Read The Man Who Walked in Darkness (Miles Franco #2) (Miles Franco Urban Fantasy) for Free Online Page A

in front of me. I tasted bile, and sweat poured from my forehead. Jesus Christ, what the hell kind of person was I? A year ago I wouldn’t have hurt a fly if my life depended on it. Now…
    I released the Kemia and clutched my hands together, not trusting myself. The nurse dragged my sorry ass back along the corridor, and in every doorway we passed I saw Claudia standing there.
    “I’m so sorry,” I said.
    The nurse gave me a look, but said nothing. The male nurse followed us to the front doors, but he didn’t lay hands on me. I went passively now.
    The nurse shoved me out the door with more grace than I deserved. “Don’t even think about coming back,” she said in Vei.
    I nodded, shoved my hands in my pockets, and trudged out to the driveway, eyes on my feet. I could feel the nurse’s eyes on my back as I walked away.
    Well, Miles, didn’t that go well?
    All I could think of was riding to the nearest bar and drinking until I went blind. What the hell was I thinking, taking advice from a ghost? Not even a ghost, just a figment of my imagination.
    A footstep crunched on the gravel behind me. I didn’t register it until two pairs of hands grabbed hold of my shoulders.
    “Hey, what—?”
    Something hard slammed into my gut. My eyes bugged, the air driven out of me. I went down in a heap, pain arcing through my body.
    “Get him up,” a male voice said in Vei.
    The hands tightened on my shoulders and hauled me to my feet. I jerked my head around, trying to see who’d tagged me. Someone sapped me across the head. The hospital gardens blurred, dimmed.
    When the world came back into focus I was being dragged off the driveway and into a clump of trees and low-lying bushes. The scent of pine mingled with my sweat and the body odors of the Vei carrying me. I tried to kick out, get loose, but all I did was twist myself more off-balance.
    I panted, head swimming, as the hospital disappeared from view behind a patch of greenery. The men threw me to the ground at the base of a tree, right on top of a root. Another wave of pain shot up my tailbone.
    I got my first look at the men, and I wasn’t impressed. All three were Vei, though they dressed in human clothes; button-down shirts for all. I pegged them in their thirties—Vei aged around the same rate as humans—although the tallest one could be a bit older. It took me a second before I remembered the tall Vei from the hospital lobby, the one who’d been eyeing me. The other two I didn’t recognize. They were stockier, not to mention uglier, and I didn’t take kindly to the way they’d treated me so far.
    “That,” I said, “was uncalled for.”
    One of the stocky ones put his boot into me. I doubled over, retching.
    “See if he’s carrying,” the tall one said when my vision returned.
    One of them held me still while the other turned out my pockets. He tossed my wallet, cell phone, and my bottle of Kemia to the older one, who studied me with dead eyes. When I was relieved of all my belongings, Stocky the First cuffed me again, then stood and backed away.
    I eyed the tall Vei as he crouched down in front of me. Nonchalantly, he pulled a switchblade from his trouser pocket and flicked it open inches from my face.
    I gulped.
    “Not much to say now, eh?” he said, waving the knife in front of my nose. “Maybe we can change that.”
    “Look, buddy, I don’t know who the hell you are—”
    “Hold him.”
    One Vei grabbed my arms, the other, my head. The tall one pressed the point of the knife against my chin, and a sharp sting followed. I felt a pressing need to keep my trap shut.
    “You don’t learn fast, do you?” the tall one said. “Keep quiet. We’ve got questions for you. You understand me, hairball?”
    I did, and I tried to convey that without moving my head.
    “Good,” the tall one said. “We seen your picture in the papers, Miles Franco. We know you’re not with the police, like you told the nurse in there.”
    I kept my mouth shut.
    “So