The Tenth Legion (Book 6, Progeny of Evolution) Read Online Free PDF Page B

now it seemed to be
everywhere.
    The mailbox on
the ground floor landing confirmed the location of the
apartment.
    It must be convenient to have mail delivery. Lorna trudged seven blocks to a
postal box.
    The door to
Jerry’s apartment, like all the others, showed a clean, glossy
brown. The first on the right held a brass plaque with his name
engraved on it, a special feature of the complex. Hammering on the
door with her best authoritative cop knock, a prelude to possible
future role playing, she expected a prompt answer.
    Something felt
awry. The loud knocking, which should have jarred the dead awake,
met a long silence. Then, from the other side of the door, her
enhanced hearing detected bursts of whispered conversation,
together with hurried, scurrying noises. At least two people were
in the apartment.
    “Jerry,” she
called out. “It’s me, Lorna. Is everything okay in there?”
    In the process
of reaching for her key, she stopped when the door cracked open. A
flushed Jerry peeked out from the minimal aperture. His expression
suggested, not too well, that she caught him unprepared for a
surprise visit. The behavior raised Lorna’s cop suspicions.
Moreover, he didn’t reckon on a lycan’s sense of smell.
    A scent of
sexual activity wafted out the slim door opening.
    Lorna tensed
and stood erect. With building anger, she peered beyond him into
the apartment, glimpsing a female figure crossing the open doorway
of a bedroom.
    “What the
hell’s going on?” Over his protests that she had no right to barge
in to his apartment, Lorna pushed the door open. Storming into the
bedroom, she encountered the auxiliary volunteer who escorted him
the day he visited. The young woman knelt on the mattress, naked
except for a white thong. When she saw Lorna, she rocked back on a
pair of trim heels to arch her back, presenting two pert and erect
breasts in the full flush of youth, wearing the expression of
supreme confidence common to the young and foolish. Simpering lips
curled on the cherubic face. She pushed a stray lock of
corn-colored hair back into place. The vaporous artifacts of their
mingled scents saturated the room.
    For a second,
the urge to make a blood kill swept through Lorna. Lycans didn’t
take betrayal well. She’d been faithful to him during their time
together, and she’d expected the same from him. At some level, the
idea of morphing, tearing them to shreds, and feeding on their
livers held appeal. But then she’d spend the rest of her life on
the run. With the whole world against them, ferals, in particular
the loners, didn’t last long. Besides, neither the climate of Tibet
nor the Upper Amazon held much appeal.
    With a snap of
her head–the same kind she used to reset a wayward bang - she put
away the dark urges and settled on a more rational course of
action. “You’re out of here, sister.” She crossed the room, picking
up the auxiliary volunteer by the waistband of the thong, and
giving her the wedgie of a lifetime. With Lorna’s help, the younger
woman did a tip-toed, butt-in-the-air sort of quick step in the
direction of the door.
    “Do something,
Jerry!” she screamed in a petulant prom queen soprano whine that in
most cases got what it wanted, but at the moment it wasn’t working
so well. Jerry remained wide-eyed and immobile at the other end of
the room.
    With a free
hand, Lorna swept up, in reverse order as they went, her rival’s
clothes, abandoned on the way to the bedroom. After opening the
front door, she tossed the girl, along with her garments, on the
landing in an undignified pile of knees, skirt, elbows, camisole,
and tan thigh.
    Lorna slammed
the door, cutting off a last whimpered request for Jerry to help.
Then she turned to face him. “Why?” she demanded.
    “I can’t do it
anymore. You have no idea what it feels like to love someone who
never ages. At first it seemed like a perfect deal for me, until I
realized how twenty years from now, you’ll be the same, while