Read devil 04 - the devil you know for Free Online Page A

my office building in the speed it took to pull in a good-sized breath. The doors slid silently open and I emerged, heading for the single bright-red vehicle surrounded by politically correct grayness. In 2090 paint was almost illegal, as environmental laws continued to get stricter and more repressive. But you could still find painted items, and my beloved leather boots and clothing, in the underground market.
    Then you just had to avoid the notice of the enviro-nazis. No easy task when you’re flying around in something that’s bright red.
    I took two steps toward the Knight and felt the hair on the back of my neck lift. I tucked just before a thick arm with a set of deadly curved claws swept past where my head had been. I dropped into a crouch and kicked out with one foot, hitting my assailant in a thick, scaly knee.
    The bone cracked and the devil screamed in pain. As he buckled toward the ground I jumped up and hit him in the chin with my knee, sending him flying backward to skim across the grungy floor.
    A whisper of wind was my only warning that a second attacker had arrived. I leapt sideways, springing off my hands and shooting power from my palms as I sprang back into the air off my feet.
    My squat, red attacker flew backward on a stream of deadly power and slammed against the far wall, the sword he’d tried to skewer me with clanging to the floor.
    He hung there, pinned by my power for a moment before I pulled it back.
    I landed in a defensive crouch and looked around the dimly lit space. Visually I came up negative for more devil soldiers but I didn’t trust my visual senses completely where devils were concerned. Sending out my sensing power, I looked for more black auras.
    Other than the two I’d already defeated, the docking area was empty. The devilish attacker I’d skewered on a power arrow was dead, his sightless eyes staring straight ahead and his thick chest smoking around a fist-sized hole.
    I headed for the other one, who was flopping around in pain with a broken jaw and knee. Kneeling on his chest I forced the creature to look at me. “Who sent you?”
    His black eyes filled with hate.
    I reached over and clasped his chin, which hung at an odd angle on his ugly face.
    His eyes widened as I slowly twisted the broken bone. His shrieks filled the space. “Why are you here? Did someone send you to kill me?”
    He said something that sounded like yes, though he couldn’t move his jaw. I stopped twisting the bone and nodded. “Very good. Now tell me who sent you.”
    The eyes glared stubbornly at me.
    I reached for his jawbone again.
    He made a noise and tried to scoot away.
    My hand stopped. “All you need to do is tell me who sent you and I’ll let you go.”
    The eyes continued to glare at me. Shrugging, I reached down and placed my hand on his broken knee, leaning over and placing all my weight on it.
    The docking area filled the sound of his screams. The flash elevator opened and my neighbor, a shapeshifter named Ralph Peters, stepped out. Ralph and his partner Bob were werewolves, whose company “Werever…Whatever” was into shapeshifter justice. They worked as hired muscle.
    Ralph looked at my two attackers and grinned. “You need any help?”
    I lifted an eyebrow at him.
    He chuckled. “Right. Sorry, I lost my mind. See ya around later? Bob and I are gonna hit The Devil’s Den later. We’d love it if you could join us.”
    The Den was a popular nightspot for the magic-using public. “Around eight?”
    Ralph nodded, climbed into his silver air vehicle and left, sending dust my way in a backwash of air from under his powerful machine.
    I looked down at the devil under my palm. “Ready to talk?”
    He sighed, nodding.
    “Give me a name.” I lifted my hand and he mumbled something I couldn’t understand. Leaning closer I shook my head. “Try again, you’re hard to understand for some reason.” I couldn’t resist. It was the devil in me.
    He focused really hard and came out with,