A Thousand Fiendish Angels: Stories Inspired By Dante's Inferno Read Online Free PDF Page A

clamor or see the cloudy haze. "Clearly this cave isn't stable. We need to get as many jewels out as we can in case it comes down before we can retrieve more."  
    As he forced another chunk of gemstone into his pack, it glinted in the torchlight and Gest's face seemed to shift. Simon rubbed his eyes again to check what he saw. His brother's handsome face was turning into that of a hideous lizard and behind him, a curved scorpion's tail emerged from his ripped snowsuit. Simon fell back against the wall, watching as his brother's face morphed from the Gest he knew into a sinister visage of reptilian scales, forked tongue flickering in the air. He understood that this was his brother's true nature, revealed by the truth of the book, and he knew that this unholy demon must be slaughtered.  
    Simon felt his strength amplified from within and he pushed his brother to the floor. He raised his pick axe and as Gest screamed in terror, he brought it down in a terrific blow. Simon felt a kind of euphoria possess him and he became the avenger, the destroyer. He hacked relentlessly at his brother's body as words from the book of skin ran through his mind and images from the precious tome appeared in visions before him. Simon's breath was ragged as he cleaved the head from the mutilated torso, the ice slippery with gore as what remained of Gest's body began to harden with ice crystals. Simon felt another tremor and knew that he had little time before the cave collapsed, concealing both riches and the murder within.  
    The two outer jackets still lay side by side away from the bloody mess, and Simon stood for a moment, thinking of the divergent lives that he and Gest had experienced. In that moment he saw a possible future, where earthly pleasure and power could be his as well as fulfilling the Great Work, and he smiled with delicious excitement. He removed the bloody top he wore, his chest exposed to the chill air for a moment, exposing his black tattoo of an orb cupped in a bowl on top of an inverted cross. He tugged a fresh merino sweater from his pack, pulling it on and putting Gest's jacket on over the top. He zipped it tight, straightening his back, affecting his brother's proud posture, then he picked up the two heavy packs. It was time to tell the crew that his brother Simon had perished within the caves as they had collapsed, despite his own desperate attempts at rescue.  

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Sins of Violence

    An explosion rocked the air, raining chunks of masonry and glass down from the building above them. Ari and Sibyl dived behind the hulk of a ruined truck, rolling underneath to shelter from the hail of debris.  
    "It's getting closer," Sibyl said, her voice tinged with the longing for battle, and Ari knew she wanted to be back there, fighting deep in Sector 35. The Corps was the only family they had now, a renegade team trying to restore order to one corner of the desolate planet.  
    "I promise you the war won't end while we take a few hours off," Ari said, rolling out from under the vehicle once the dust had settled. Her lithe body was fast as a wild cat and she sprang to her feet, weapon ready, scanning for any danger.
    "Time off?" Sibyl laughed as she brushed herself down. "I haven't heard that expression since before the Contagion."  
    "We need to get moving," Ari said, acutely aware of her surroundings, for they were off their patch, deep into Untamed territory. But she had to risk running this gauntlet now, because it was almost too late.  
    She had received the message a few days before, passed through the networks that still kept communications alive on this forsaken continent. Elyse was about to be Blessed and Ari couldn't let that happen. Even though she hadn't seen her sister for fifteen years, she remembered the little girl's blonde curls and her laugh, the way her skin had smelled after a bath, back in the days when those were still possible. It was the innocent giggle that had stuck most in her mind, the last thing