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

flash, and glanced back.
    Nothing. The space behind him was empty, and he couldn’t detect any presence there.
    That didn’t stop him from feeling eyes on his back as he headed further into the tunnel. Down, down… he walked on and on until he finally saw a faint light at the end and smelled the sulfur.
    When he stepped out, he was in an area of Hell called The Dunes — a cold, seemingly endless desert wasteland. This was one of the very first stops for newly arrived souls, a place where their humanity was completely stripped away.
    In the distance, he saw the hazy glint that was supposed to indicate an oasis. Many souls would be dumped here together, still inhabiting the projections of their human bodies. Then they would inevitably strike out for the oasis, usually as a group.
    Only, there was no oasis, only a distant mirage that moved further and further away. The sinners would quickly turn on each other, each one coming face to face with the very flaws that had landed them in Hell in the first place: greed, pride, envy…
    Being in the desert hellscape brought out the crazed animal in every soul, made them do heinous, unspeakable things to themselves and the other souls around them.
    In The Dunes, it didn’t matter why someone ended up here. By the time they ‘died’, which really just meant they graduated to a different part of Hell and some fresh new kind of torment, they could no longer see themselves as good or righteous.
    Kirael’s first instinct was to unfurl his wings and fly up and out; what looked like the night sky here was actually just a small glimpse of the Atrium, the part of Hell where Lucifer and his Fallen spent the bulk of their down time.
    With soaring, starry skies and clouds floating overhead, the Atrium was enchanted to resemble Heaven. But of course, only Heaven was actually Heaven, so the Atrium was always disappointingly cold, chillingly damp, and smelling of sulfur — a far cry from Heaven itself.
    After a moment’s thought, he realized that he couldn’t exactly just fly into the Fallen’s outer sanctum. He’d been missing for months now, and even if Lucifer hadn’t declared open season on Kirael, his presence would attract attention.
    He turned and followed the dark stone walkway that circled the entirety of The Dunes instead, heading right. Hell was made of a thousand different levels and hidey-holes, all connected by a loose network of tunnels.
    Fallen generally flew from one to another, but there were a great number of lesser demons that lived in each level, serving Lucifer in various capacities. Some did not fly, so over time they’d dug tunnels, carving their way through Hell’s black bedrock to get from one level to another.
    Kirael barely knew the passages in and out of The Dunes, but he knew he generally needed to go upward. He passed the first few tunnels, which didn’t seem especially promising, before turning into one whose path took an immediate incline. All the tunnels were interconnected, little arteries spreading vast and wide around the beating heart of the Atrium.
    Kirael only made it a few hundred yards into the tunnel before he heard voices. He doubled back, ducking into a smaller tunnel, and waited. Powerful as he was, he wasn’t particularly adept at hiding his presence. After all, in his high-level post, he’d never really needed to learn.
    Then, his very presence commanded attention and fear. Now, he needed the very opposite. He could fight nearly any demon and most of the Fallen one-on-one or in small groups, but if one of them sounded the alarm…
    Kirael didn’t want to die under a swarm of Hell’s most vicious demons and vindictive Fallen angels. Not today, anyway, when the word forgiveness was still ringing in his ears.
    He threw a low-level shield up, not enough to put off a strong energy signature, and held his breath. Two low-level Karast demons trundled past, arguing in low, creaky voices as they went past. Their lumpy gray bodies didn’t slow,