Bound by Light Read Online Free PDF Page B

shoulder. "I’m proud of you for defending your mother."
    He tried not to notice how the boy glared at him, or how the old woman cursed him as she rose. They weren’t worth much, these two. Perhaps the worst of his many poor choices in moments of desperation, before he fully accepted he could not restore his race by interbreeding with inferior stock. Yet these two had their practical uses, and he rather enjoyed the woman’s larcenous spirit in her younger years.
    All in all, August preferred their company to being alone.
    "I have business in the city, with the Sibyls—perhaps for the last time," August told them. "You’ll spend time with me and see to my needs, and continue your work observing my enemies as well—until I release you." His gaze traveled from the boy to the woman. "Both of you."
    He hoped his meaning was clear.
    From the downcast looks they gave him, he was certain he had made his point. If either made him unhappy, he would visit his displeasure on the other.
    August shared little with humans, but he understood their need for attachment, for love from their family, and to protect their own. If any of his own still survived, the true kind, the pure-blooded kind, he would move the moon and stars to ensure their comfort and safety, to win them to him and hold them close forever. As it was, he was doing everything within his considerable power to bring them back into existence.
    He was close now.
    Closer than he had ever been.
    Somewhere in this region, the right genetic combinations existed. August sensed them when he had reached out to select candidates to reform his near-broken Legion. Now he felt them with a deep certainty. Not just one woman—but several who were decidedly not inferior. He would find them and introduce them to a destiny greater than they could imagine.
    As the boy and the woman hung their heads and skulked into the night, August drank their despair and unrest like nectar. Feeding on that energy, his human shape became more real, more believable, more comfortable, as he imagined the misery and, ultimately, the deaths of all the filthy, useless people in New York City. All the filthy, useless people in the wider world beyond.
    Soon, they’ll be gone, and I’ll keep only the best for my purposes.
    Soon, I won’t be alone anymore.
     
    (3)
    "These first few days at headquarters have been interesting," Jake admitted to his new captain, though Sal Freeman wasn’t a new acquaintance. They had been communicating the entire time Jake was training, at first by e-mail, then by phone, then in person.
    If I’m hiring a demon on purpose, Freeman had told him, I’m goddamned gonna know him first.

    Jake respected Freeman’s position on that subject—and appreciated the chance the man took, arguing for Jake’s acceptance in the NYPD and giving him a position with the OCU. Freeman had a knack for weaving things together, making fits out of mismatches, improbable combinations, and unlikely candidates.
    Jake glanced around the paper-clogged room, realizing the talent extended into the physical world, too. He was still amazed that Freeman had managed to cram a desk, a couple of cabinets, two chairs, and a truckload of files and folios into such a tiny space. The space was almost as messy as Merilee’s archival area in the fourth-floor library.
    Jake’s mouth twitched.
    Almost.
    He had decided her unrepentant sloppy housekeeping was her one rebellion against being a broom. She swept up other people’s messes all day long. Screw her own—or something like that.
    As for Freeman, the man didn’t have any more time than Merilee did to worry about cleaning house.
    Freeman was about the same age as Jake’s older brothers, but bigger, like walking-mountain bigger. He looked like he could lift two or three cops and pitch them out a back window if he chose to.
    Had Freeman had ever done that?
    It wouldn’t surprise Jake at all.
    Since Freeman was still quiet, Jake figured he was supposed to say