Hounacier (Valducan Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

long-legged and thin. Malcolm had gotten close to them at a little burger joint. The cobalt scarab tattooed on his right wrist didn't detect a demon. He could have checked them with the eye in his palm to see if they were familiars. But if they were, it would only guarantee their master would know they were coming for it.
    "Sam, do you see this?" Orlovski asked as he mounted his wireless camera to the top of a wide brick grill.
    "Little to the right," she said. "Good. I have it."
    Studying the house, Malcolm ran a gloved finger across his bristled chin. The back door looked the best. Two minutes, and they could have it swept. Sam could radio if the suspects fled. Still…they had no proof. He trusted Daniel, but if they were wrong…
    Malcolm chewed his lip. He glanced back to the windowless building. It looked more like a bunker than a shed. The hunters shared a look and nodded.
    The cinderblock walls stood twelve feet high, slightly tapered to one side along the building's twenty-foot length. The construction was new, maybe a year, and a hell of a lot better made than the house appeared. Malcolm frowned, noticing the bar across the steel door. It appeared even less of a shed. More like a cell. The Russian must have felt it too because his hand moved to Amballwa's handle.
    A padlock held the bar shut. Malcolm removed a curved shim from a pocket and worked it down the lock's shackle until it popped open. Careful to keep it from scraping loudly, he pulled the bar aside, nodded to his partner, then inched the door open.
    Blackness. The stink of sweat and filth pressed out like a physical force.
    Orlovski raised the night scope and let out a long sigh. "Shit." He pulled the door open, spilling a wedge of moonlight across the concrete floor. He stepped inside. “Clear.”
    Scrunching his nose, Malcolm followed. Dark shapes hung in the shadows, slowly gaining form as his eyes adjusted. Straps and manacles dangled from a gridwork of steel rings. He inspected a sturdy wooden table, angled like a medieval rack. Dark splotches stained the edges and the floor along the bottom. "I think this is the place."
    Orlovski grunted. He offered the monocular, its green-lit eyepiece casting a dim glow across the room. Serrated metal hung on the wall beside them. Reluctantly, Malcolm accepted it.
    The scene around them was worse than he'd imagined. Various hooks, blades, clamps, and other perverse torture implements covered two of the walls. An acetylene torch stood in the corner. "Jesus."
    "What is it?" Sam's voice asked through the radio.
    "Sex dungeon," Orlovski replied.
    Malcolm's jaw tightened. The description barely did the room justice.
    A creak came from the back corner. Malcolm drew Hounacier from her sheath. He set the night scope on a cluttered table and pulled a slender flashlight from his belt. Amballwa in hand, Orlovski flicked on his light, shining a brilliant white beam across the room.
    Pegboard slats covered the wall, their metal hooks filled with leather and chromed implements. Malcolm shined his own light, sweeping it along the corners.
    Another creak and a whimper. Both lights zeroed in on the right side. A twisted black harness hung to the boards. The two men shared a glance then slowly approached, lights steady and weapons raised.
    A metal latch glinted, partially hidden under the harness web. Malcolm followed the seam, seeing a narrow rectangle door beneath the pegboard. Orlovski stepped to the side, nodded. Malcolm twisted the little latch and pulled the door. It opened with a loud creak.
    The reek of sweat and urine poured from a shallow closet. A mound of grimy cloth covered the floor. It writhed.
    Instinct took hold. Malcolm raised his machete. He saw the tangle of auburn hair and desperate, terrified eyes behind the strands. Tiffany Mayhew was alive.
    "Hold," Malcolm said to Orlovski. Hounacier still raised, he pocketed the flashlight and extended his left palm toward the huddled girl.
    She pressed herself against the