Read Online Hard Day's Knight by John G Hartness - Free Book Online
Authors: John G Hartness
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able to taste me again. Is that really what you want?” She got up off of Phil’s lap and came to sit on mine. She twined herself around me in a pretty good imitation of a wetsuit, and it took everything I had to keep focused.
“No.” I said in a small voice, and watched the gleam in her eyes grow into an inferno. “But it’s what I’ve got to do. Sorry, honey.”
She got a very, very cold look in her eyes and I had a mental picture of her ripping my heart out with her bare hands and feeding it to me before she stood up, flounced back over to the corner of Phil’s desk, and sat down in a huff. “So be it,” she said in a voice like a frosty January window. “We are not entirely sure what is coming, but there is a major summoning in process. It requires the exchange of thirteen pure souls for the souls of thirteen of the damned. Whoever is performing this ritual must have some plan for the thirteen damned souls, and it seems to involve Samhain somehow. There have been eleven kidnapping victims so far, and their bodies have been inhabited by the souls of the damned. Until you interfered and released the latest damned soul into the city.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t exactly my best moment. What’s going to happen to the girl who was possessed? Last I heard she was a little freaked out, but in decent shape.”
Phil chimed in, “She will be susceptible to possession unless your friend the priest is able to provide her with some type of shielding. The soul you cast out of her will not be able to return. But she will be more likely to see and hear the presence of souls around her than a normal child, and if she continues to dabble in the mystic arts, she will undoubtedly end up dead long before she finishes puberty.” I hate how much that bastard knows about everything. It’s not fair that he’s a bazillion years old and is tied in to all the bad guys in town. That plus high-speed internet access gives him way more information than I think is fair. But as usual, nobody asked the vampire.
“And the soul?” I asked.
“The soul will look for a host. Typically it will inhabit an empty body, but if one is not available, it will attempt to possess one weaker than itself.” Lilith looked like she knew more than she was saying, but a glance from Phil shut her up.
“And how do I stop who- or whatever is behind this whole mess?” I finally got to the big question, and of course my host picked that moment to go all evasive.
“I don’t know. First you must uncover exactly who is performing the ritual and what they intend to gain, then you may be able to stop them. But you will, as I said, have to accomplish that without my help. For I have given you all the aid I am interested in giving you, and now you must go.” Phil stood, and gestured towards a door that I was pretty sure hadn’t existed until that very moment. One day I’ll figure out what powers the fallen have and how much of their power is just mojo like mine, but this obviously wasn’t going to be that day.
Lilith opened the door, and stood very close as I made my exit. “Farewell, little vampire. I do hope you enjoyed my…hospitality.” I blushed again as I went through the door and found myself in an alley behind the club. Somehow I felt a little dirty, like I’d done something inappropriate. I hadn’t, but my Catholic upbringing always left me a little self-conscious about anything that felt that good.
Chapter 12
So there I was outside a high-class strip club with a tummy full of angel blood, a killer buzz, and no real information on the big bad that was about to take Charlotte, North Carolina over if I didn’t stop it. Well, at least I had a buzz.
Tommy had given me the address for Janice Reynolds, the older sister of Victim Number Eight before I left the hospital, so that’s where I headed next. It was all the way south of town in the ritzy Ballantyne area, a new development built around a golf course nobody could afford to
“No.” I said in a small voice, and watched the gleam in her eyes grow into an inferno. “But it’s what I’ve got to do. Sorry, honey.”
She got a very, very cold look in her eyes and I had a mental picture of her ripping my heart out with her bare hands and feeding it to me before she stood up, flounced back over to the corner of Phil’s desk, and sat down in a huff. “So be it,” she said in a voice like a frosty January window. “We are not entirely sure what is coming, but there is a major summoning in process. It requires the exchange of thirteen pure souls for the souls of thirteen of the damned. Whoever is performing this ritual must have some plan for the thirteen damned souls, and it seems to involve Samhain somehow. There have been eleven kidnapping victims so far, and their bodies have been inhabited by the souls of the damned. Until you interfered and released the latest damned soul into the city.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t exactly my best moment. What’s going to happen to the girl who was possessed? Last I heard she was a little freaked out, but in decent shape.”
Phil chimed in, “She will be susceptible to possession unless your friend the priest is able to provide her with some type of shielding. The soul you cast out of her will not be able to return. But she will be more likely to see and hear the presence of souls around her than a normal child, and if she continues to dabble in the mystic arts, she will undoubtedly end up dead long before she finishes puberty.” I hate how much that bastard knows about everything. It’s not fair that he’s a bazillion years old and is tied in to all the bad guys in town. That plus high-speed internet access gives him way more information than I think is fair. But as usual, nobody asked the vampire.
“And the soul?” I asked.
“The soul will look for a host. Typically it will inhabit an empty body, but if one is not available, it will attempt to possess one weaker than itself.” Lilith looked like she knew more than she was saying, but a glance from Phil shut her up.
“And how do I stop who- or whatever is behind this whole mess?” I finally got to the big question, and of course my host picked that moment to go all evasive.
“I don’t know. First you must uncover exactly who is performing the ritual and what they intend to gain, then you may be able to stop them. But you will, as I said, have to accomplish that without my help. For I have given you all the aid I am interested in giving you, and now you must go.” Phil stood, and gestured towards a door that I was pretty sure hadn’t existed until that very moment. One day I’ll figure out what powers the fallen have and how much of their power is just mojo like mine, but this obviously wasn’t going to be that day.
Lilith opened the door, and stood very close as I made my exit. “Farewell, little vampire. I do hope you enjoyed my…hospitality.” I blushed again as I went through the door and found myself in an alley behind the club. Somehow I felt a little dirty, like I’d done something inappropriate. I hadn’t, but my Catholic upbringing always left me a little self-conscious about anything that felt that good.
Chapter 12
So there I was outside a high-class strip club with a tummy full of angel blood, a killer buzz, and no real information on the big bad that was about to take Charlotte, North Carolina over if I didn’t stop it. Well, at least I had a buzz.
Tommy had given me the address for Janice Reynolds, the older sister of Victim Number Eight before I left the hospital, so that’s where I headed next. It was all the way south of town in the ritzy Ballantyne area, a new development built around a golf course nobody could afford to
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