Sacrifices Read Online Free PDF Page B

She stood on the sidewalk outside the municipal building, Karyn and Nail to her left, her feet frozen in place. Her reflection stared accusingly back from the tinted glass window in front of her.
Idiot,
it seemed to say.
What are you thinking?
    â€œDon’t start that shit again,” Nail said. “You’re gonna freak me out.” He looked to Karyn. “You see anything?”
    Karyn’s noise of disgust was all the answer she gave.
Nope,
Anna thought. No surprise there. Karyn’s bizarre gift of looking into the future was operating in too high a gear these days, which meant she saw too much from too many futures, and anything useful was drowned in the mess.
    A man and a woman, both in business attire that would have sweat running down the cracks of their asses by the time they made half a block under the angry afternoon sun, passed by. The man looked the three of them over as he walked by, lingering overlong on Anna, it seemed.
    â€œThe fuck you lookin’ at?” she asked. He turned abruptly away and walked faster. A thought came with the look of fear on his face:
Tear his throat out. Grab him, throw him down, and do it with your teeth. It’ll be over before he can figure out what’s happening.
    She shook her head to clear it. That wasn’t her, not really. Just the damn demon Belial had stuck in her head. Be easier to ignore if her mouth hadn’t filled with saliva at the prospect.
    â€œEverything cool?” Nail asked.
    â€œYeah,” she said, rubbing her temples with the middle finger and thumb of her right hand. “Fine. Let’s go talk to the FBI.”
    They went in, single file, through the revolving door, the air-conditioning blasting Anna and raising gooseflesh up the backs of her arms. The inside was gray, grim, and floored with pastel green linoleum, sending her catapulting right back to her days in juvie. A bored-looking security guard slouched in a chair that looked too flimsy to support him.
    They went through the metal detector and Nail led the way to the elevators. He’d been here before, treating with the FBI in the deal that had ended up saving Anna and Karyn from Belial and his insane disciples. On balance, a good thing, even if it had ended up getting them far closer to law enforcement than Anna ever wished.
    Onto the elevators, then off on the sixth floor. Nail led them down a dim hall lined in more grim wallpaper, this time tan, then knocked at the last door on the left.
    The door opened on a trim black woman in an FBI suit, hair pulled back in a tight bun. Special Agent Elliot. Anna remembered her from a couple of hours of unpleasant questioning. That hungry rage surged inside her again, and she found herself baring her teeth before she could stop it. She forced her lips into a half-assed smile that probably looked more like a snarl.
    â€œGlad you could make it,” Elliot said. She wasn’t doing the tough cop thing today. She looked like shit, Anna thought—haggard face, bags under her eyes, suit looking like she’d slept in it. Even her shiny black FBI shoes looked scuffed.
    â€œHow you handling your Devil worshippers?” Nail asked.
    Elliot gave a weary, disgusted chuckle. “We’re managing our Devil worshippers fine; thank you.” She shook her head. “Devil worshippers. Normally, I’d be pissed about media sensationalism, but I can’t even say they’re wrong on this one. Come in.”
    She opened the door wide and stepped back. The blindshad been pulled down, leaving only the eye-straining fluorescents to light the room. A couple of long, sagging tables had been set up, one against the left wall and another against the right. A laptop sat on one, along with a scattered array of file folders. A corkboard to the left showed pictures of Anna, Karyn, Nail, and Genevieve, as well as Enoch Sobell, who had dozens of pictures below him. Anna found it more than a little unnerving to see her own