Descent Into Darkness (Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B
Author: James R. Vernon
his face when he realized I was unaffected. Of course that paled in comparison to the look he had when I revealed my true form."
"So you killed him!?"
A look of surprise crossed her face for a moment and then was gone. "That surprises you? He tried to kill us. Well," pausing for a moment, she tapped her cheek with one long fingernail. "Drugged you, at least. Whatever he put into that stew didn't seem to have much effect on me."
"If it didn't affect you, you could have stopped him from doing anything to me. You're certainly strong enough to handle one man. You didn't have to kill him."
Azalea threw her hands into the air. "I don't get you, Ean. This creep wanted to have his way with me and then kill us both. He as much as said those exact words while I was feeding off of him. He said a lot of things, wouldn't shut up actually. What if I told you he had done this before? That this wasn't even his farm? He killed the family that owned it and has been using it mostly to do to random strangers what he was about to do to us. Does that make it okay that I killed him?"
"Now you're making things up to justify feeding off of him. There is no way you could have learned all of that from him."
"You're an idiot." Rising, Azalea's face couldn't have looked more disgusted. She moved towards the door, kicking the lifeless body of Dotain as she left. Once she was out of the room and into the hall, Ean heard her yell back, "I don't know what that stupid imp sees in you, but you two fools belong together."
Ean sat there, not knowing if he should go after her or not. She was probably right, but he couldn't justify killing the man. There had to be some kind of law in the area or at least in Lurthalan. And Azalea could have easily handled Dotain. On the other hand, if every despicable thing about him was true, maybe he did deserve death.
Ean spread his arms over the table and laid his spinning head on top of them. Sure, a healer's job involved decisions about life and death, but innocence and guilt was out of his domain. Dontain might have deserved it, but that wasn't for Azalea to decide on a whim.
The energy of the Abyss twinged in his chest, alerting him that someone tied to its power was approaching. He sighed in relief when he saw it was Zin, not Azalea. The little imp's brown skin was covered with small scratches.
"What did you do to anger the Yulari?"
"We had a slight disagreement about her feeding habits and she stormed out."
"Well, YOU upset her and she decided to take it out on ME. It's really a bad idea to push a Yulari too far you know. She might decide that getting sent back to the Abyss will be worth killing us both. They can be very emotional creatures."
"All I said was that she didn't have to kill the man, and I don't think I even said it that harshly."
"Oh." The imp glanced at the corpse spread out on the kitchen floor. "She saved your life and you lectured her for it. I have to say, I'm glad you are ok, but you really can be an idiot sometimes."
Climbing up onto the table, Zin sat down in front of Ean and shook his head.
"You have to keep in mind that life in the Abyss is much different than it is in your world. Down there it's kill or be killed, and there is always someone stronger than you trying to take what's yours. Azalea saw that killing that man, and more importantly keeping him from killing you, as a huge show of generosity. In the Abyss, no one and I mean no one, would offer aid to another unless they were getting something out of it in return."
"Is it really that bad?" Ean could feel his anger faltering.
"Worse than you can imagine. I have no idea how old she is, but since her wings look fully grown, I would put her at least over fifty. That's fifty years in the Abyss where I can guarantee that she has been bullied, used, or hurt hundreds of times in her life."
Now Ean felt bad. Not so much because of how angry he had been at Azalea. He still didn't want her going around killing people, especially once
"So you killed him!?"
A look of surprise crossed her face for a moment and then was gone. "That surprises you? He tried to kill us. Well," pausing for a moment, she tapped her cheek with one long fingernail. "Drugged you, at least. Whatever he put into that stew didn't seem to have much effect on me."
"If it didn't affect you, you could have stopped him from doing anything to me. You're certainly strong enough to handle one man. You didn't have to kill him."
Azalea threw her hands into the air. "I don't get you, Ean. This creep wanted to have his way with me and then kill us both. He as much as said those exact words while I was feeding off of him. He said a lot of things, wouldn't shut up actually. What if I told you he had done this before? That this wasn't even his farm? He killed the family that owned it and has been using it mostly to do to random strangers what he was about to do to us. Does that make it okay that I killed him?"
"Now you're making things up to justify feeding off of him. There is no way you could have learned all of that from him."
"You're an idiot." Rising, Azalea's face couldn't have looked more disgusted. She moved towards the door, kicking the lifeless body of Dotain as she left. Once she was out of the room and into the hall, Ean heard her yell back, "I don't know what that stupid imp sees in you, but you two fools belong together."
Ean sat there, not knowing if he should go after her or not. She was probably right, but he couldn't justify killing the man. There had to be some kind of law in the area or at least in Lurthalan. And Azalea could have easily handled Dotain. On the other hand, if every despicable thing about him was true, maybe he did deserve death.
Ean spread his arms over the table and laid his spinning head on top of them. Sure, a healer's job involved decisions about life and death, but innocence and guilt was out of his domain. Dontain might have deserved it, but that wasn't for Azalea to decide on a whim.
The energy of the Abyss twinged in his chest, alerting him that someone tied to its power was approaching. He sighed in relief when he saw it was Zin, not Azalea. The little imp's brown skin was covered with small scratches.
"What did you do to anger the Yulari?"
"We had a slight disagreement about her feeding habits and she stormed out."
"Well, YOU upset her and she decided to take it out on ME. It's really a bad idea to push a Yulari too far you know. She might decide that getting sent back to the Abyss will be worth killing us both. They can be very emotional creatures."
"All I said was that she didn't have to kill the man, and I don't think I even said it that harshly."
"Oh." The imp glanced at the corpse spread out on the kitchen floor. "She saved your life and you lectured her for it. I have to say, I'm glad you are ok, but you really can be an idiot sometimes."
Climbing up onto the table, Zin sat down in front of Ean and shook his head.
"You have to keep in mind that life in the Abyss is much different than it is in your world. Down there it's kill or be killed, and there is always someone stronger than you trying to take what's yours. Azalea saw that killing that man, and more importantly keeping him from killing you, as a huge show of generosity. In the Abyss, no one and I mean no one, would offer aid to another unless they were getting something out of it in return."
"Is it really that bad?" Ean could feel his anger faltering.
"Worse than you can imagine. I have no idea how old she is, but since her wings look fully grown, I would put her at least over fifty. That's fifty years in the Abyss where I can guarantee that she has been bullied, used, or hurt hundreds of times in her life."
Now Ean felt bad. Not so much because of how angry he had been at Azalea. He still didn't want her going around killing people, especially once
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