The Descent Series, Books 1-3: Death's Hand, The Darkest Gate, and Dark Union (The Descent Series, Volume 1) by SM Reine Read Free Book Online

that could have been Neuma’s sister hurried by in little more than a leather leotard with a tray of drinks on her shoulder.
    He led her up a couple levels of escalators, past a handful of imps that weren’t pretending to be human, and through a locked door marked MANAGER.
    David Nicholas’s office overlooked the casino floor. Tinted glass dimmed the tables until Elise could barely make out the dealers, although monitors on the walls gave her a clear view of the cards. They were also the only source of light in the room, which Elise considered a mercy—it meant she could only imagine how bad the mess in his office was by the smell. It reeked like the dorms from Elise’s college days.
    She had to step over a pile of rags to get through the door. Piles of books and papers formed columns to her shoulder. Some had tipped over. And that was all what she could make out in the darkness—there were too many vague, shadowy shapes that could have been any number of horrible things.
    David Nicolas twisted his lips and spat into a shallow metal bowl filled with cigarette butts and black smears of ash. “Let’s make this fast, bitch, I don’t have all night. What’d I do to earn a personal visit from the big boss’s accountant? You got a problem with our taxes or some shit? I don’t want to hear about it. It’s your job to fix it.”
    “Everything is as good as can be expected with your finances, except for one thing.”
    “What?”
    She leaned over him, arms folded across her chest. “I’m not getting paid.”
    “Bullshit. We paid you.”
    “You paid my retainer a year ago, and nothing since,” Elise said. “That’s six months of outstanding fines. I’ve sent you three notices.”
    He rolled the cigarette between two of his fingers, contemplating the glowing end. “Haven’t seen anything. Maybe the Night Hag got them. Did you hear she’s waking up?”
    “She’s not going to stir and you know it.”
    David Nicholas spread his hands wide in a helpless gesture. “Yeah, if that’s what you want to think, but I can’t pay anyone that much money without getting it approved. Rules are rules.”
    Elise set her jaw. “You want to do this fast? We can do it fast.”
    “Oh no. Don’t hurt me,” David Nicholas said in a tone of mock horror. “I’m so afraid of the accountant.”
    She drew her boot knife. “I need to get paid. I’m going to make that happen one way or another.”
    “You don’t even know what to do with that.”
    She stabbed. It sank into David Nicholas’s stomach as though he was made of putty rather than flesh, and she jerked the knife across his torso, tearing it out the side. Black smoke puffed from the wound.
    He lurched out of his chair, spidery hands clutching the entry point. “Fuck! What the hell?”
    “I can force you to insubstantiate, and I can make it hurt. Believe me, I know which buttons to push.” She lifted the knife again, and he tripped over a pile of trash trying to backtrack. He hit the floor and pushed himself away from her with his heels. “Or you can pay.”
    “I don’t need the Night Hag to wake up to ruin your fucking week,” he hissed. “Some dark night, you’re going to go to sleep, and I’ll be waiting. And I’ll be there the night after, and the night after, and every other night of your life until you die shitting yourself. You’ll learn to fear sleep, and to fear me.”
    Elise gave a little laugh. “The first night I dream of you, David Nicholas, I’ll tip off Aquiel. He’d be happy to know where you’re lurking these days, and I’d enjoy watching you get ripped apart.”
    He stared at her. She stared back. A challenge.
    “You’ll fear your dreams yet,” he whispered. He spoke so quietly that Elise shouldn’t have been able to hear him over the music, but she did. His voice was dead fingers scraping down her neck, and she couldn’t help but shiver. She didn’t show it.
    “Money. Now. I take checks.”
    It looked like he had many colorful