Read Online House Infernal by Edward Lee by Edward Lee - Free Book Online Page B

else."
    Ruth's face fell into her hands again. "Fuck that shit,
man!"
    "It's our mission, Ruth. And it all starts by getting ourselves to Rot-Port."
    Ruth rocked back and forth in silence.
    "Your clothes are the first matter," the priest said next.
    Teary-eyed, Ruth looked down at herself. What the fuck
is he talking about now? My clothes? Her physique remained garbed in the last apparel she remembered putting on: the tight pink YUcx Poo T-shirt, thread-rimmed
cutoff jeans that weren't much bigger than bikini bottoms,
and pink flip-flops. "There's nothing wrong with my
clothes. I look good, don't I?"
    "You actually look great, Ruth ... in a trashy kind of
way."
    "Thanks a fuck of a lot, you fuck."
    Alexander smiled at the profanity. "What I mean is
your body will work to our advantage. And as for your
clothes, when you come here you only arrive with what
you're wearing, along with any adornments, such as jewelry, tattoos ... breast implants ..." Alexander winked.
    Ruth's hands defiantly rose to her 38D mammarian carriage. "Fuck you! These are real."
    Alexander tsked. "Ruth, it's pointless to he to me. Why
bother? Abandon your vanity-look what it did for Lucifer. I know everything pertinent about you, via my intelligence source."

    "Fuck your intelligence source," she muttered, disgusted.
    "For instance, I happen to know that you received
those implants absolutely free: gratis from a plastic surgeon you were shacking up with in Miami. Ultimately my
point is, your trashy good looks are something we can exploit, because the Mephistopolis is quite a trashy city. But
your current wardrobe-at the right time and place-will
have to go."
    "I don't know what the fuck-"
    "Just listen." The priest staved a burst of impatience.
"We have to get busy. We'll be at the port soon. What you
have to do right now is search those two bodies at the
front of the boat. Check them for implements of value."
    Ruth's weepy stare moved forward, to the two corpses
that shared the skiff. "What the hell are they? They don't
even look Human."
    "They're not. They're Demon Conscripts from the Satanic
Naval Infantry. Sort of like the Marine corps but in Hell. By
the looks of them, they're probably the Pudendae Grosse
species, and they're tough customers. The name on this life
boat says S.S. Nefarious, and that makes sense because I
heard on the news recently that the Nefarious sank in an accident. It was one of the biggest prison frigates in the navy."
    "How did it sink?" Ruth asked, hoping curiosity would
cauterize some of the lingering horror.
    "A thing called a Gorge-Worm capsized it."
    "How can a worm sink a ship?"
    "These worms are a mile long. They'll wrap around a
ship and turn it over, then suck all the Demons and Humans into their feeding gills."
    "Fuck!" Ruth's not-so-calculative brain whirred. "Then
one of them might get us!"
    "No, this skiff's too small, they only pursue big prey."
The priest's eyes gestured to the corpses in the boat. "But
if you don't get those things off the skiff right now, the
scent of their decay might attract a Griffin or Dentata-
Vulture. We don't want to have to deal with that. Now get
over to those Conscripts. Get their belts. We'll need them."
    "Why do I have to do it?" Ruth screamed.

    "Because I've got no arms or legs!" the priest snapped
back. "Hurry! Time's wasting!"
    Ruth winced as she kneed her way to the bodies. Their
ridged faces were running with slime; worms milled in
empty eye sockets. She held her breath against the stench,
then slipped off their belts. Two belts were ringed with
supply cases and tools; a third had a holster housing a
crude pistol.
    "Better than nothing. A sulphur flintlock. That guy
must've been an officer. The other one's probably a deckhand. Now check their pockets for money."
    Ruth was revolted. "I'm not putting my hands in dead
guys' pockets!"
    "Not dead guys, Ruth. Dead Demons."
    "That makes it better?"
    "They'll have money. Get it."
    Pus glimmered