Morpheus Road 03 - The Blood Read Online Free PDF

Coop said. "Other people are looking for him?"
    "Surprised are ya?" Riagan said. "People been coming here for generations, from every corner of the Black and every type of vision there be. Same as when we lived in the Light. They all be after the same thing . . . that no longer be here."
    The man sat back down on his bench and picked up his recorder. "So you might as well go back to where you came from and make way for the next poor soul I'll be having to disappoint."
    He started to play again, but Coop ran in front of him. "Whoa, wait. What do you think I'm looking for?"
    The old man shrugged. "Redemption? Salvation? Call it what you like. All be the same."
    Coop's mind raced.
    "No, it isn't," Coop said. "We're talking about two dif ferent things."
    "I think not," the old man said, irritated. "The only rea son anyone be coming here is to seek me brother."
    Coop took a surprised step back. "Damon's your brother?"
    "Damon?" Riagan said, confused. " Me brother's name is Brennus. He goes by no other."
    Cooper backed away from Riagan, scanning the hut, try ing to understand what it was he had stumbled onto.
    "I . . . I don't get it," Coop mumbled. He felt the sharp shard of glass from the crucible in his pocket. "Damon must have come here."
    "Perhaps this Damon be seeking Brennus as well," Riagan replied. "Many pass this way. I never learn all the names. Turning them back be my fate now, and I suppose it be deserved. It be a penance I been paying for longer than I care to remember."
    "That must be it," Coop declared. "Damon was here, maybe looking for your brother. He must have, or why else would the crucible have led me here?"
    "I know of no crucible."
    "Damon was a warrior," Coop explained, his excitement growing. "From ancient Macedonia. He's short and stocky. His face is covered with scars. And, oh yeah, major detail: His two front teeth are sharpened to points."
    Riagan's eyes widened with understanding . . . and fear. He backed off the bench, knocking it over as if trying to get as far away from Cooper as possible.
    "That devil be the one you seek?" he asked fearfully.
    "So he was here!" Cooper exclaimed.
    "Aye!" Riagan replied. "When he learned Brennus was here no longer, he turned into a wild man. Certain he was that I be holding back the truth, but on whatever small scrap of honor I be keeping, I swore to him I know not where me brother has gone."
    "Let me guess. Damon didn't like that."
    "Flew into a rage, he did," Riagan said, pointing to the damaged furniture. "Threatened to end me if I did not speak the truth, but I told him I'd be welcoming the end rather than having to spend another second in this cursed vision. I begged him to lead me that way."
    "So he left you alone, right?"
    Riagan nodded, his lips quivering. "The life I led was not a good one. Ashamed I am for me part in Brennus's crimes. If I could take back what I done, I would. But since that can not be, I deserve whatever punishment is fair. That I accept. But trapped here in such a nightmare for all eternity is a fate beyond cruel."
    Riagan dropped to his knees in front of Cooper, grab bing at Coop's black T-shirt.
    "Help me, lad," he cried. "Can you end me? I be too weak for the Blood, but even that would be a far sight better than this limbo. I beg ya. Destroy me if you can."
    Cooper pushed Riagan away, and the old man fell to his elbows on the dirt floor, sobbing.
    "Who is your brother?" Coop asked. "What's so special about him that he can offer salvation?"
    Riagan sobbed, "You truly do not know?"
    "No!"
    "Then I will not be the one to reveal such dark truths."
    "Oh no, you can't do that," Coop yelled with frustra tion. He grabbed Riagan by the back of his shirt and pulled him to his feet. "Why was Damon looking for him? There's no way he cared about redemption. There has to be another reason."
    Riagan looked deep into Cooper's eyes. Cooper saw how tortured the old spirit was.
    "Damon is truly who you seek?" he asked. "Not Brennus?"
    "Yes," Coop said,