Infinite Risk Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’ll try it this once. The bond I mentioned before … you’re the closest thing I have to kin now.”
    â€œBecause you fed from me?” I didn’t get it. He took energy from Nicole too, but he wasn’t camped outside the mental health facility waiting to see if she recovered.
    When I pointed that out, a lopsided smile carved into his lean cheek. “You gave of yourself willingly, dearling. That is the difference. What I have from you is born of free will … and that is a sweetness I cannot otherwise experience.”
    Oh.
    â€œI’m glad,” I said, though I wasn’t sure that was the right response. “But I won’t assume you’re on my side since caprice is kind of your deal. As long as you don’t get in my way, I won’t complain if you want to watch the show.”
    â€œAn excellent summation of my intentions.”
    â€œJust to be clear, I don’t have to worry about the others finding me like you did?”
    â€œThey lack our connection, but they have other resources.”
    â€œSo don’t get comfortable?” I’d already come to that conclusion myself, so that wasn’t exactly invaluable advice.
    He nodded, letting himself topple sideways on my bed. The light didn’t touch him, as if he was a shadow too deep for the photons to penetrate. Really I should get him out of here, but at this hour, the Baltimore was creepy enough that the Harbinger qualified as comforting in comparison. The woman next door had been crying for two hours when I finally fell asleep, and her silence was somehow more ominous than the despairing sobs.
    â€œWhy are you staying in such a hovel?” he demanded then.
    â€œIt’s a protest against our consumer culture.”
    The Harbinger’s look said he wasn’t even slightly amused. “Karl Marx would be charmed, I’m sure. Power to the proletariat.”
    â€œOkay, this is what I can afford on Buzzkill’s stash. And to avoid starvation, I’ll need to get a job while I’m here.”
    â€œI could help you,” he said.
    Shaking my head, I backed off that offer so fast I got vertigo. “No thanks. I’m pretty sure I know how it goes, once I start accepting favors from you.”
    â€œYou wound me with your cynicism.” But he didn’t deny that there would be terrifying costs associated with his assistance, even given to someone he dubbed “kin.”
    â€œBullshit. I’ve just gotten better at anticipating the fine print.”
    The Harbinger snapped his fingers, and the tired bulb on my bedside lamp guttered out.
    His voice came soft and low, but also terrible like the groan of a beam before it gave way. “The woman in the room next door…”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œShe’s dying.” Two words, cool as a sealed tomb.
    That launched me from bed, and I went out the door at a run. Though he was the trickster, it didn’t occur to me to question. In the hallway, the carpet was gross and sticky beneath my bare feet; nobody answered when I pounded with both hands, so I ran back and dialed 911. When the operator answered, I gasped, “I think my neighbor OD’d,” because that would surely get the right people out here. But after the man took all the info, time ticked away. I called the night desk clerk, but he had no interest in the situation and wouldn’t agree to unlock room ten so I could check on the tenant.
    The Harbinger watched my anxiety with inscrutable interest. Eventually, he said, “Would you like me to open the door?”
    And then I knew. “She’s gone, right? If I say yes, I’ll owe you a favor, all for nothing.”
    â€œIt’s like Schrödinger’s cat, dearling. You’ll never know unless you open the box.”
    Before I could decide, however, sirens finally sounded and paramedics pounded up the stairs at the end of the hall. My door wasn’t the only one that