Betrayal (The Divine, Book Two) Read Online Free PDF Page B

through the darkness. I could smell the former marine now, somewhere in the tunnels ahead. He wasn’t alone.
    “How did you know?” the voice asked. It was deep and masculine.
    “Yeah, sarge,” agreed another. “It’s not like we’re in a random tunnel in the New York City subway or somethin’.”
    I followed the source of the voices, off the tracks and through another access tunnel, then down a secondary ladder and back into the sewer. Obi and the two patrolmen were just around the corner. Between my Divine Sight and Ulnyx’s sense of smell, I had a good idea of the scene. My heart dropped a little. He was kneeling over a dead body - a child’s body.
    “Just a gut feeling,” Obi said.
    Obi had been my first real ally, and despite our estrangement he was the one person I still had complete faith in. After the events at the Statue, he had decided to fight for mankind by getting back into uniform – this time as a police detective. We had gotten into a big fight about his role as one of mine, his pledge to help me keep the balance, and my need to take both sides. He wanted to help people, do good for them, balance be damned. I had been angry, still reeling from Rebecca and Josette, and had said a lot of things I shouldn’t have.  
    We continued to collide on occasion, when he would find his way into my world in pursuit of a vampire or other lesser demon. I had helped him out a couple of times, and he had returned the favor, but it was purely professional. I had dropped my anger a long time ago when the rest of my feelings had faded. This one was going to be professional too.
    “Do me a favor guys,” Obi said. “Head up to the concourse and radio in, get the coroner down here. Also, get Yenys on the line and have her team come work the forensics.”
    “Yes sir,” one of them replied. I ducked into darkness when their flashlight beams turned, then watched them exit out of the tunnel.
    “Landon,” Obi said. “What brings you down here?”
    I stepped out of the shadows and around the corner. My eyes fell right onto the body. It was Kelsie. I felt the anger start to build, then fade. I looked up at Obi.
    He was a plainclothes detective, so he was wearing a pair of navy slacks and a navy blazer over a simple white button down. His pumped up form was trying to press its way out of the suit, and he looked younger than the last time I had seen him. He turned his flashlight, bathing me in the glow.
    “You knew her?” he asked.
    I nodded. “Kelsie Peterson,” I said. “She lives… used to live with Sarah. She asked me to come and find her.”
    He looked back down at the body. “Well,” he said sadly. “You found her.”
    “This wasn’t my fault,” I said. I knew what he was getting at. “Nobody could have known that I know her.”
    “She’s been drained, man,” he said. He reached down and turned her head so I could see the bite mark. “Vampire.”
    “That doesn’t mean it had to do with me. She’s a vagrant. That makes her a prime target.”
    He shrugged. “Either way, she’s dead. The question is, why would a vampire go after an Awake girl, and how did he grab her without being noticed?”
    He was right. The numbers didn’t add up. “I don’t like the sound of that,” I said. “How did you know she was down here?”
    “Her mother reported her missing,” he replied. “She was taken from the Penn Station concourse and nobody saw anything. Where else would I look?”
    “It’s the same as the others?” I asked. The news reports I had been following wouldn’t have mentioned vampire feeding as the cause of death. According to Obi, mortals couldn’t see the bite marks, and they didn’t seem to think anything was awry with the tremendous loss of blood.  
    He got to his feet and walked over. “Yeah, six other girls killed by a vampire. It’s the same em-oh, different location. I’ve been keeping an eye on freenet. There’s no chatter about this at all. Usually if a vamp is going