Lost in Prophecy: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Ascension Series) (Volume 5) Read Online Free

chamber.
    “I will rape your children’s eye sockets for what you’ve done to me, you dumb bitch!” That was Davithon from the House of Courevore.
    And from a lamia in the back corner of the dungeon: “You will regret this! Release me now and your death will be swift!”
    Others were trying to bribe her for their freedom, and a few even begged, but the threats were far more prevalent. None of them were saying what she wanted to hear: “I will release my human slaves and agree to abide by your laws.”
    Was that really so hard?
    Elise was tempted to just kill the lot of them, communicating with demons in the way that she had learned as a girl-child. She didn’t need compliance if they were dead. She could crack their skulls and their battlements and free the mortals that way, too.
    But what a pain in the ass that would be. The Houses wouldn’t run themselves, and Elise sure as heck wasn’t taking on that much responsibility. She just wanted these assholes to get their shit together and obey her. If she left the city’s governing structure largely untouched, Dis would continue to run after she achieved her goals and returned to Earth.
    Elise was increasingly doubtful such a day would ever come.
    She leaned over the banister. “Listen,” she said. She barely had to raise her voice for the word to carry throughout the entire room. Whoever had designed the dungeon had done great with the acoustics. It had been carved directly into the igneous rock deep underneath the Palace, and the faceted walls multiplied every sound a dozen times. Unfortunately, after capturing so many prisoners, the noise could get cacophonous.
    Such as when all of them started screaming and roaring in response to Elise’s voice.
    She waited until they quieted down again, counting to ten inside her head. And then twenty. And then thirty. Eventually, they fell quiet.
    Davithon was the nearest of them. He was an ugly little demon that dressed as a fop, wearing a curled wig and a white domino mask. A black tongue lashed from his fanged mouth. He had no legs and hovered a few feet above the floor, arms stretched above him—trying to reach her, but unable to pass the invisible roof on his cell.
    Face to face, he was a little scary. From above, his clawing was laughable.
    “You can all earn your freedom by releasing the slaves and swearing fealty,” Elise said, looking specifically at Davithon. His House alone had nineteen slaves. “Let me know when you’ve changed your minds.”
    She backed away from the edge as they all resumed gnashing their teeth.
    Whatever.
    Neuma was standing back a few feet, gazing up at Jerica. She didn’t seem to have heard Elise’s latest attempts at negotiation, which were about as effective as all her previous attempts.
    “Let’s go upstairs,” Elise said. “Gerard’s waiting.”
    “I’d like to stay,” Neuma said. “I’m half-human. Jerica can feed on me, too.”
    “Do you think that she would want you to sacrifice your mental health for her rebirth?”
    “Doesn’t matter all that much to me. She needs it. I’ll give it to her.”
    Elise didn’t like that. It wasn’t that Neuma was the only person that Elise currently used to feed her own demonic hungers—she just didn’t like the thought of Neuma being forced to relive her worst nightmares over and over. It would break her long before Jerica became strong.
    “Don’t martyr yourself,” Elise said.
    Neuma’s eyes glistened. “Love is sacrifice.”
    The words corkscrewed right into Elise’s belly. Her jaw hardened.
    She nodded once, lips sealed against further arguments, and Neuma pulled up a folding chair to sit at the edge of the mezzanine. The half-succubus could just barely reach the edge of Jerica’s cage if she reached out. She hooked one long finger in the bar and managed a trembling smile at the nightmare’s shivering bones.
    Elise left without looking back at them, but the image of the two together was permanently burned into the backs