Dark Flight (The Shadow Slayers) Read Online Free PDF Page A

terrible as all that. I know you’ve been visiting this realm for conjugal visits with your risen Mercury Lord, and now that it has come to an end, you’re splitting your time between the island and your home in San Diego. Quite honestly, I find the constant companionship of females tedious, so your living elsewhere would suit me perfectly. I will send a servant to fetch you when I want you.”
    “You really are living with your head in the clouds up here, Mazeki. Why would I agree to that?”
    He adjusted the sleeves of his robe, starting to look annoyed. “Apart from the fact that your father already gave you to me?”
    “Yeah, apart from that.”
    “Refuge, if need be. I’m not a weak man, Kara. My kingdom is admittedly small, but because of that tightly focused expansion of my will, it’s absolutely impenetrable. Ailexon in his full fury could not enter here.”
    “That is tempting, Mazeki. I’m sure you’re a very powerful guy and all, but I’m not ready to come under your care and protection quite yet. And anyhow, you know I’m a member of a clan now, right? I don’t just visit Mercury Island for the fun of it.”
    Mazeki smiled. “Interesting excuses, but you needn’t worry. I have no plans to sequester you against your will in the immediate future. I’d rather you came willingly.”
    She hugged Stripey closer and shook her head. “Not likely.”
    She’d thought she was coming here to help Julian and then by default, Gavin. But it had been an ambush the entire time. What made it worse was that the attention Mazeki was paying her—same as the men on the island—wasn’t because she was special, not like she’d felt with Gavin or Julian…it was just because she was the right species and had a vagina.
    “As for your friends,” he continued, “I said I would help them if you came, and I always keep my word. All I need is one small token of good faith from you.”
    She swore the pillow hugged her tighter now, maybe sensing her trepidation. “What would that be?”
    He rose and held his hand out to her. “A kiss.”
    She stood, holding firmly to Stripey, then walked to the black-wing. Leaning in carefully, so she wouldn’t touch her body to his, she placed one quick peck on his cheek. “There you go.”
    He grinned and touched his hand to his face. “Wonderful. We’re making progress already.”
    Her lips tingled from his energy, and it felt way too good. Maybe coming here for the spa falls wasn’t such a good idea.
    “Now before you flee back to the surface,” he said, “let me tell you how you are going to help your friends.”
    “I wasn’t going to ‘flee’,” she muttered, but Mazeki simply raised a brow.
    “Your black-wing won’t have enough energy to send Brakken to the Abyss as Ailexon sent your father—with pure, brute power. After all, when we’re speaking of Ailexon we’re speaking of the chief of the fallen angels, and Julian is barely one of us. You will need to help him along with something: the feather of the Sanctiáre, freely given. If you provide that token, we may tip the balance against that monster yet.”
    “The Sanctiáre? The white-winged angels? Where in the world would I find one of those?”
    “At the top of the Mount of Truth, of course.”
    “That really exists? Here, in the Shadowland?”
    “It’s been here as long as I have been. Perhaps longer. But admittedly, it’s not easy to find. In case you have trouble, I’ll provide you with a map.”
    He walked to his book-laden desk and a key materialized in his hand, then he slid the key into the lock of the top drawer. It looked like any regular drawer in a college professor’s office until he pulled it open. Brilliant bluish-white light spilled out, causing Kara to turn her face away and press her eyes shut. She didn’t open them again until she heard the drawer close with a scrape of wood and saw the room darken through her eyelids.
    Mazeki walked to her and laid the scroll in her hand. There