Free Rusty Nails (The Dade Gibson Case Files) by Jason Brannon Page B

the twins were too quick. Pyriel was too intoxicated to be of much help, but he did manage to land a couple of punches before one of the twins grabbed him from behind and slammed his head into the concrete floor. Liz screamed, but the sound was short lived. It was the last thing she remembered before the world turned black.
     
     
     

 
    Chapter 16
     
    The junkyard was largely deserted which was perfect for a clandestine rendezvous to discuss the future. Rows of broken-down cars were stacked on end. Metal debris littered the labyrinthine pathways. Rats scurried from one oxidized heap of steel to another. Ruin and disarray were the ruling lords of this place, and Samael couldn’t have chosen any better caretakers if he had personally hand-picked them himself.
    “I assume that you brought what I asked you to,” the seer said as they walked into the dusky shadows.
    “It’s in the bag,” Samael replied. “Let’s just hope you know what to do with it.”
    Samael, apparently, had already staked the place out long before now, and he seemed to instinctively know where to go, winding his way through the remains of carburetors and engine blocks and transmissions that littered the junkyard like the entrails of a massive metal god.
    Someone had possessed the foresight to set up a table in the middle of a circle of old crushed cars, and for that Lilith was thankful. It would have made the ritual so much harder to perform without one. Although she hadn’t noticed it at first, angels were perched in the backseats and open trunks, studying her every movement with fascination like magpies crowding a telephone wire.
    “Let’s see what Richard Edgemore has to tell us, shall we?” Samael whispered, pouring the bones out onto the table. “My veins are screaming to know what he knew.”
    Lilith studied the remains carefully, spreading the bones out, her heart racing a little at the sight.
    “I need a crow.”
    “Are you sure?”
    Lilith nodded. “I think so”
    Samael scowled. It wasn’t a good sign. Reluctantly, he stood up and stretched his wings, scanning the horizon for any sign of a carrion bird. Like an outfielder climbing the wall to make an amazing catch, he snatched a bird out of the air. The crow was bleeding from a mark in its breast where Samael’s talon had pierced it. Lilith dug her fingers into the wound and tore the bird apart, ignoring the shrill squawks and the furious last burst of energy that the creature expended in an attempt to get away. The blood ran through her fingers as she tore the entrails out and scattered them over Edgemore’s bones. Samael looked on curiously as Lilith’s pupils faded to black. The first words out of her mouth were unexpectedly deep for a woman, but Samael understood that it was Edgemore speaking, not her.
    “I’m not telling you anything, so don’t even ask,” Edgemore said sternly, using Lilith’s mouth.
    “I don’t think that’s the answer you want to stick with,” the angel growled, running his scarred fingers over the bloody bones.
    “You don’t frighten me,” Edgemore replied sharply. Samael snapped one of the bones in half to show that he meant what he said. Lilith howled in pain, a surrogate for Edgemore’s anguish.
    “Still want to be stubborn?” the red-plumed angel asked. “I can make eternity miserable for you. You can rest in peace…or not at all. The choice is yours.”
    “What do you want to know?”
    “I want to know about the little secret you’ve been carrying around with you in that decaying brain of yours. I want to know about Rusty Nails. How did you even get mixed up with the drug in the first place?”
    Edgemore sighed. Coming from the seer’s lips the sound was almost erotic. “I ran with the wrong crowd. Got mixed up with a few really bad angels. One thing led to another.”
    “Another angel is behind this?” Samael asked, immediately growing suspicious.
    “I didn’t say that,” replied. “Or then again, maybe I did. Maybe I