The Devil's Detective by Simon Kurt Unsworth Read Free Book Online Page A

for some other apparently undeserving ones.
Surely this is my time
, they say inside themselves where only they can hear, and then when it is not, they are left to carry on and their only hope is that tomorrow it might change, that tomorrow might be different. This is Hell, Balthazar, a place of savageries so vast and shifting that you cannot even conceive of their beginnings or endings, and only some of those are of the flesh. Souls burn here, little angel, but the flames are rarely seen.
    â€œNow, can we start?”
    Elderflower slipped out from between Fool and Balthazar and walked away. Fool watched as a look of confusion writhed across Balthazar’s face, his skin darkening further, and even at a distance, Fool felt the heatcoming off him. The angel stared after Elderflower and then shot a look at Fool, saw that he was still being observed, and made a visible effort to calm himself. The color drained from his cheeks, his skin returning to the smooth pink of clean marble. On the other side of the large room, Adam made a noise somewhere between a cough and a summoning, and Balthazar and Fool followed.
    Adam and Elderflower sat facing each other, a low table between them. Balthazar positioned himself behind Adam, and although he kept his wings folded in, he flexed his broad chest and shoulders so that they shuffled, the feathers rattling and punctuating the start of the meeting. The scribe and the archive took places on either side of Adam but at a distance, bookends around a space waiting to be filled. Adam smiled at Elderflower and said, “We find ourselves here again, old friend.”
    â€œYes,” said Elderflower. Fool didn’t recognize Adam from previous delegations, and assumed that his last visit had been before Fool’s emergence from Limbo.
    â€œWe shall take five this time,” said Adam.
    â€œTen,” replied Elderflower immediately. “The spaces beyond the wall grow full.”
    â€œAs you wish,” said Adam. “Ten. Do you have candidates?”
    Elderflower did not speak. Instead, he waved a scurrying thing out of the shadows at the edge of the room, which darted forward and handed him a single sheet of paper. Elderflower handed the paper to Adam, who passed it without appearing to read it to one of his silent companions. The angel began to read the names aloud as the other, the scribe, held out a large book; it appeared in its hands as though it had been removed from between two flaps of air. None of the names meant anything to Fool, just as they hadn’t during previous Elevations. They were the anonymous of Hell, farm or factory workers, Genevieves, barmen. No one special.
    On the seventh name, Adam spoke. “No,” he said quietly.
    Elderflower raised his eyebrows, but Adam merely smiled. Elderflower nodded, and then gestured at the shadows again. The scurrying thing darted out once more, carrying another piece of paper. Elderflower took it and passed it to Adam, who again handed it on to the archive, who in return gave Adam the first piece of paper. Adam handed it to thescurrying thing, which scuttled back to the shadows, its clawed hands already crumpling the sheet. After a short moment, the archive started reading again, its voice dusty.
    After the ten names had been read out without comment from Adam and recorded, Adam spoke again. “We will take another five of your choice if you agree to receiving one of ours.”
    â€œNo,” said Elderflower. “We have to take from outside. The flesh clamors at our walls.”
    â€œTen,” said Adam, still smiling.
    â€œPerhaps,” said Elderflower. “We might require further concessions in addition to the extra Elevations.”
    â€œSuch as?”
    Elderflower started to talk about some of the other trades currently being discussed between Heaven and Hell, outlining changes to various treaties and deals. Adam replied in the negative to almost all of them, and soon he and Elderflower