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

around the room.
    No. No, no, no! There was no way she’d gone to Hell. The kid. She’d saved him, at least she thought she had, and had also hoped that would have gotten her a ticket into Heaven. Not that she cared really…okay, maybe she cared a little.
    She stood up from a marble platform and walked around. The smooth floor warmed the soles of her feet. An unusual foreign sounding wail, too shrill to be human, echoed throughout the huge chamber. Spinning around and around, she couldn’t locate its origin. Sweat flung from her brow. The hem of her dress twisted about her feet, tripping her up. She fell to her knees onto the unyielding floor. Tears ran down her cheeks. Her nose dripped.
    A booming laughter ricocheted off the stone, joining the high-pitched screeching. She covered her ears. “Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” she screamed and crumpled the rest of the way to the floor. The clamor overloaded her senses. Two thick black leather boots with silver buckles planted beside her, where she lay. The back of her neck tingled. Heat flooded her core. Weak with fear, she tried lifting her head and torso, but only managed to raise a mere few inches off the marble before face-planting again.
    “Ohhh, God,” she moaned.
    “You won’t find Deus heeere ,” a voice taunted her.
    Warm hands rolled her over onto her back. She blinked tears out of her eyes. A beautiful man stared down at her, dressed in all black leather. Long pointed fingernails adorned his hands. A crown of thorns sat on his head. The irony may have made her laugh under different circumstances. Not hidden well and underneath the barbed laurels, were two horns hacked down almost to his forehead. Tool marks marred the stumps.
    She was whisked up by the armpits and held with her eyes at level with his. Ice blue eyes stared back at her. The silence between them gnawed at her until she spoke.
    “Is this…am I in Hell?”
    “That word is not permitted here!”
    Amalya cringed and turned a cheek as he yelled directly into her face, pelting her with spit. The aura of this man…beast, reminded her of the monster she’d encountered right after her death.
    This probably wasn’t a good thing; trapped inside the creature’s lair.
    “What do you say to me?”
    All she could do was blink at him. What was she supposed to say to him?
    He shook her. “Amalya!”
    “S-sorry,” she squeaked and braced for an onslaught of screaming.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
     
    Elliott
     
    White-hot heat poked at Elliott’s chest. He lifted his dangling head and opened his eyes, just in time to see a dull iron rod jabbed into his side. Agony bore through him. He cried out. Bound to a stony wall by his wrists and ankles, he couldn’t protect himself against the orange tipped shaft. Sweat dripped into his eyes. Cloven hooved demons chortled and snickered at him, pleased with their torturing.
    Letting his head fall forward, he closed his eyes. Lesser demons grew bored brutalizing someone who they couldn’t make scream. Most had short attention spans, and with nothing to keep them engaged they’d soon leave him alone. Or so he hoped. He gritted his teeth with each jab, but not a single sound passed through his lips.
    “This angel’s boring me,” one of Satan’s servants with the poker drawled. The heavy bar dropped to the soot lined ground at his feet with a thud. Black dust rose up then settled slowly.
    “What we do now?” the other smaller, ram-horned underling whined.
    “I don’t know, wait, no…wait right here!” The little demon rushed off. Clack tlot. Clack tlot. Clack tlot.
    “Where you goin’, boss?”
    Clip-clop. Elliott snorted at the cloven hooves’ sounds. The remaining torturer grabbed his jaw, digging clawed fingers into his cheeks.
    “What’s so funny?”
    “You, princess,” Elliott breathed.
    Ram-head crinkled his forehead, cocking his head from side to side. “Princess? I don’t get it.” Releasing his grip, he backed