Read Online The Devil You Need by Sam Cheever - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Sam Cheever
Ads: Link
the jagged rift in its center and trailed down the sides to
the floor. Puffs of stuffing littered the ground and skittered past on a brisk
draft.
I shivered and my gaze slid to the long wall of windows. Two
of the massive panes of glass were broken, and debris blew into the room
through the shattered surface. My horrified gaze quickly scanned the room,
moving to the closet and the single door leading into Dialle’s personal hygiene
room. I splashed through a puddle as I pushed the door open, a power ball sizzling
on my palm. The hygiene room was in even worse shape than his bedchamber was.
The shower tube had been ripped from the wall and soapy water poured from the
hole in a steady stream, creating a growing puddle that spread across the floor
and out the door to saturate the once-beautiful carpets. The mirror over the
sink was cracked, its surface used to send a horrible message, written in
blood. The words scrawled across the reflective glass made me shudder. Dark.
Cold. Evil.
It was the message of a fractured mind. I only hoped it
hadn’t been Dialle who’d written it.
I hurried back out into the bedchamber, heading for the
door. I would find Gerch or Brina and find out what was going on. As soon as I
opened the door, though, I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.
The halls were thick with devils, demons and gargoyles. The
combined stench of sulfur and blood made me gag and cover my mouth. Metal
clanged against metal as the dark worlders of the court fought a brutal battle,
fed by a depth of bloodlust I hadn’t seen in a long time, not since the Devil
had cast a magic veil over the Earth, infusing everyone with a lethal kind of
anger.
I watched the chaos beyond the door for a long moment,
trying to figure out how best to move through it without being immediately skewered.
But before I could talk myself into stepping into the melee, a sword blade
appeared from nowhere and slashed toward my face.
Chapter Five
Into the Devil’s Backyard
Alas our hero’s in a spot, his predicament so dire,
But our young miss will fail him not, she’ll yank him
from the fire.
Without even thinking, I lifted my hand and sprayed power
into my attacker’s face. He flew backward with a grunt, smacking into the wall
on the opposite side of the wide hallway. A large hand grasped my forearm and
yanked me out from behind the door, flinging me into the center of the roiling
mess of savage dark worlders.
I stumbled backward, ducking just as a wide, heavy blade
whizzed toward my head, and spun. A lower devil dipped its head and charged,
the sharp points of his curved, black horns heading right for my midsection. I
spun again and had the satisfaction of watching the horns skewer the royal
behind me.
Pain blossomed in my back as the handle of a sword
bludgeoned me and my breath momentarily left my lungs. I dropped to one knee,
struggling to breathe and just missed being impaled as a knife flew overhead.
A roar to one side had me lifting my hands in a defensive
maneuver that, infused with a jolt of my borrowed power, allowed me to use my
attacker’s momentum against him. I shoved hard on the demon’s wide chest as he
flung himself at me, and sent him flying over my head. He hit the wall behind
me with a wet thump. I jumped to my feet and started running.
I didn’t get far.
At the first turn in the hallway a large, scaly red arm
reached out and hooked me around the waist, dragging me into a covered alcove.
I pulled power into my fingertips and then stopped as a massive paw wrapped
itself over my fingers.
I looked up into Gerch’s worried, red face. One side of his
face was covered in blood and the eye on that side was swollen shut. He held a
thick finger in front of his craggy lips and pushed me deeper into the alcove,
pulling the heavy wall hanging over the opening.
“What the hell’s going on, Gerch?” I whispered.
He just shook his head and peered down the hall through a
crack between the wall and the hanging.
the floor. Puffs of stuffing littered the ground and skittered past on a brisk
draft.
I shivered and my gaze slid to the long wall of windows. Two
of the massive panes of glass were broken, and debris blew into the room
through the shattered surface. My horrified gaze quickly scanned the room,
moving to the closet and the single door leading into Dialle’s personal hygiene
room. I splashed through a puddle as I pushed the door open, a power ball sizzling
on my palm. The hygiene room was in even worse shape than his bedchamber was.
The shower tube had been ripped from the wall and soapy water poured from the
hole in a steady stream, creating a growing puddle that spread across the floor
and out the door to saturate the once-beautiful carpets. The mirror over the
sink was cracked, its surface used to send a horrible message, written in
blood. The words scrawled across the reflective glass made me shudder. Dark.
Cold. Evil.
It was the message of a fractured mind. I only hoped it
hadn’t been Dialle who’d written it.
I hurried back out into the bedchamber, heading for the
door. I would find Gerch or Brina and find out what was going on. As soon as I
opened the door, though, I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.
The halls were thick with devils, demons and gargoyles. The
combined stench of sulfur and blood made me gag and cover my mouth. Metal
clanged against metal as the dark worlders of the court fought a brutal battle,
fed by a depth of bloodlust I hadn’t seen in a long time, not since the Devil
had cast a magic veil over the Earth, infusing everyone with a lethal kind of
anger.
I watched the chaos beyond the door for a long moment,
trying to figure out how best to move through it without being immediately skewered.
But before I could talk myself into stepping into the melee, a sword blade
appeared from nowhere and slashed toward my face.
Chapter Five
Into the Devil’s Backyard
Alas our hero’s in a spot, his predicament so dire,
But our young miss will fail him not, she’ll yank him
from the fire.
Without even thinking, I lifted my hand and sprayed power
into my attacker’s face. He flew backward with a grunt, smacking into the wall
on the opposite side of the wide hallway. A large hand grasped my forearm and
yanked me out from behind the door, flinging me into the center of the roiling
mess of savage dark worlders.
I stumbled backward, ducking just as a wide, heavy blade
whizzed toward my head, and spun. A lower devil dipped its head and charged,
the sharp points of his curved, black horns heading right for my midsection. I
spun again and had the satisfaction of watching the horns skewer the royal
behind me.
Pain blossomed in my back as the handle of a sword
bludgeoned me and my breath momentarily left my lungs. I dropped to one knee,
struggling to breathe and just missed being impaled as a knife flew overhead.
A roar to one side had me lifting my hands in a defensive
maneuver that, infused with a jolt of my borrowed power, allowed me to use my
attacker’s momentum against him. I shoved hard on the demon’s wide chest as he
flung himself at me, and sent him flying over my head. He hit the wall behind
me with a wet thump. I jumped to my feet and started running.
I didn’t get far.
At the first turn in the hallway a large, scaly red arm
reached out and hooked me around the waist, dragging me into a covered alcove.
I pulled power into my fingertips and then stopped as a massive paw wrapped
itself over my fingers.
I looked up into Gerch’s worried, red face. One side of his
face was covered in blood and the eye on that side was swollen shut. He held a
thick finger in front of his craggy lips and pushed me deeper into the alcove,
pulling the heavy wall hanging over the opening.
“What the hell’s going on, Gerch?” I whispered.
He just shook his head and peered down the hall through a
crack between the wall and the hanging.
Similar Books
