Alternate Worlds: The Fallen Read Free

taser
out. I hit him with a few thousand volts and released, leaping
toward him as his knees wobbled and gave way. It was a near thing,
but I managed to lower him to the floor without pitching either of
us over the side.
    When I’d settled him, I whipped my trusty
roll of duct tape from the pocket of my utility belt and trussed
him like a yearling calf. He came to just about the time I wrapped
a strip of tape around his head and immediately began wiggling
frantically. Glancing around, I saw there was nothing to tie him
to. Finally, I hauled him to his feet and tied him to the corner of
the tower, figuring the other guards would at least see that he was
still at his post if they looked, and he couldn’t do anything I’d
regret.
    Tucking the tape in the belt again, I pulled
out a small flashlight and examined the floor. Sure enough, there
was a trap door. My heart was pounding with excitement when I
pulled it open and looked down into the belly of the building.
    Burning candles were all over the place. The
smell of candle wax was almost enough to overwhelm me.
    I was a lot more overwhelmed, though, when I
discovered there was no ladder leading down from the tower.
    What kind of morons built a tower that was
only accessible from the outside?
    Dropping to my belly, I hung over the drop
for a better look. To my relief, I spied rungs running down the
inside of the tower similar to those on the outside. The catch was
that they ended at roughly the same place, and there was no ladder
under the tower.
    Shrugging, I reversed positions and put my
legs through the opening, feeling around with one foot until I
found a rung. I left nail prints in the wood when I finally came to
the point of no return. My arm was just long enough I could brush
the nearest frigging rung and not quite grasp it.
    Taking a couple of deep breaths for courage,
I lowered myself until I was hanging by both arms and made a dive
for the rung I hadn’t been able to reach. I caught it, but my palms
were so sweaty with fear by that time I almost lost my grip.
Slipping an arm through the rung to steady myself, I wiped my
sweaty palms, blew on them until they were dryish and started down.
When I reached the last rung, I turned to look down and gauge the
distance.
    There was a podium about ten feet below me.
I didn’t especially want to land on it and the idea of swinging to
miss it didn’t appeal to me a lot more. Sighing in irritation that
nothing so far had been easy, I unhooked the rope from my belt. I’d
brought it to tie up cult members if the need arose, not for
climbing. I decided it ought to be long enough though.
    It took me a good ten minutes to work knots
into it to have something to hold onto and another five to tie it
off to my satisfaction. By the time I had, I was sweating, partly
from nerves and partly from the fucking candles.
    Jeeze! Were they trying to roast the guy? Or
just trying to make him feel at home?
    My palms were wet again. I dried them and
started down. It was hellish. I didn’t remember having nearly this
much trouble when I went through boot camp, but then again it had
been a few years. The rope didn’t quite reach. I dropped the last
few feet before I’d had the chance to consider how I was going to
get back up the frigging thing.
    Not that it mattered. I doubted very
seriously that I could climb up it. It had taken all I could do to
climb down with gravity helping me.
    I saw him/it as soon as I took my first look
around. My stomach clenched in empathy. The bloodthirsty freaks had
staked him to a cross and then hauled the cross up—to display him I
supposed. Wings covered in feathers that were the inky, iridescent
black of a raven’s wings were spread on either side of him and
staked or nailed in place.

Chapter Two
    My heart failed me. I thought he/it was dead
at first. I also thought it was fake, not the man part, but the
wing thing. From what I could see, he looked like a man.
    These people were crazier than I’d thought
and