Demon's Fall Read Online Free

staring down at her feet. “They just feel so strange.”
    The cobbler pressed around her toes. “They fit,” he said.
    Kenan pressed plain silver into his hand. “Many sales,” he said, then took Jahel next door.
    She kept staring at her newly shod feet instead of where she was going, so he wrapped one hand around her arm to guide her. This time she didn’t pull away.
    The dressmaker looked up from a length of cloth she was draping over a wooden figure and smiled an invitation when she saw Kenan. “Welcome, sir. What can I do for you?” She cocked a hand on her outthrust hip. It was clear she wasn’t offering him a dress.
    He was used to this sort of reaction. “Not for me,” he said. He gestured toward Jahel. “She needs a dress.”
    “An angel?” The dressmaker frowned, her attention diverted.
    “There are winged demons. Surely something similar to what they wear would do for her.”
    She tsked. “It’s nothing alike. You clearly know naught of clothing. And that’s not the problem, anyway.”
    He could have convinced her in his usual way, but Jahel’s presence inhibited him. He wasn’t about to seduce a woman in front of another he planned to seduce later.
    “I’ll pay now,” he said, searching through his coins for more silver. He gave her what he found—probably too much, but he didn’t care. “And you’ll garb her straightaway. Something simple will do, but decent. Or would you have me go about Hellsgate with such an ill-dressed slave?”
    “I’m not—”
    Kenan gave Jahel a warning look before her anger carried her away. To his amazement she fell quiet, although her glare promised more words later. He turned back to the dressmaker and shook his head. “Angels are so proud, they don’t even know to be ashamed when they should be.”
    “Eh, then, seeing as how it’s for your dignity…” The seamstress beckoned Jahel forward, but she kept looking at Kenan. “Return soon, sir, I’ll be quick with this one.”
    He smiled politely, careful not to be encouraging, and stepped out.
    “Wait—”
    He turned to see Jahel standing in the doorway.
    “Where are you going?”
    “To find the demon you were seeking,” he said. “I might as well ask around while you’re in there.”
    “Oh.” But an anxious furrow remained between her brows.
    “I’ll return once your dress is done,” he said.
    “I’m just worried you won’t be able to find your way back,” she said, but the furrow was gone. She smiled a farewell, then went back in, and he was the one left lingering there, hoping for another sight of that smile.
    He shook his head to clear it. She was coming to depend on his company in this city—that was good. Now he had to deliver on his promise to find the hellhound.
    There weren’t many hellhounds in Hellsgate, as they tended to prefer Hell proper. But demons who had ventured onto the mortal plane often stayed awhile in this city before returning—still in the mortal realm, but close to Hell, with many of its denizens fellow demons. The transition from a physical body and a freer society was difficult. Kenan himself hadn’t passed through the portal to Hell for decades. He thought that this hellhound might still be in Hellsgate, and if so, someone would know where it was.
    He made his way to a tavern where both mortals and demons gathered. There were establishments that catered to one or the other, but Kenan rather thought that missed the point of Hellsgate. The horned barkeep nodded to him as he entered and poured him an ale. “What brings you here today?” Adino asked as he handed over the tankard, familiar with Kenan’s ways.
    Kenan took a long drink. “A hellhound.”
    One of Adino’s brows rose. “Not being chased by one, I hope.”
    “I’m looking for one, actually.”
    The other eyebrow went up. “Now that’s not something commonly heard. Not as insane as wanting to tangle with, say, one of the princes or with the First, but still a fair bit foolish.”
    Kenan