The Descent Series, Books 1-3: Death's Hand, The Darkest Gate, and Dark Union (The Descent Series, Volume 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

with your mentor? I take it your hunt was successful.” Elise gestured at her own mouth. “You’re messy.”
    Betty wiped what little lip gloss remained off on her finger and laughed. “Successful? Yeah, right. He only wanted to discuss biomedical sciences, and not the naked kind. You using the sink?” Elise stepped aside to give her room, and Betty bent to wash her hands. “You didn’t answer when I asked about the hot date, I noticed.”
    “My mission for the night is far more innocent than yours. I’m going to drop in on a client.”
    “Really.”
    “Yes, really. Why?”
    Betty folded her arms. “How often do you visit your clients wearing skin-tight Lycra?”
    “Any time my client happens to work at a casino nightclub and it’s a Friday night,” Elise said, tossing her sponge in the trash. “I can’t show up in business casual. I’d get laughed out of the place.”
    “That might happen if you try to seduce the money out of your client, too. I’ve seen the way you dance.”
    Elise pushed Betty away from the sink with her hip. “Out of my way. I’m an accountant on a mission.”
    “Uh huh. Sure. I’ll keep my phone on me tonight, so give me a call when you’re too drunk to drive yourself home.”
    “I appreciate the offer, but I’m taking the bus.” She applied eye shadow with her fingers.
    “Taking the bus and not planning on getting drunk? A likely story.”
    “The casino is downtown, Betty,” Elise said. “There’s no free parking.”
    Betty snorted. “Okay, have fun with your ‘client.’ I’m going to collect the withered scraps of my dignity and read research papers on the couch.”
    She left. Elise ran her fingers through her thick hair to detangle it and appraised her looks. The look wasn’t “accountant,” but she wasn’t sure she would pass as an ordinary clubber, either. Elise didn’t feel convincing.
    Elise grabbed her jacket off the back of a chair. “See you in the morning,” she called as she passed through the living room. Betty waved a hand over the couch.
    She passed Betty’s cousin on the way down the sidewalk. Anthony occupied the other half of their duplex, and he worked multiple jobs, so he was always coming and going at weird times. It looked like he had just left his job at the car shop. His jeans were covered in oil.
    “Hey, Elise,” Anthony greeted, pausing on the sidewalk. “How are you? Did you—”
    “Have to catch the bus. See you later,” she said, brushing past him without stopping.
    She jogged down the street and around the corner. A breeze moist with distant rain washed into her face and down her shirt. The storm had passed, but the weight of the air promised more to come. A man in a bulky coat was slumped over the bus stop bench, holding the schedule over his head as though it was still pouring.
    Right on time, the bus groaned up the street and paused at her curb. Elise took a seat near the back door. No amount of fresh, rainy wind could make the inside of the bus smell good—despite being cleaned frequently, it still smelled of sweat and the hundreds of people who rode it every day.
    The lights turned off and the bus rumbled down the street again. It jerked and swayed with every bump in the road. The city quickly began to transition from small businesses into casinos, bars, and strip clubs. The change was abrupt—one second, Elise was staring at peaceful storefronts and the occasional tattoo parlor, and the next, she was surrounded by flashing neon lights and towering hotels.
    The sign on an adult store displayed a woman wearing only a thong and a suggestive smile, its mannequins decked out in boas and corsets. The Wild Orchid’s sign flaunted its topless dancers across the street from the city courthouse. The bus hung a right, and tall signs over what had once been a casino advertised an off-Broadway show and a car event, both of which had left over a year ago.
    People crossed from sidewalk to sidewalk amongst slow traffic, ignoring the