Read Délon City: Book Two of the Oz Chronicles for Free Online

wasn’t cold. I was cold from the inside out. My bones felt as if they were frozen and my muscles were ice crystals. The hate I had felt earlier was finding a target. If I ever got my hands on that fat little royal scarab, I was going to pluck it apart ugly little bug part by ugly little bug part.
    I opened the door to my bedroom. The house was dark. Miles was lying on the couch, snoring away like he didn’t have a care in the world. It was good to see him sleeping. Délons slept. They were at least that human. If they slept, that meant they had vulnerabilities. If they had vulnerabilities, that meant they could be defeated.
    I backed into my room and closed the door. I was shivering uncontrollably. I felt as if I would shatter at any moment. As quietly as possible, I tore through my dresser and found the heaviest sweater I owned. After finding my favorite blue jean jacket, I opened my bedroom window and stumbled into the crisp cold world outside what was once my home.
    The wind howled through the bare branches of the trees in the neighborhood. My vision limited to one eye and my movement severely impaired by frozen insides, I clumsily navigated my way to the Chalmers’ house. Climbing the steps to their front porch took every effort. Knocking on their door bruised my fragile knuckles, and seeing Mrs. Chalmers when she opened the door nearly broke my heart. She was a halfer.
    The brutal-looking beast sniffed the air. Her milky Délon eye zoomed back and forth while her human hand reached out and caressed my swollen left eye. “You’ve been marked.”
    “Mrs. Chalmers...”
    “You shouldn’t be here,” she said concerned.
    “I have to find Nate.”
    “Nate?” Her human eye brightened. “I know that name.” “Your son, Mrs. Chalmers...”
    A drunken voice roared from the staircase behind her. “Who’s
    at the door?”
    She didn’t answer.
    “Answer me, you ugly cow!”
    I peered around her and saw a Délon standing at the top of
    the stairs with a bottle of whisky in its hand. It was Mr. Chalmers. “I said who is it? Speak, you stinking halfer!”
    I stepped past Mrs. Chalmers and entered the house. “It’s
    me... Mr. Chalmers.” It sounded funny calling the monster at the top of the stairs Mr. Chalmers, but I didn’t know what else to call him.
    He stomped down three stairs trying to focus his dead eyes on me. “Me who?”
    “Oz Griffin.”
    “Oz...” His posture changed. He dropped the whisky bottle and barreled down the remaining stairs. “Oz Griffin. Oz Griffin.” He fell to his knees. “Forgive me, Oz Griffin.”
    “Forgive you?” I looked at Mrs. Chalmers. She bowed her head in shame. “For what?”
    “I know it is forbidden to keep halfers in your home, but what am I to do, she is from my... before I transformed. Before I was reborn Délon .” Mr. Chalmers was shaking more than me. He was scared for his life.
    Mrs. Chalmers screamed. “I am only this way because you made me this way!”
    “Shut up!” The Délon growled. His fear was quickly replaced by intense anger. I could empathize with him. I knew that anger. I longed for that anger when I saw it in him.
    “I will not. You broke the law. You couldn’t wait for my marking. You broke the law.”
    Mr. Chalmers grabbed my pant leg. He began to plead. “I only wanted her to know the beauty of being Délon . The glorious hatred, the pure fury, the cleansing...”
    “Anger?” I said.
    “Yes, yes. I wanted her to feel it, to know it, to become it.”
    “You broke the law,” Mrs. Chalmers repeated.
    “It is an unjust law. You were filthy with your human essence. I wanted it out of my house.”
    “You knew what it would do to me. You knew I would become this.”
    Mr. Chalmers looked at me. “It’s not true. I had studied the old way. I read about the method used in battle. I performed it on her. I thought it would work.”
    I backhanded the Délon kneeling before me. I did it without thinking. It brought me a pleasure that I