The Devil's Backbone (A Niki Slobodian Novel: Book Five) Read Online Free PDF Page A

 
    “Leave. Please.” They were gone in seconds, all scrambling to escape Death in her crazed wrath. It was almost funny that these powerful demons were afraid of me. Funny if they didn’t have perfectly good reasons. I was certainly not the docile stalker Death that Samael had been. And I wasn’t afraid of them, which I was pretty sure what scared them most of all. They didn’t know what to do with someone who didn’t fear them. Fear was all they had.  
    Ash lingered at the door, looking unsure. I turned to look at him. He was staring past me at Eli on the floor.  
    “It’s okay, Ash,” I said, my voice tired. “I’ll be okay.”
    “Will he?” he said, gesturing to Eli. “If you harm him, it could start a conversation with the lords.”
    “I’m not going to kill Eli,” I said. “I just want to talk to him.”
    If Ash had eyebrows he would have raised one.  
    “Promise,” I said. “Cross my heart. I won’t hurt him.” I looked at Eli. “Much.”
    Ash turned to go, closing the doors behind him, but he stopped just short. He looked at me. “You’re very frightening when you’re angry,” he said.
    “I’m sorry,” I said.  
    “It’s a compliment,” he said, looking at me with something like approval. “If anyone can help Lucifer, if he’s in as much trouble as I think he is… Well, I’m glad to have you on our side. I fear that if the tables were turned and you were against us, we would lose. Badly.”  
    I didn’t know how to respond, and just stood there staring at him. But he didn’t seem to expect an answer, simply nodding at me and closing the doors behind him with an echoing clang.
    “Were you lying?” Eli said hoarsely, still sitting on the floor.
    “Get up,” I said, offering him a hand. He looked at me suspiciously. “I’m not going to hurt you, okay? Just get off the floor and sit with me for a minute. I want to talk.”
    * * *  
    It took some time to convince Eli to relax. He still glanced toward the door every once in a while, avoiding my gaze.  
    “You don’t have to be afraid,” I said. “I saw what you saw. I believe you.”
    “I’m not afraid of you,” he said, but there was no strength behind his words. He finally met my eyes. He tried for a moment to be angry, narrowing his eyes to slits, but he gave up and slumped back in his chair.
    “How did this happen?” he said.
    “What?” I said.
    “Us. This. How did we become such enemies? We never hated each other before. Even when…”
    “When I left you?” I said gently.
    “At least not after the first time,” he said.  
    “I’m sorry, Eli,” I said. “I just didn’t…I don’t know. Something was missing.”
    “You didn’t love me,” he said. “It’s okay. I understand now. In fairness, you tried, didn’t you?”
    “I wanted to,” I said. “You were my last chance at humanity.”
    “Until I wasn’t human any more, is that it?” he said. “It was hard, you know? I didn’t want to see you like that.”
    “Like what?” I said. “Like Death?”
    “No,” he said quickly. He was staring at me with something like hunger. “I don’t care about that. I mean, it’s scary as hell, but then, so am I.”
    “What then?” I said.
    He frowned, as if tasting the words before he said them. “Happy,” he said finally. “With someone else.”
    “I never meant to hurt you, Eli.”
    “You can’t choose who you love, right?” he said. There was bitterness in his words. “And then you killed my father, and I used it as an excuse to keep hating you.” I opened my mouth to speak, but he held up his hand. “No, I understand why it had to be done. He was a traitor. He rebelled and had to be stopped. I get it now. He was not a good man. But that wasn’t the real reason I let myself hate you, Nik. It was because you were my dream. You were it for me. I wanted you to come down to Erebos, to live in a big house with me, the two of us together and be happy about it. You were living my