened, and a low rumble greeted us.
    "Hey, Slitheren," I said, running a hand along the hard scales on his reptilian head.
    He rumbled in reply.
    "We're just here to see if cherubs make me and Nightliss weak." I looked around. "Can you lead us to the holding pen?"
    His red eyes regarded Nightliss for a moment, then he turned right and slithered toward a stone trench he and other small dragons had carved to keep the cherubs contained.
    "Dah nah!" cried an infantile yet absolutely terrifying voice from ahead. A chorus of similar cries echoed the first with awful shrilling and screeching noises.
    I shivered, and my teeth chattered. "Holy spiders in a pillow case," I muttered. "I hate these things."
    Elyssa squeezed my hand. "Don't worry, babe, I'll protect you."
    Nightliss offered an uneasy smile, though her complexion looked a bit pale.
    As we followed Slitheren, I waited for my legs to go weak or my stomach to upchuck lunch as a sign the cherubs were affecting me. We reached the lip of the trench and stared down at the swarming masses of husks. I looked at Nightliss and shrugged.
    "I guess this means we are okay?" the Darkling asked.
    I breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah. Looks like the Brightlings are the only ones they mess with."
    "I think I know why," Nightliss said. "When the Brightlings feed on the light energy of humans, they rely more and more on that power instead of the natural energies we absorb from the aether in the environment."
    I backed away from the lip of the trench as tiny hands stretched for me and shrill voices chorused, "Dah Nah!" over and over again. "Let's get out of here."
    A tear sparkled in Nightliss's eye as she watched the cherubs strain their tiny hands for us. "I wonder how many of them are Darklings."
    "I guess only time will tell," Elyssa said, glancing back at the giant dragons in the center of the cavern.
    We walked toward the control room where the portal back to the mansion waited. Slitheren made some growling noises and left us, heading back toward the leviathans.
    "What makes Brightlings more powerful than Darklings?" I asked Nightliss.
    "In our natural state, without feeding from humans, Brightlings are not much more powerful than Darklings." She turned her green eyes on me. "There is something about feeding on refined soul essence instead of aether which magnifies their power immensely."
    "What happens when Darklings feed from humans?" I asked.
    She grimaced. "Feeding from humans is pleasurable for Brightlings. For us, it is disgusting, like eating a handful of moldy pickles."
    "Eww," Elyssa said, making a face. "No wonder there's such a power disparity."
    I felt my forehead scrunch. "I fed my Darkling and Brightling side from a human and it wasn't like that."
    Nightliss's eyes went wide. "You fed from a human?"
    I held up my hands in surrender. "It was an accident. During the Battle of Bellwood Quarry, it just kind of happened. My hand went up and pulled light essence from this woman who'd shot me. Then my other hand went up and pulled dark light from her other hand."
    The Darkling blinked a few times. "You fed on both essences? At once?"
    I stopped walking. "Are you only able to feed on