The Bones of Valhalla (Purge of Babylon, Book 9) Read Online Free Page A

him away…
    Would she?
    Maybe. Maybe…
    “They’ll never accept you. But I will. What you are now, what she made you, this is the new world. Why won’t you accept it?”
    Lies. The blue eyes had tried to kill him in Gallant. They had lured him there, with Danny and Gaby (and the boy, what was his name again?) as bait. They hadn’t brought him there to be embraced as one of them. No, they had meant to destroy him. He still remembered their conversation, crowing about how pleased he would be.
    “Now you’re going to die.”
    “Again.”
    “But this time…”
    “…for good.”
    “And he’ll be pleased…”
    “…that we finally ended you.”
    “…so pleased...”
    He closed his eyes and let the movement of the vessel calm him. He resumed healing even as the voice continued. He couldn’t have silenced it if he wanted to, because the voice prowled the river of thoughts that flowed through the consciousness of the brood that they were all a part of. It was an intimate connection, only possible because they came (were born) from the same blood. His life force flowed through their veins. Through his at this very second. They were as much a part of him as he was of them, and it would always be so.
    Always…
    “Come home. This is where you belong. This is where you’ve always belonged. In another year, in ten years—a century—you won’t remember the old world. The old you. This is the way of things now. The new order. It’s fate.”
    I don’t believe in fate ,he wanted to answer.
    “It’s destiny.”
    I don’t believe in destiny, either ,he wanted to shout.
    But he kept quiet, because it was a trick. Once he reacted to the voice, he wouldn’t be able to stay hidden from it, and then all would be lost.
    “It’s her, isn’t it? You still long for her. Even now, after everything that’s happened. You hold onto the delusion you can be together again.”
    No. He hadn’t come here for that. He hadn’t… right?
    “Lara can be yours, and all you have to do is come back.”
    Lies. More lies.
    “Years, decades, generations from now. You’ll always be together, just the way you want it. You won’t have to worry about disease, or age, or death.”
    Ignore his lies. It was all a trick.
    “All you have to do is make the choice, and you’ll be reunited again. Just make the choice to come home.”
    The choice…
    “She’ll thank you for stripping away the pain. No more running, no more suffering. And you’ll be together again. Reunited. Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”
    Yes ,he thought, Yes…

    * * *
    “ A priest , a rabbit, and a horse walk into a bar…”
    Medical ointment passed through the chest’s walls, and though Danny wasn’t talking very loudly, he had no trouble hearing him. He almost smiled, and maybe he did, but simple tasks like that were harder to accomplish these days.
    “Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…”
    He didn’t stop him, even though he had heard it many times before. The exact number escaped him, but that was nothing new. Information he didn’t need to survive was buried deep down in his mental recesses. Maybe one of these days he would release the box and let them all out, or maybe he would fling the lid open only to discover there was nothing left, that they had all dissolved away.
    One day, he hoped to find out.
    But that day wasn’t here yet.
    “Ah, never mind. It’s just not the same when you can’t see the absolute joy in the other person’s face as I present the joke to end all jokes,” Danny was saying. “I’d open the lid, but I’m thinking you would have done it yourself if you wanted to. Surely those little strips of duct tape aren’t holding you back, are they?”
    No, they weren’t.
    “And that door… I bet you could breathe on it and bust it down, huh?”
    It wasn’t that easy, but Danny wasn’t wrong. He could take it down with little effort.
    “I would offer you something to eat, but I’m