Return of the Hunters (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 4) Read Online Free PDF

master,” she said. “He’s called Papa Legba.”
    Great. The one thing I’d actually heard of in voodoo. “The god of the crossroads,” I said. “So I’m supposed to free you from the devil?”
    “I said he’s called that. But he ain’t no loa . Not a god.” Her eyes narrowed briefly. “He does take souls, though. That’s what our little…pets are for. When Legba’s children die, the ver-géant tears loose and returns to him, carrying the soul with it—along with all the knowledge that soul’s gathered in a lifetime. And we cain’t just cut them out,” she said with a stern glance at Zoba. “No matter how many protection spells we cast. Those beasties, they’re dug into our nerves and our brain stems like ticks.”
    I suppressed a shudder. “So you’ve all got one of those things in you?”
    She nodded slowly. “They sleep, most times. But he knows if one of ’em wakes up…if one of his children tries to tamper with it. And that child is punished.” A haunted expression settled on her face. “This here’s the second time Zoba’s tried. The first time—”
    Zoba cut her off with an explosive, guttural sound.
    “All right, brother.” Her features closed off. “Anyway, this time we’ve all been summoned,” she said. “And we think Legba means to kill him. That’s where you come in.”
    I had to force back a renewed flood of fury. “How?” I said. “Christ, if you think Fae magic can stop this guy, you’ve got Reun. Him and Taeral are both a hell of a lot older and stronger than me. I’m a half-breed, and practically a baby by Fae standards, and I’m not that great with magic.”
    “Yeah, but neither of them are the DeathSpeaker,” she said. “You are.”
    “That only helps if he’s already dead!”
    “He is.” Denei laced her hands together tightly and stared at me. “Papa Legba, he’s nothin’ but thousands of souls all stuck together. Dead souls. And you command the dead,” she said. “So all you gotta do is command him to set us free, before he kills Zoba.”
    “Is that all,” I murmured weakly. Thousands of souls . Christ, what kind of monster was this guy? But at least I could admit that maybe, just maybe, I had a chance of surviving this. If he really was dead. “Like I said, though, you could’ve just asked me,” I said. “I would’ve helped. Without the threat of imminent death.”
    “A gealdht does more than risk a Fae’s life,” Reun said. “The spell is a balance. By calling your favor, she’s given you an advantage—the closer you are to realizing the promise, the stronger you’ll become against the challenge. Just as magic weakens when the goal of a promise is further away.” He tipped his head back for a moment, and added, “Believe me. We’ll need every possible advantage in dealing with Legba.”
    That, I definitely believed.
     
     

C HAPTER 7

     
    I t was a thirty-hour train ride from New York to New Orleans. I’d been out cold for three of those hours, and then spent two more recovering and finding out exactly how screwed this whole thing was. That left me with twenty-five hours to kill.
    And I wasn’t going to spend them in a confined space with Denei and Reun.
    Right now I was rooming with Zoba, Rex and Senobia, while the scheming duo holed up with the other two Duchenes in the next room. Zoba sprawled on the lower bunk, exhausted and glassy-eyed, and the two youngest had squeezed together on the top bunk. They’d offered the other bed to me, but I assured them I’d rather sleep in the chair.
    Not that I was getting any sleep.
    For a while I just sat there, watching the unfamiliar scenery rush past. I’d been to Louisiana plenty of times—mucked around the swamps and bayous and backwater shanty towns while the family I’d never belonged with hunted gators and bobcats and endangered Louisiana black bears. But I hadn’t been to the Big Easy. The Valentines couldn’t set foot in any major city. They were wanted for just about