Lasting Fury (Hexing House Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

do it?”
    There were murmurs among the crowd that she couldn’t catch, some of the voices excited. Several people gathered in closer. For a second Thea felt a sickening sense of déjà vu. Had someone recognized her?
    But no. Her transformation had been too complete for that. There was nothing left of the red carpet darling she’d once been. And of course they were coming closer; she was the only fury on the ground.
    Mr. Fanatic had changed, Thea saw, and mostly for the better. He’d gained weight, and his eyes had lost some of that sunken look. His clothes were clean, and for the first time in her brief experience with him, he didn’t smell of beer.
    He looks almost sane.
    “Witch!” he hissed, spit collecting on his lips. “Harlot!”
    Almost.
    “You did this,” Mr. Fanatic went on.
    Thea shook her head. “We didn’t.”
    “Don’t lie to me, demon! I know your witchcraft!”
    Well, which is it? Am I a demon, or a witch? I’m not sure you can be both. But I bet either could also be a harlot.
    Thea mentally slapped herself. This was no laughing matter.
    “I can understand why you would think that—” she began.
    Mr. Fanatic cut her off. “Lex knew your witchcraft, too! He finally saw you for the devil spawn you are. That’s why he let me go.”
    Thea started to ask what he was talking about, and who Lex was, but stopped in surprise when she saw that Mr. Fanatic’s eyes had actually filled with tears.
    His voice cracked as he said, “And you murdered him for it! And you will pay !”
    “I don’t know who Lex is,” Thea said. “Is he someone who lived in that neighborhood?” She tried to remember any of the names attached to the pictures on the news, the victims of Hemlock Heights, but she couldn’t.
    It didn’t matter. None of them could have been murdered, not in the way Mr. Fanatic was using the word. What happened at Hemlock Heights was a test of the superhex, a demonstration for a client. Surely none of the victims had been targeted specifically. Megaira and her team would have no way of knowing how particular individuals would respond to the hex, who would die, who would turn on a neighbor.
    Or on a little boy.
    Daddy’s monsters came back.
    It didn’t make any sense. And the chances of Mr. Fanatic clearing things up for her seemed slim. He was quoting scripture now, hurling the words like stones.
    “Who is Lex?” Thea asked, and when he ignored her, reached out to touch his elbow.
    “That’s enough!” A beefy, brute of a man with a shaved head was beside Mr. Fanatic in an instant. “Don’t touch him. We won’t be assaulted by you!”
    As if they were a single creature, a growl rose up from the onlookers at the word assaulted . A few stepped closer.
    Thea looked around uneasily. She was mostly surrounded now and, on the ground at least, badly outnumbered. But she resisted the urge to either open her wings or back up to the fence. It wouldn’t do to show fear.
    “Do you need help here, Thea?” Her friend Cora landed beside her, jaw set and claws out, ready to fight. The beefy man looked a little startled, although to his credit, he stood his ground.
    Thea smiled her gratitude at Cora, but shook her head. “No. We were just talking, right?” She turned back to the man. “I was just trying to ask a question. Do you know someone named—”
    She was interrupted by a whistle, so unnaturally loud that it captured most of the crowd’s attention immediately. Thea had heard it before, and wasn’t surprised when Alecto alighted on top of the gate, where she was clearly visible to all.
    “I’m Alecto. I’m the president of this company. Who is in charge here, please?”
    Of course Alecto would come out to confront the situation personally. Thea half-smiled, imagining the futile efforts of the board to talk her into not engaging, cautioning her that it might make things worse, advising her to issue some sort of bland no comment and go about her business. No comment wasn’t really