Read Make Me for Free Online

that way. Opening his eyes, he said wearily, “Trust me. You don’t want to know.”
    “Another damn secret, Micah? Seriously?” Val shook her head. “Tell me. Now.”
    “Better yet,” David said, “show her.”
    Okay, maybe it was better. Better that Val see exactly what returning to the old ways meant.

Chapter Four
     
    Micah knew I hated secrets and here he was keeping even more from me. Maybe there was something to David’s claims. “What’s the Memory Eater, Micah?” I asked, my voice tight.
    Micah looked down at the keys and weighed them in his hand, as if wondering what to do with them. “A remnant of the old ways David is so fond of. You sure you really want to see this?”
    Damn betcha. I was tired of being kept in the dark. “Show me.”
    He led me to a cell around the corner, one you couldn’t see from the door. The candlelight didn’t penetrate well enough to see into the cell very far, but I could tell it didn’t hold the same fixtures mine had. In fact, it seemed empty except for something—some one ?—huddled in the far corner. What was it? I stepped closer to the bars to get a better look.
    Big mistake. The huddle erupted and flew at me with inhuman speed. Grabbing me by the shirt, it jerked me hard up against the bars and shoved its face into mine. “Releeease meee,” it whispered in a grating voice.
    A skeletal face, its bone-white skin stretched tight against the skull, seemed to hang in the air, inches from mine, teeth bared, eyes reddened and glowing with madness. I slammed Lola into the creature, or at least I tried. No luck. Crap. I thought the drug had worn off. Desperately, I tried to shove him away physically.
    Behind me, I felt Micah using his incubus to reach for the creature. “Stop,” he said, his voice surprisingly gentle. “Release her and back away.”
    No wonder Lola hadn’t worked—this, whatever it was, was a woman . She let go at Micah’s command and took a step back.
    I straightened my shirt and moved out of arm’s reach, then stared at her now that she was revealed in what little light there was. Thin to the point of gauntness, she wore some kind of black unitard or something that made her look like a loose collection of knobby sticks topped by a barely fleshed skull, her breasts so small as to be almost nonexistent. Creepy.
    Why didn’t you tell me? I asked Fang.
    YOU HAD TO SEE FOR YOURSELF.
    “Sssheee is the one,” the creature hissed, staring at me with her mad eyes.
    I kinda hoped she meant Pia, but that was just wishful thinking. Unnerved, I asked, “The one for what?”
    Micah shrugged. “Who knows? She’s… insane.”
    “Fang? What does she mean?”
    I DUNNO, Fang said with a shake of his head. AND NO WAY AM I GOING INTO THAT MIND TO FIND OUT.
    Can’t say I blamed him. “ This is the Memory Eater?”
    Micah nodded.
    “Tell Val why she’s called that,” David said, stepping forward to stare intently at Micah. Until he said something, I’d almost forgotten he was there.
    Micah sighed. “Because she can make anyone forget anything. A moment, an event, a person…”
    “Or the existence of demons and the Underground,” David added. “She plucks the memories out of your skull and they’re gone for good.”
    Really creeped out now, I backed farther away, toward Pia, wondering how far away would be safe.
    “Don’t worry,” David told me. “She only eats memories at Micah’s command. Didn’t you ever wonder why the soothsayers chose him as leader at such a young age?”
    I’d never thought about it. “I figured it was because his father was leader before him.”
    David shook his head. “No, it’s not a hereditary position. It’s because incubi can control her, ensure she only eats the memories the Underground wants her to.” He glanced at Micah with a raised eyebrow. “But when was the last time you actually used her abilities to help us?”
    Micah grimaced. “She’s a person, not a tool to be used at someone’s