The Labyrinth of the Dead by Sara M. Harvey Read Free Book Online Page B

eyes with a beatific smile.
    Portia resisted the instinct to step
away from the girl. It was becoming apparent that Kanika was not alone;
something was riding her. She had seen possession before. This was of a
different sort, not a true subjugation of will by the demon, but somehow a
commingling of the two souls, not unlike what she experienced with her angel.
But, contrary to her situation, her angel’s soul did not battle for dominion
and they did not take turns being in control. Portia saw to it that she remained
the ascendant force. She would have to tread carefully.
    "Where do we go from here?"
    Kanika glanced up the road. The broad
street was ill-kept, with ruts and holes in the paving. "You want to find your
beloved, right? Well, I guarantee she is somewhere in there." She pointed
toward the center of the city.
    "And what about you—what do you want?"
    "Right now I want to follow you. You
told me you’d help me."
    "I told you I’d only help you if I
could."
    "Trust me, you’ll be able to."
    Portia paused. There was no use arguing
with her, not here in the open next to the city gates that told of dangers
lurking in the streets. "Let’s get someplace safe, someplace we can speak more
openly."
    "A sanctuary," Kanika suggested. "So,
find one."
    "You make it sound far too simple, my
dear."
    "Not so. I know there are things here
that you can see and I cannot. I know you have found your way through the
under-side quite easily and evaded the queen’s snares. I have great faith that
you can find your way to the sanctuary of Salus."
    "Is there only one?"
    "Only one that matters. Only one that
has the power to keep someone like you safe from someone like her."
    "The queen?"
    Kanika nodded.
    "I wish I understood what she wanted
from me."
    "Angels never die and Nephilim never
come here. I am certain that she finds you a curiosity."
    "But you said Imogen was here."
    "And if she is to be found, then she’ll
be in the sanctuary. Let’s go ." She tugged Portia’s sleeve.
    The thrum of her breastbone rose in
intensity, seeming to confirm Kanika’s suggestion of
where Imogen could be found. "The nights are bad here, as well?"
    "There are dangerous things everywhere.
Most of them live here. What you saw in the shadow-Penemue was a delightful tea
time with sparrows and butterflies compared to what lurks here after dark. The
Queen of the Here-After is forever hungry, and her minions go a-hunting at
night for unwary travelers." Kanika slipped her arm through Portia’s, and
together they walked between the battered gates. "But you won’t have anything
to be afraid of, my sweet. Not you, you have nothing to fear."
    Portia feigned a cool demeanor, but her
wings fluttered nervously, sending a nip of pain through her entire right side
each time the injured one twitched.
    Great, crumbling façades flanked them,
interrupted only by moldering courtyards and cross streets paved unevenly with
flagstones, cobbles, and tar. The sky above was lit a lurid orange and purple;
Portia wondered how they would tell when night had descended. The low growl of
engines accompanied them everywhere they walked, from the broad central street
to the smaller roadways that diverged from it. The city was desolate but
enthralling.
    "Have you been here before?" Portia
asked. "To Salus?"
    "Once." Kanika’s
forehead pinched a moment, and she shook her head. "Only once, but trust me,
that was enough."
    "But you went through a lot of trouble
to come back."
    She paused and pretended to be
engrossed in deciding which street to take next. "Sometimes…things happen and
you think that what you’re doing is a good idea. You think that what you are
risking is worth the reward." She glanced surreptitiously back at Portia. "I’m
sure you know what that’s like."
    "I do. Where to next?"
    She kicked at a loose cobblestone and
shrugged. "I’m so turned around. It isn’t the same as it was before. I thought
I knew the way."
    "Not the same?"
    "No. The roads, they