Free Chaos Rises: A Veil World Urban Fantasy by Pippa DaCosta Page A

into an open-air plaza. Six months of weeds and bushes had encroached on what probably had once been a lively meeting place for high school kids.
    Allard and a neatly dressed man stood beside a bench. I leaned against a waist-high planter, watching Allard count cash from a roll. A demon deal, I figured. After a few quiet moments, Allard’s customer noticed me with a startled twitch. I smiled back.
    “Don’t mind her,” Allard said without looking up.
    “Who is she?”
    Allard continued to thumb through the cash without answering then handed over the bills and received a grocery bag in exchange. “Enjoy the fight.”
    “I’ve seen enough demons to last a lifetime.” The guy shrugged, gave me a parting once-over, and strode off too quickly to be casual.
    Did he not know he’d just completed a transaction with a demon? Maybe not. People believed what they wanted to believe, and Allard was very convincing.
    “Who was he?”
    In the layered shadows, Allard’s smile cut a sinister curl. “Institute.”
    I froze. Run. Do it now.
    I can’t go. Not without Del.
    “Why is he here?” Well, listen to me, sounding as if I don’t care . If Allard could hear my heart, he’d hear it trying to pound its way out of my chest.
    Dry amusement glittered in his gaze. “Our arrangement dictates I keep you and your brother safe from the Institute. That man, Doctor Taylor, is part of that process.”
    “And if he recognizes me?”
    Allard looked at the shadows crowding the corners. “Human eyesight is poor in darkness. Your hair color, the fact you’re a several thousand miles from where you should be… I’m sure you’re safe.”
    Maybe I was safe. Or maybe, once I found Del, it was time to leave LA. “What’s in the bag?”
    Allard took a second too long to answer, his gaze roaming me the whole time. He did that—paused as if, between one beat and the next, he’s peering into your soul. “You really don’t need to worry. When I make an arrangement, it’s binding.”
    I should have arranged to keep myself safe from you. I realized I was rubbing my neck and dropped my hand. Too late. He’d seen. His eyes flashed in the dark with something I didn’t want to think too deeply about.
    I sent an internal chill through me, cooling off the simmering anger and racing fear before both could loosen my tongue and get me in more trouble. “Where’s my brother?”
    His eyebrow quirked in an expression that seemed almost too human. “He’ll be found.” He started forward.
    “By Joseph?”
    “Do you doubt me, Gem?” Too close, he stopped, pinning me under his uncompromising glare.
    “No.” I don’t doubt you’re up to something. “But I do doubt Joseph. I asked him about Del, and he acted like it was the first he’d heard of it.”
    Allard’s chuckle had the appeal of drizzled syrup. Had I not still carried the bruises from my trip to the white room, that laugh might have made my demon salivate. But he straightened his face with surgical precision, wiping the laughter clean from every line, every glance, until he stood as cold and hard as his element. “We have an arrangement. I’ve tasked Joseph with finding your brother. He’ll be found. Ask again, and I’ll throw you in the ring.”
    Nearby gravel rattled and danced. Allard hadn’t moved, but he didn’t need to flex his elemental muscles. Its shifting quickened my heart and spritzed my neck with sweat.
    “You wouldn’t,” I snarled, reining back on my own shifting element.
    “Wouldn’t I?”
    This was the part where I should look away and dip my chin, eyes to the floor. A half blood does not challenge her owner. That’s how it was in the netherworld. But we weren’t in the netherworld.
    I gritted my teeth and glared into his dark eyes, eyes so dark, nobody would ever believe his true form was marble white.
    “Enough.” He shoved the bag into my chest, almost knocking me off my feet. “Come. I wanted to ask you about your time in the netherworld.” He