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

for this,” he said. “It just is. You may as well accept it.”
    “Whatever,” I said.  
    “So, you’ll help me?”
    “No.”
    He frowned. “Your world is in danger as long as the Yuki-onna is loose.”
    “I have a thing.”
    “A thing that’s more important than saving the world?”
    “There’s more than one world.”
    “I’ll kill your friend,” he said. “I can do it. With a wiggle of my little finger.”
    “You’re not going to kill him,” I said.
    “Do you want to take that bet?” he said.
    I pursed my lips, looking at his face. It was suddenly hard and I could see the coldness in his eyes. He would kill Gage. He’d have no problem with it. I couldn’t let that happen. Gage had been the only friend that had stood by me these past few years. And I knew it hadn’t been easy for him.
    “No,” I said. “I don’t.”
    “Okay, then,” he said, sitting back, a satisfied smile spreading. “So you’re going to help me.”
    “I need to go to Erebos,” I said. “You don’t understand. Someone is in danger.”
    “Who? The boy?”
    “No, someone else,” I said. “It’s very important.”
    “Is he dead?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Help me first. Then go to Erebos. Unless you want a dead friend on your conscience.”
    “Fine,” I said. “I’ll help you. But first I have to do something.”
    “What?”
    I squeezed the trigger on the Makarov and the room exploded with the sound of the shot. Aki looked down at the blood pouring out of the hole in his chest. It was odd. Like thick, viscous black smoke. He looked at me, shock and irritation in his eyes.
    “Ow!” he said. “You didn’t have to shoot me.”
    “It was on my to-do list,” I said. “Don’t ever threaten my friends.”
    “Fine,” he said, “if you don’t shoot me any more. This was a new suit.”
    “No one can see you,” I said. “Why do you need a suit?”
    “It’s called personal grooming,” he said, looking up and down at my dirty jeans and tee-shirt. “You should try it sometime.”
    “I will shoot you again,” I said.
    “Okay,” he said, rubbing his chest. He took his hand away to reveal that the hole was gone. Just a hole in the middle of his dress shirt. “Can I have some of that coffee now?”  
    “No,” I said. I was starting to feel a tug deep in my chest. It grew, becoming more intense, just on the brink of pain. “She’s started again,” I said. “I can feel it.”
    “Then I guess we’d better go,” said Aki with an unsettling smile. He was hard and wiry as we traveled, and I couldn’t help but feel a moment of sadness that he wasn’t Lucifer. I pushed the feeling away. Aki smelled heavily of cologne, but underneath there was something else. Something stale and old. As we touched down, I pushed him away, the nearness of him making me feel slightly ill. He staggered, nearly falling over.
    “Sorry,” I said.  
    “It’s a common reaction,” he said, busying himself with straightening his shredded suit. “So, where are we?”
    “Does it matter?” I said, wrapping my arms around myself in the cold. Aki seemed unaffected and looked around him curiously. We were in a small city, dirty and run down, with high mountains in the distance. I ignored Aki and walked down the street, following the pull in my chest, aching and throbbing more by the second. The street was empty, the air frigid with a sharp wind cutting against my face. One by one, I touched the lost souls, confused by the sudden end, so pointless and cruel. A mother staring into a frozen baby carriage. A group of teenage boys outside a video store. A young couple near an ice cream parlor. A pretty woman in her thirties with dreadlocks like ropes in her hair cried when she saw me. A man tried to run away, the gray in his beard not nearly as plentiful as he would have liked before he saw my face. I caught him easily and he nodded in understanding before he went. Every one felt like a kick in the guts, the way the souls looked at me,