Vessel: The Demontouched Saga (Book 4) Read Free

question.
    “Do you know what this is?” I say, pulling the angel blade from my hip.
    The boss nods once before trying to pull the knife from his chest.
    “Then you know it will not have a problem killing you,” I say, looking down at the boss. “Or you.” I swing the blade in an arc, slicing the throat of Blue. He reaches up to his throat in a feeble attempt to hold it together, but quickly drops to the ground once reality sets in.
    Yeah, I need to question the boss.
    “I guess you aren’t having a good day,” I say, cleaning the sword off on Blue’s shirt. “I know I wouldn’t be if I just had my ass handed to me either.” I put some of energy into the knife, twisting it just enough to spread his ribs a part a hair. “Who sent you?”
    He coughs some more before spitting a wad of blood on my pants. I guess this guy wants to do this the hard way. With the tip of the sword downward, I thrust the blade into the top of his foot. But, I don’t stop there. I keep my pressure on the handle of the knife, forcing his body to stay upright.
    That’s right, asshole. Two can play at this game.
    “You going to tell me now, or do I have to stab the other one to?”
    He speaks quickly in Demonic, a language I’ve never bothered to learn. For good reason. I may have made a bad deal, but that doesn’t mean I had to embrace it.
    I shake my head, following it by twisting the angel blade still in his foot. “If you are gonna cuss me out, you can at least do it in English.”
    Unperturbed by my threat, he continues to assault my eardrums with his babble.
    “As you wish,” I say, pulling the sword out of that foot and slamming it through the other.
    The scream he lets out has to be one of the worst I’ve ever heard. Easily beating the sounds Chef Tweedle made on the grill. Once he’s done, he pants a few times before renewing his chant.
    “Are you really going to make me do it again?” I ask, slowly twisting the sword in his other foot.
    Blood oozes out of the corner of his mouth as a smile touches his lips. “Time to die,” he says, laughing.
    Before I can turn around, stars fill my vision thanks to being clubbed with the butt end of a rifle. “You aren’t the smartest people,” I say with a smile. I turn around, facing the new attacker. With my focus on his gun I force it up in the air out of the way.
    I wince at a sharp pain in my shoulder. Apparently he got off a lucky shot because I can feel the warmth of my blood as it trickles down my chest.
    “How does that feel, Demontouched?” the boss asks, laughing. “You can’t focus on both of us forever.”
    “Don’t need to,” I say, twisting the gun back further with my power. The man holds the gun tightly to keep me from pulling it out of his hands. So tight, in fact, he yells out in pain when the bones in his wrists snap.
    As you can imagine, he let go then.
    I don’t let the man suffer long, pulling the trigger on the weapon before allowing it to drop to the floor. The body hits the ground first with an audible thump. Already on the ground, I place my hand on the man’s head, drawing his soul into my fingertips.
    “How did you do that?” he says. “The reapers were supposed to leave the world.”
    “And you play by the rules?” I say, standing up.
    “It was part of the agreement,” he says, spitting blood on the ground.
    “Then consider it broken,” I say. “Because I’m one of them.”
    The boss cusses me out in English before switching back to his native Demonic, which I’m grateful for. There are only so many things I can do to my mother.
    “You OK, sir,” I hear behind me.
    “I’m fine,” I say, turning around to face the kid. “Is the medic safe?”
    “She is fine,” he says. “The woman woke up shortly after you left. She wanted to say thanks.”
    “I’ll stop off when I’m done with him.”
    Three other soldiers appear from behind me. “What are we going to do with him, sir?”
    “Let’s take him back to Uriel. I’m sure