Mammon Read Online Free PDF Page A

stared at her, his eyes shining with a strange glow. His face, hair and body became invisible – everything fading into a dull grey against the brutal fire shining in his eyes.
    He wasn’t Joe anymore.
    She beat her way out of the dream, clawing, crying – returning to consciousness, screaming in the darkness, breathing fast, hot tears gushing down her face.

THE BONAPARTE CLUB – Mammon’s favourite haunt in Border City – was crowded with politicians, merchants and other people of consequence. Halphas walked across the foyer – an oak-lined room where burgundy curtains billowed around arch windows that overlooked a terrace garden. A bust of Julius Caesar graced the inner wall; overflowing lily arrangements lent a light touch to the mahogany reception tables.
    In the main dining area, the sunset gave a soft glow to the linen and glassware on the untouched tables. It was the aperitif hour. The elegant strains of a string quartet filled the air. Silent waiters moved among the crowd. This was a place where the rich did not wish to see them.
    And Halphas knew they most certainly wouldn’t want to see him .
    But he definitely felt the prickling attention of the four young demons – Master’s new Anointed Ones. His apprentices. Former scholars of business, politics and law, they’d fallen away from their studies and under Mammon’s spell. All too easily seduced by his lifestyle.
    Master had given these four the best gift of all.
    Invisibility. These four could appear to the Sighted as ordinary humans. They could hide their true faces, their essences.
    Just like Master.
    It was as if Mammon intended to create younger versions of himself and shape them as he saw fit.
    Andras, gifted with the power to influence, persuade and divide, stepped closer to Mammon and gave Halphas a critical stare. Halphas looked the young demon over: from the glossy shoes and black silk suit to the fresh linen collar, slick hair and whiff of subtle cologne, Andras had moulded himself into a perfect little clone.
    The nerve of him. The nerve of them all! Upstarts, still possessing that aura of youth. Insolent pups. Halphas quietly seethed.
    The other apprentices stood nearby. Haures, the shapeshifter, was enjoying an obscene amount of male attention.Flashing a smile, she slid her fingertips through waves of ruby hair that cascaded over her pale, bare shoulders. With each stroke, the strands shone like fire. For Halphas, everything else started to melt away – except the urge to stroke her hair and press his mouth against her luminous skin.
    Haures caught his stare. ‘Hello, Halphas!’ She gave him a teasing smile and fluttered a Japanese fan in front of her face.
    Halphas looked away. Dirty succubus.
    The mind-reader Andromalius was pacing, ear pressed to a phone, cigarette in hand. ‘I know what you’re doing,’ he hissed. ‘Do not try to lie to me.’ He drew a puff and pressed his fingers against his forehead, shoving aside his blond fringe. ‘I’ll be at the docks myself, and if I see anything missing from the shipment . . . What? You don’t like your cut? Consider yourself fortunate. The boss isn’t usually that generous.’
    The conjurer Zagan was staring at a vase. Halphas smirked at the young demon’s choice of attire: jeans, rugby jumper and brilliant white runners. Topped by a shorn head, the young demon looked criminally rough, given the fine company in this club.
    Zagan tilted his head, closed his dark eyes. The vase lifted off and floated above the stand. Halphas brushed past. ‘You’re terribly underdressed, young man.’
    The young demon opened his eyes with a start, lunged forward and caught the vase. ‘Watch where you’re walking, old man!’
    Andromalius flicked his cigarette on the floor and stared at Halphas through pinched blue eyes. ‘You’re late, Halphas. You know he doesn’t like to wait.’
    How