Haruspex (Marla Mason) Read Online Free Page B

boy’s slingshot.
    Marla lifted her rifle, confident of her aim at this range.
    She heard a motor approach and sat still. What now?
    A black limousine purred into the lot. The front doors opened and two goons emerged, shuffling their feet awkwardly. Demons, fresh off the boat, Marla guessed. Effective enough protection, but who were they protecting?
    The limo’s back door opened, and a stout, well dressed man got out. Marla recognized him instantly. Sauvage. The oldest sorcerer in the city, a man with a reptile’s patience and no tolerance for fools. Marla had read his name in the remains of Sorenson’s corpse.
    Marla sat still. Sauvage would be able to see through her invisibility, but if she sat quietly, he might not notice her.
    “Let’s see it,” Sauvage said.
    The Belly Killer nodded and took the jawbone from his back pocket, holding it up.
    Mine Marla thought fiercely, leaning forward and almost falling off the pole. Why would Sauvage want her jaw? She was a mercenary, a woman of some status in her peculiar community, but not important enough to merit Sauvage’s notice.
    “That’s not Cochran’s jaw,” Sauvage said flatly.
    The Belly Killer giggled and wiggled the jaw.
    A trick , Marla thought, a lure, just bait because Sauvage couldn’t easily be found. Cochran was his chief rival, of course he’d come personally for the jaw, and who would dare lie to him? Not Marla. Only a madman, or someone with the power of a Throne.
    Sauvage waved his hand and the goons lunged for the Belly Killer, who still held up the jawbone like a proud child. One of the goons struck him solidly, knocking him over. Marla winced as her jawbone fell. Sauvage bent and picked it up, turning it in his hands, examining. The goons aimed kicks at the Belly Killer’s stomach.
    The air changed, becoming heavier, crackling, reeking, and the Belly Killer sparkled with greasy light. Tentacles lashed out, pure energy gleaming like razorwire, and slit the goons’ stomachs deftly, spilling their secrets to the asphalt as they fell to their knees, looks of stupid surprise on their faces. Poor demons. Only in their bodies a few weeks, probably, and already dead. The Belly Killer regained his feet and peered down at one of the goon’s guts.
    All this happened in an instant, before Sauvage could react. Marla let her rifle fall without thinking, and then she fell, too, gliding down like a fisher bird in search of a meal. She grabbed Sauvage from behind, hooking her hands under his fleshy armpits, hauling him skyward without looking back, straining under the weight. Afraid, thinking of the Belly Killer streaking through the sky after her like a comet, like malevolent ball lightning, she made herself go faster.
    The killer didn’t follow. He’s reading the future in the goons’ entrails, she thought, maybe finding out my destination.
    Sauvage, not even breathing hard, said “Thank you, miss. A singular experience back there. Care to tell me about it?”
    “Sure. If you make sure not to drop that jaw.” She told him what she knew, about the killer and the Thrones, and then explained her plan, only formulating the details as she spoke.
    #
    Rondeau surprised her again by not arguing. “Sure. Count me in.” He took Sauvage aside, making him a drink from the private stock in Juliana’s office. No, his office, Marla reminded herself. Rondeau even acted like he belonged there, like he’d inhabited the space for years. Had she misjudged him? As Rondeau talked quietly with Sauvage, he exhibited none of the deal-making shiftiness or fawning she might have expected. Had his new responsibility, the custodianship, matured him, or had he developed this dignity over the years, without Marla noticing ? Rondeau may not be the only one hobbled by impressions from the past , she thought.
    Marla examined her jaw critically. Scraped, bloody, the gums already drawing back from the teeth. An incisor cracked, and a canine missing entirely. Still, even damaged, it