Her Black Wings (The Dark Amulet Series Book 1) Read Online Free

was a hideous monster with these same spikes. What in the Netherworld could he use to lop the bitches off with? A machete? No, too much chopping involved. Tree trimmers? Where would he find any?
    A brilliant idea popped into his brain. Chainsaw. There had to be one around. A favored goat-legged turd of his tortured the most despicable Damned souls with a Husqvarna. The power tool had one of those long blades too. Yep. That would work.
    Aba put two fingers into his mouth and whistled. The summons caused a barrage of shrieking from outside his chambers, which were actually an elaborate set of rooms used for his various activities. The little demon he’d demanded appeared moments later, holding the chainsaw, dripping with blood. He must have been terrorizing a fresh soul when mustered. Aba’s underling’s victims healed almost as fast as he cut. Damned souls. The afterlife came with perks, not that his prey would agree. Aba eyed the blade. His slave would have to do the sawing; there were only a few things he couldn’t do himself. Removing his own horns and having them still grow back was number one on the list.
    “What do you wish me to do?” the demon asked bowing his head.
    “Remove my horns.”
    The slave gaped at his master. “Huh…sorry?” Cloven hooves tapped on the marble floor as the fiend shifted from one hoof to the other. The prince of darkness charged him, grabbing him by the throat. His hooves dangled two feet above the ground. The tool fell away.
    “I said you are to remove my horns!”
    The lesser demon dropped to the floor. “R-right, r-right away, Your Darkness.” In man form, Aba wasn’t scary, but the sycophant knew the monster he could become and would, if pushed. “Let me clean it off first.”
    “That won’t be necessary.” Aba leaned down to pick up the saw. The platelets in the blood were so frightened they slipped from the blade. He handed the tool to the goat-demon.
    The slave ripped on the start cord. Once the thing was going he brought it up, but couldn’t reach the horns. “I’m sorry, Your Darkness, you’ll have to—”
    Aba waved his hand dismissively, silencing him. He groaned, then dropped to his knees, grabbing the underling’s wrist on the way down. “I bleed, you’re nothing but dust.”
    The slave cringed and started cutting. One horn fell to the floor and skidded away. The stub that remained glowed from the friction. The second horn, Aba caught in mid-air. He examined the ridges, running his finger over them. The sense of loss stung.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
    Amalya
     
    Pain rushed to Amalya’s head when she sat up. She put a hand up and slicked her hair back, pushing down on her scalp, hoping that would ease the throbbing. It didn’t.
    She glanced down at her body and what she saw surprised her. She was no longer wearing the clothes she’d had on. Now she was dressed in a deep red satin dress with keyhole sleeves which exposed her bare shoulders. She shivered even though the air felt about ninety degrees. Someone had changed her clothes without her knowledge. Was this Heaven? While Amalya hadn’t spent a lot of time considering what Utopia would be like, this place wasn’t what she’d pictured as a child during church Sunday school. The surroundings were…Eerie. That was it. And the smell reminded her of a salt mine—sulfur and earth.
    Stone cathedrallike walls stood all around her. Grand arches were carved in what looked like terra cotta clay and several tunnels snaked off to someplace out of sight. She looked up to a domed ceiling. Light shone down through a round stained glass window with panes of red, orange and yellow. The illumination appeared to ebb and flow…
    Shit.
    It wasn’t sunlight, but flickering flames. An orange glow gleamed off a wall to her right, the source of the luminosity coming from somewhere unknown, down a hidden hallway, maybe. Other fire pits were placed against the walls at regular intervals,