Dirty Angel (Sainted Sinners #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

asked, glancing up at Mere Marie.
    She shook her head slowly. “I don’t interfere in Le Medcin’s doings. I only carry out his wishes.”
    “What he asks for… it is not possible,” Kirael said, shaking his head slowly.
    “He wanted me to impress upon you the importance of the task,” Mere Marie said, cocking her head. “He said to use the word forgiveness .”
    Kirael’s heart skipped a beat. “Forgiveness? From… from Him ?”
    Mere Marie’s lips twisted. “I am merely the messenger, I can promise nothing.”
    “Forgiveness,” Kirael said again, mostly to himself.
    “I don’t know what your task is, but… Le Medcin seemed very apprehensive about it. If I were you, I would move on this as soon as possible.”
    Kirael nodded, barely listening. Already he was making plans in his head, puzzling out how to conquer the task at hand.
    He was going to have to do the one thing he genuinely ought to avoid right now. Go to the last place he should be seen, risk being caught by his former comrades, try to steal a book that was kept under the vigilant protection of a dozen or more Fallen at all times…
    He was going to have to break into Hell.

Chapter Five
Kirael
    T here were thousands of entrances to Hell scattered throughout the human realm, but there was only one in New Orleans. The portal had existed since just after the Great Fall, so there was no accounting for the current-day structures built around it.
    Still, Kirael found the fact that it was in a hallway in the back of abandoned Arby’s restaurant on Canal St. was more than a little funny. One would assume that the straightest route to Hell would be in a secret temple in the Gray Market or something, but no.
    Kirael was able to walk right into the place, the back door swinging in the wind. There wasn’t a soul to be seen, not even a rat sniffing around for long-lost curly fries. The portal oozed a dark sort of magic, subtle but enough to make you feel the need to clear your throat, and inspire a continuous prickle of fear at the nape of your neck.
    It was a bit like walking through endless spiderwebs; you could feel it, but not see it.
    For Kirael, the feeling was familiar enough to almost be strangely comforting. After all, Hell had been his home for millennia. A body could grow to like anything, given enough exposure.
    The entrance itself was easy enough to find — a five foot by five foot hole of dense, pure blackness. Kirael walked right up to it, then fished a little silk pouch out of his back pocket. It was a gris-gris charm, procured from Mere Marie once he told her that he needed to sneak back into Hell.
    “I am assuming you’re telling me this because you need my help,” was her sour reply. She hesitated a beat, then held up a finger and vanished before his eyes.
    She returned with a handful of items: a few herbs, a vial of viscous black liquid, a little leather pouch she called a gerregery , and a tarnished bronze cross.
    “This will only work once,” she told him, explaining how he should mix the ingredients together and then pierce the portal entrance with the cross. “Appreciate this favor, because all of these ingredients are rarer than you can possibly know. If you do it just like I told you, you’ll fool the portal into thinking you’re someone else. Someone who’s still welcome to come and go without raising any eyebrows.”
    “Dare I ask who?”
    Her lips twitched. “Better not.”
    Kneeling down before the portal, he quickly mixed the ingredients as she’d explained, then used the gerregery and the cross to open the portal for his use. The amulet and the cross heated to the touch, then winked out of existence, one and then the other.
    Must be working , he thought.
    The air began to fill with thick, sooty smoke, but Kirael was able to move into the portal as promised.
    Kirael stepped forward and through, feeling the spell spread over his skin as he moved into a dark, rocky tunnel. A few steps in, he saw another bright