Free Demon's Fury: Part 1 of the Final Asylum Tales (The Asylum Tales series) by Jocelynn Drake

bullshit.”
    It helped to break the tension a little bit. With a deep breath, I knew it was time to get down to business.
    “I’ve got to set some ground rules before we continue.”
    “And now I’m worried again,” Serah said. Her voice carried some levity as if she was trying to meet me halfway, but it was fading fast. “Why do we need ground rules?”
    “For both our protection.”
    “You know, Gage, if you’re going to use some kind of illegal potion, it’s unlikely I’m going to recognize it. I want to catch this bastard too.” Ahh . . . dear Serah . Already willing to bend the rules for me. Of course, she was right. If I’d decided to use a little pixie liver in a spell she wouldn’t be able to recognize it. While the ingredient was illegal, she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between it and a shriveled up lima bean.
    “It’s not a potion.”
    “Hacking software?”
    “No.” When Serah looked utterly confounded, I continued, knowing it was better to push ahead than to let her imagination run wild. “First rule is that you will wait here until I call you down into the basement.” When she opened her mouth to argue, I pulled the blood-soaked paper towel out of my pocket and held it out to her. “Since you don’t trust me, you’ll hold this until you join me.”
    Serah wordlessly closed her mouth and took the paper towel, holding it carefully in her right hand. It was a fair trade. She could be sure that I wasn’t trying to pull a fast one on her while I was out of her sight.
    “Second rule is that you will remain calm no matter what you see.”
    “How much illegal crap you got down there?”
    I just frowned at her. The shit I had down in the basement wasn’t even on TAPSS’s radar. Warlocks could do some seriously fucked-up shit, but it often required some really strange and rare items. There was plenty down there that could be considered illegal if all the rule makers ever considered what a person could get their hands on. For now it wasn’t illegal simply because they hadn’t thought of it yet.
    “Fine. I’ll stay calm,” Serah said in a huff.
    “And third, you’ll give me a chance to explain anything you don’t understand before you consider breaking Rule Number Two.”
    “Got it. Stay here. Stay calm. Give you a chance to snow me.” Serah ticked off each rule on her fingers while glaring at me. “Can we get this going now? I would like to crawl into bed before the sun comes up.”
    Resisting the urge to flip her off, I turned and pushed a rolling table off the trapdoor in the floor, moving it to the far corner of the room. I didn’t care if she was irritated with me. There was a huge potential for disaster by taking her into my secret lair, and I wanted to at least try to cover my ass before descending into this nightmare. I glanced over my shoulder at her one last time to see her still standing across the room with the tissue in her extended hand before turning my attention to the yawning darkness at the bottom of the warped wooden stairs.
    Common sense said this was a mistake and I was having trouble remembering why I was doing this, but the die was cast and it was time to get this show on the road.

 
    Chapter 6
    W ith ease, I quickly descended the creaking stairs and hit the compacted dirt floor. I blindly grabbed the beaded pull chain overhead and gave it a hard yank as I walked into the center of the room. Grimy yellow light washed over the low-ceilinged room with exposed concrete walls. Deep shadows instantly retreated to peek out from around the three large cabinets that lined three of the walls. The fourth, far wall was empty except for a large symbol I’d spray-painted there. The air in the basement was thick with the scent of dirt, burned ozone, and some other, subtler scent that I had come to associate with the scent of my own magical signature.
    Standing in the center of the room, I threw my arms out and then swiftly brought them in again before