Vessel: The Demontouched Saga (Book 4) Read Free Page B

“Hard to get anything done when your lieutenants keep dieing.”
    He continues to laugh. “Belial was hardly a lieutenant. He wanted to open the portals for himself.”
    “Puts him on your team,” I say. “Unless I’m wrong.”
    “Very wrong,” he says.
    “What about Israfil and Duncan?” I say. “I know those dented your plans.”
    “Israfil has been dead for nearly a thousand years now,” he says. “I doubt you played a part in his demise.”
    I look over at Uriel who shrugs back. The only explanation I have is that they didn’t know about him, or the necklace. Hopefully Sara stays away until we are done here. That’s another secret we don’t want to get out.
    “As for Duncan,” he says, smiling. “He says you got lucky last time. He won’t fall for your tricks again.”
    “Again?” I say. “Know some resurrection trick the angels don’t?”
    “You can say that,” he says.
    “I don’t know about you, Uriel, but I call bullshit on this,” I say stretching, careful not to stress my wounded arm.
    “I need time to evaluate the truth. If what he says is true, we need to reinforce the riverfront quickly.”
    “We were just down that way a few days ago,” I say. “If they were rebuilding the arch, we would have seen it.”
    “Not if they used a veil,” she says.
    “What the hell is a veil?” I say, looking over at Astaroth.
    “A veil is an ability that allows you to mask the truth with an illusion.”
    “So they can make it look like a wasteland at the riverfront yet still be rebuilding it?”
    “Precisely,” she says.
    “Sounds like a bunch of hocus-pocus to me.”
    “Does it?” I try not to gasp when she morphs from the nine year old girl I’m used to seeing her as an into a beautiful blonde woman wearing a gray skirt-suit.
    “That was you?” I shout. “Back in Nal’s office when I brought the head?”
    She nods and smiles. “I don’t use a vessel to walk this earth like most.”
    “Then why don’t you hide this place? Keep it safe from attackers like this asshole.” I point over at Astaroth, who laughs.
    “To hide it from them would be to hide it from the rest of the world,” she says. “I was sent here to protect as many of the survivors as I could for the return.”
    I still would do it by keeping the place hidden from view. It makes a lot more sense to send out search parties to find groups of people and bring them back rather than sending an open invitation to the demons.
    “So, what do we do about him?” I say, kneeling next to Astaroth, knife to his throat.
    His head jolts up, looking me in the eye. “Do it,” he says. “Send me back to my master.”
    “As you say,” I say, pulling my knife back for the killing blow.
    “Wait!” Uriel says, holding my hand back. “There is another way.”
    “I’ve seen what angels can do to them,” I say. “This way is a little less painful on my eyes.”
    “Not a smite,” she says. “Reap his soul.”
    “I thought I did that after they died.”
    “That is one way. But you can also reap the soul of an angel or demon from its vessel. There is no guarantee, but there is a chance you can save the human he is possessing.”
    “I’ll give it a shot,” I say. “Ready, tough guy?”
    I place my right hand on Astaroth’s head, palm over his eyes with my thumb and pinky fingers on his temples. From there I close my eyes and focus in my hands.
    To tell the truth, I’m not really sure how to work this. Before I was able to draw the soul from the body as they were dieing, but so far it isn’t working. “Any tips would be nice,” I say, looking at Uriel.
    Astaroth laughs loudly in my face. With my free hand I wipe his spittle from his face before placing it over his mouth.
    “Try Exorcizamus,” she shrugs. “Worth a shot.”
    “OK then,” I say, closing my eyes again. “Exorcizamus!”
    I feel heat radiating from the palm of the hand on his head, feeling it reflect onto the one covering his mouth. I open my eyes