jinn 02 - inferno Read Online Free Page A

free from prying eyes.
    I pulled my jalopy in front of the Joliet prison, which didn’t appear to be in use anymore. The massive building could have been a castle, all stone and turrets. A barbed wire fence surrounded the grounds. It wouldn’t be a problem getting in, but I didn’t want my car seen by some nosy looky-loo driving by. I parked a few blocks away and hoofed it to the prison.
    I eyed the fence and the iron bars of the gate, planning my entrance. Being able to shape-shift definitely had its uses. Making myself smaller, I slipped through the gate and into the building with no trouble before I switched back to my more regular self.
    “What do you want?” I asked, walking through the door of the old infirmary where only two members waited.
    “What is your update, chol?” Leilah stood and brushed her long dark hair over her shoulder as she trained her strange eyes on me. Leilah had been on the council for centuries before I joined and was obviously still going strong. In all the time I’d known her, I’d never gotten used to her stare. The whites of her eyes were pink, her irises were blood red with thin lines of purple and gold running through them, and a coal black pupil slid around her eyes like an eclipse. Her eyes were the only part of her true appearance she couldn’t hide so most of the time she wore sunglasses. If people saw her true form, she would have been hunted out of existence long ago like the rest of her ancestors. Even immortals had weaknesses.
    “Same as last I spoke with you, dragon,” I replied just as solemnly. Why they couldn’t just use a name was beyond me. Learning a new name every couple hundred years or so wasn’t all that taxing, but the council was stuck in their ways. I doubted many of them even knew I went by Baker.
    Anessa smiled, her wide pale eyes blinking slowly, her white hair all but glowing in the dim light. “It’s good to see you again. It’s been too long.”
    I kissed the unicorn’s cheek, her horn carefully hidden beneath her human appearance. How much of her essence had she lost, or rather, how much had the council taken over the years? One of the main problems with being immortal was everyone wanted a piece of it. With Anessa anyone who consumed her horn became immortal, with Leilah they wanted her blood, and with me they wanted my ashes. We all had a way to make others immortal, but it took something from us to do so. The council offered a fair amount of protection, but any time someone who wasn’t already immortal joined—and there weren’t many natural immortals left—one of us had to make a sacrifice. And honestly, I was tired of sacrificing to something I wasn’t even sure I believed in.
    Besides, being immortal was really more of a curse than a gift.
    “So they sent the dames to deal with me.” I winked. “I’m flattered.”
    “You should be,” Leilah said.
    Anessa rolled her eyes at her. “We volunteered. We miss you. We all miss you. Even Rhys.”
    I raised an eyebrow. Rhys probably had no idea they were even here. He was a walking, talking douchebag. There was nothing like a demi-god with a bug up his ass to ruin your day. “I’m sure.”
    “It’s true,” Leilah said, and I couldn’t help but believe the dragon more than the unicorn. She wasn’t the type to sugarcoat things. She liked her victims bitter and bloody.
    “Why am I here? If you just wanted an update, we could have done it over the phone.”
    The women exchanged a look and Anessa nodded to Leilah.
    Leilah’s reptilian eyes met mine. “It is time for you to come back. Your sabbatical has carried on long enough. We demand your return.”
    I stared at them waiting for the punchline because this had to be a joke. There was no way in hell I was going back to the council, not now, not ever, but the punchline never came. “Hate to break it to you, doll, but that wasn’t a sabbatical I went on. I quit the council and I’m disinclined to return to it—ever. I’m not sure