Flight from Hell Read Online Free Page A

rather do some research first. We don’t know where the other vampires went. If they’re rogues, there might be more of them. We’re good, but even with you along, we can’t fight off a full nest.”
    â€œAgreed.” Delilah echoed the sentiment. “We go visit Carter, see what he wanted to talk to us about, and ask him if he knows anything about what’s going on. How many deaths did you say Roman thinks have occurred?”
    I frowned. “Five newly minted vampires taken down in the past week, total. Several bodies that vanished without a trace. So . . . quite a few. Somebody out there is on a killing spree, and intent on creating a nest of followers.”
    â€œThen, I vote we adjourn and head over to Carter’s.” Camille edged her way toward her Lexus, staring at the sky. “We’re in for one hell of a storm, I can tell you that. It’s going to break at any moment.”
    After the sentient storm that had destroyed Elqaneve—the Elfin city in Otherworld—every time she mentioned the weather, I grew uneasy. But we were Earthside, and while the sentient storm was still raging across the face of our homeland, so far, it hadn’t crossed between the realms.
    â€œSee you there. I hope by then Mallen will have news on the woman I found. If she lives, maybe she’ll remember something that will help us.” I pulled out the keys to my Mustang. The backseat of my brand-new car was tinged with blood. So much for spotless. But then again, nothing we ever did seemed to remain in a pristine state.
    As we pulled away from Severance Park, I glanced in the rearview mirror. There was a flash of green from the trees. A sickly, olive green that made my stomach turn. Yeah, something was going on there. And we were right in line to find out.

Chapter 2
    As I followed Camille’s Lexus through the Broadway district, I felt a wistful tug. The Wayfarer—my bar, a few streets over—had burned to the ground about two weeks ago. Arson, actually. Eight people died, including one of my waitresses and friends—Chrysandra. The whole mess still made me sick, and even though we’d taken out the person primarily responsible, I had a lot of unresolved rage simmering at a low boil.
    But I would rebuild and the Wayfarer, which had originally been a human hangout, would take on
my
style. If anything good could emerge from the arson, it was that I could rebuild from the ground up and really make the Wayfarer
my
bar.
    ***
    When we’d first come Earthside, I’d been assigned a job as the bartender in the bar, and it had been my cover. My sisters and I work for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. Back then we were lackeys, exiled over Earthside due to poor performances. Now, we
run
the Earthside division. We’ve managed to turn what was essentially a sentence of exile into a thriving success. Well, if you can call being on the front lines of a demonic war a success.
    I’m Menolly, the youngest of the D’Artigo girls. And as I said, I’m a vampire. I used to be a jian-tu, a spy of sorts, for the OIA back in Otherworld, until I fell into a nest of vampires. That’s where Dredge—the most vicious bloodsucker that ever walked either world—got hold of me. He tortured me in ways I can never forget, then killed and turned me. Afterward, he sent me home to destroy my family, but thanks to Camille, that little plan didn’t work. The OIA took me in since the whole mess had been their fault in the first place, they rehabilitated me, and I managed to survive, sanity returning after a year.
    I’m five-one, with copper-colored cornrows that are beaded with ivory. The sound of the beads clinking when I walk reminds me that I exist, that I’m more than a living shadow. I’ve actually managed to find love in this world, and am married to a gorgeous werepuma named Nerissa who puts up with all my bullshit. And as I said, I’m