Soul Cage Read Free Page A

the
one—Rhonda worked the spell she'd learned that day in Rodriguez'
chamber of horrors where they'd found Dags, barely hanging on to
life. He'd been burned, flayed, beaten, tortured. He'd been
dying.
    Arranging the pages had been
simple—their secrets revealed themselves to her as she'd worked
that day—
    He was awake and whole
again, even if he couldn't access the Grimoire .
    But still he wanted Zoë. He pinned for
her.
    Zoë…
    She balled her hands into
fists as she listened to Manuel drone on about… Zoë . How he wanted to be partnered
with Zoë on his last assignment because they'd faced that Dominion
together.
    Zoë….ZoëZoëZoë.
    You hate her.
    "No. I don't." She fired back at the voice in her
head.
    You want her
dead.
    "No…"
    Yes you do. Otherwise, why
did you start listening to me after you healed the Guardian? You
wanted what was rightfully yours. She had the cop, and the cop
turned Revenant. And I helped you get what you wanted, remember? I
helped you forge that page so that he would love you.
    "No you didn't. I learned
how from the knowledge Geist gave me. You…you just showed up,
annoying me."
    But since then, haven't I
remained by your side? Warned you when danger was near? Helped you
keep your little boy toy safe?
    "Yes. But I as the one
that worked the spell to dissolve those memories. Me ."
    And when Dags woke that day, he kissed
her…
    He kissed…Rhonda. And Dags was hers,
just as Geist promised.
    But it was a short lived happiness—Zoë
recovered soon enough and then discovered what had happened. And
somehow, she hadn't been told the standard story, the one Rhonda
had written, that somehow the prolonged exposure to the Abysmal
Throne had damaged the last page and erased some of Dags'
memories.
    No… when Zoë had come for her that day
of the welcoming home party, the bitch had been told the
truth.
    Which meant they knew the truth.
Daniel, Joe, Azrael, and…Nona.
    She didn't want to see
Nona as an enemy…but she was Zoë's mom. And that was where her loyalty would always
remain.
    The Society Council, set up by Nona
and agreed upon by Rhonda, had refused to remove any of them from
the Society—mainly because Rhonda didn't have a reasonable excuse.
And…they all liked Joe, and Nona, and Daniel. Though Daniel had
proven to be a liability a few times. He might not be the killer
he'd been before Inanna bonded with him—but he still had the same
face, which remained inside of a law enforcement's database on
dangerous criminals.
    Since Zoë's emergence into the
Society's working pool, since he'd seen her that day in his room,
when she hugged him, not knowing what had changed, Dags asked
questions about her. No matter how many times Rhonda told him Zoë
was dangerous, she was Abysmal, to stay away from her and that she
was Daniel's...he wouldn't leave it alone.
    Even that morning he'd asked about a
dream he'd had…about two women. An older one and a younger one…and
they were telling him to wake up…
    Alice and Maureen.
    No…shhh…don't fret. You
silenced them as well, didn't you?
    "Yes. But for how
long?"
    "—even listening to a thing I've been
saying," Manuel finished and crossed his arms over his chest. He
was a pretty one—very young when his First Born took him. Zoë had
always said he looked like Enrique Iglesias…only more
attractive.
    You could kill
him.
    "Shhh."
    You could. You know the
spell. It's in the book.
    "I haven't taken
it."
    But you will. You're
half-way there, Rhonda. You have half of the Grimoire
copied.
    "Rhonda?"
    "I don't have that spell.
It's part of Inanna's diary…in a place I can't get
to ."
    Yes you can—you're just
afraid.
    "Hey, Rhonda…who are you talking
to?"
    "She'll know when I take
it. She's still connected to her words."
    So? Daniel is the weakest
of them, easy to destroy first. The voice
laughed in her ears. Yes, yes…that would
be fitting wouldn't it? To kill Inanna with her own
spell.
    "Who is that, Rhonda?"
    Take it next time you open
up the