Free Darkening Dawn (The Lockman Chronicles Book 5) by Rob Cornell Page A

of the stacks of ribs, arm bones, leg bones, and spines that made up the altar. He recalled the dusty, ashen feel of the altar’s shelf of bones between the hands holding the candles.
    These were the bones of his brothers who had given their lives for the cause. Their deaths did not stop them from continuing their contributions.
    Earl’s soul must have changed its vibe. The demon quivered around his leg. The wet taste of its fear rolled over Earl’s tongue. Earl’s smirk stretched to a full grin.
    What’s the matter, demon? Do you fear me?
    The invisible beast wrenched itself so tightly Earl expected to hear his bones crack. Pain sparked up into his groin and made his stomach hitch. Bile burned the back of his throat. All the whiteness dimmed.
    Could he fall unconscious in this place?
    Fuck if he would find out.
    He sucked in the deepest breath his diaphragm would allow, ballooning his belly until it hurt a little. He tried to focus in on that small pain, hoping to replace the larger agony from the demon’s squeezing. For a second, he held on. Then the pain through his thigh and into his guts overwhelmed his concentration.
    His exhale came out in a sloppy shudder.
    He couldn’t expect a single breath to take him to full control. He had to fight his way into the meditative state. He took another deep breath. He focused on his belly’s expansion again. The demon squeezed harder. It said something too, but Earl’s concentration kept the words from slithering into his mind.
    Blocking out words was easy.
    Pain, not so much.
    Still, as he continued to breathe in and out, slowing the pace, sinking deeper into his center of being, the pain began to fade. It didn’t go away. Nothing so strong could disappear from sensation entirely. Earl could let it pass every time it reared up on him, though.
    I can control , he said, imagining his master standing before him with an approving smile. I am control .
    Earl opened himself up enough to check on the demon’s reaction. A pulse of pure terror hit Earl so hard he mistook it for his own. But, no, it was the demon’s fear he felt. It was time to move to the next stage.
    Earl used the demon’s cold as fuel, pulling it deeper into him, masking the heat of his soul.
    The serpent squealed like a pig being gutted alive. Its hold on Earl flexed and released. Where does its warmth go?
    Colder. Colder still. Cold so sharp and deep, Earl thought he might kill his connection to life and abandon his body to remain lost in the Inbetween like the rest of the souls here. Like the demon that fed on him now.
    But the more he let his life essence chill, the more the beast fought.
    I have nothing left for you, he told the demon.
    It screamed in response, a scream too human for a creature like this. Earl’s skin cringed against his muscles and bones at the sound. He wondered if it had remembered what it used to be, what it had lost so long ago.
    Let go, demon. You’ve lost what you seek.
    The thing’s wrapped grip slackened. Something like a whisper in a foreign language expelled from the area where Earl felt it still around his thigh.
    A moment later, Earl felt the thing slither back the way it had come, down between his legs, giving Earl’s shriveled balls one last cold caress. Despite the feel of a “floor” under Earl, the demon seemed to travel downward. Physics had no place in this realm.
    Earl let a shaky breath whistle out his pursed lips. His body trembled with cold. What he’d drawn in himself faded quickly once he disconnected from the meditative state. But the chill from the demon soul lingered like the ghost of a lost limb.
    Well done.
    The voice came from behind Earl, and he recognized it at once.
    He spun around and fell to his knees before his master.
    His master looked like a royal bishop in a long, purple robe lined with white fur, glittering diamonds sprinkled throughout the fur. The robe hung open, revealing his belt buckle, the shape of a goat head, that shined like a