Read Online The Devil's Backbone (A Niki Slobodian Novel: Book Five) by J.L. Murray - Free Book Online

“And I needed you to help me.”
    “With what?”
    He looked at me with his pale eyes and tapped his fingers on his knees. “Okay,” he said finally. “I’m not from here.”
    “Obviously.”
    “No, I mean, I’m not from this world.”
    “You came for the Yuki-onna?” I said. He nodded, suddenly solemn. “We’re shadows. Smoke on the edge of your vision. We’re not meant to be seen. But you can see us. And you can find her.”
    “Why can’t you find her?” I said. “If you’re so powerful why not just go take her out?”
    He narrowed his eyes for a moment, and his voice was strained when he spoke again.
    “I can’t,” he said softly.
    “What was that?”
    “I can’t find the Yuki-onna in this world,” he said, his mouth tight with irritation. “I can’t feel her anymore. I’m not as powerful in this world.”
    “You could feel her in your world?”
    “Oh yes. That’s what I do. I followed her here through a hole in my world. But when the hole healed itself, I was weak. And I lost her.”
    “What’s what you do?” I said.
    “We’re the ones who hunt the monsters,” he said, the smile creeping back onto his face. “I came here to kill the Yuki-onna.”
    “Huh,” I said. “Why haven’t I ever heard of you?”
    “You stay in your worlds and I stay in mine…for the most part. But something happened. We trapped the Yuki-onna centuries ago. All the monsters. We made entire worlds so they would be comfortable. Small worlds, but it was the kindest thing we could do. We could have killed them, but we were under orders to have mercy. So we had mercy.”
    “But then she escaped,” I said.
    “Yes. I don’t know how, but she did.”
    “I think I know,” I said. “There’s a boy. An Abby.”
    “Abby?”
    “Abnormal. A human with power.”
    “Ah. Understood.”
    “Are there Abbies in other worlds?”
    “You misunderstand the way it works, Lady Death. We’re all one world. All the humans in one, everything else in their own. Like your beloved angels and their Briah. It’s a separation the gods agreed to long before you or I sprang into existence. ”
    “The gods?” I said. “There are more than one?”
    He laughed, then stopped when he saw my face. “You thought there was only one?”
    “The Creator,” I said. “You’re saying He has company?”
    “You are new, aren’t you?”
    “Don’t be an asshole. Just answer my question.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you ever wonder why you didn’t take many souls where they didn’t worship your god?”
    “I guess I was too busy to notice,” I said.
    “That’s the way with your lot, isn’t it? You love the idea of being the center of the universe.”
    “So you’ve been to this world before,” I said. “The human one.”
    “Yes,” he said carefully.
    “What’s changed?” I said. “Why can’t you do your job?”
    He didn’t respond for a moment, and when he did, his voice was low and quiet. “I don’t know. I feel as though I’ve lost my connection to my world. As if something tore or cracked and now I can’t feel the way I need to. It’s like I can’t breathe.”
    “Could it have something to do with the Abby boy? The one that let her free?”
    “It’s very possible. Where is he?”
    “I’m looking for him. He’s…I think he’s opening up holes in the world. I thought the Yuki-onna took him, but now I think he might be in Erebos.”
    “Hell,” he said.  
    “Yeah,” I said. “Matthew is in Hell.”
    “Maybe he should stay there.”
    “What?”
    “Better he causes damage there than this world. It’s our purpose. Protect the humans. It’s your purpose too, if I’m not mistaken. Meanwhile, we can find a way to fix what’s broken.”
    “We?” I said.
    “You and me. Unless you want the crack to deepen. Which could bring consequences I’m positive you don’t want to deal with.”
    “Yeah, well, I never signed on for this,” I said.
    He laughed a dry laugh. “None of us signed on