Free A Demon's Work Is Never Done: Latter Day Demons, Book 2 by Connie Suttle Page B

deterrent to crime, in and of itself."
    "I wouldn't want to live here," Kory mumbled, leaning in to look out my window. His breath was warm on my neck as he studied the structure. I shivered involuntarily at his closeness.
    Baby, we'll talk when this is over , he promised in mindspeech.
    I wasn't sure I wanted to talk. I felt bad enough—and guilty enough—as it was.
    * * *
    Kordevik
    The inside of the prison reflected the outside. Nothing there felt welcoming. Even family photographs on the warden's desk did nothing to lighten the heaviness that oppressed as well as incarcerated.
    "Vic's posse on the inside have had to defend him several times from attacks from other inmates," Warden Greene said. "Yes, that's usually reversed," he held up a hand when Opal started to say something. "We do our best to maintain a balance, but you understand, they outnumber us. We don't want a replay of what happened in Colorado, either."
    "How did you know we were there?" Kell asked.
    "Word gets around," the Warden lowered his eyes. I doubted he wanted to tangle with Kell, who was more than ready to defend Opal. I could see it in the tension that gripped his body the moment we walked inside the prison.
    "What did you hear, exactly?" Compulsion filled Kell's voice as he spoke.
    "We heard that the Director of the Joint NSA and Homeland Security Department sent several agents to the facility in Colorado, and then a riot broke out. I'm still not sure that what I heard about ten prisoners is true."
    "What's that?"
    "That somehow, ten innocent people replaced ten drug lords from South America. We've heard rumors that a devil witch and her demon are involved." Warden Greene couldn't look Kell in the eye any longer; Kell's eyes were dark and hard.
    "That information will no longer trouble you," Kell gritted. "You will not recall it after we leave this day."
    Opal could only shake her head. Somehow, the enemy in Peru was already spreading stories and lies about us, taking what little they knew and expanding on it. I marveled at how closely they'd come to the truth, however.
    Lexsi had Karathian blood, through her grandmother. The enemy had no knowledge of that—how could they? Lexsi's grandmother wouldn't take the throne of Le-Ath Veronis for nearly three hundred years.
    They'd invented stories to frighten the gullible on Earth, and managed to get close to the truth as a result.
    Like Kell, I wanted to defend Lexsi. She was only twenty-three, for fuck's sake, and barely considered an adult according to High Demon law. While she behaved in a manner beyond her years, there were so many things she hadn't experienced for herself, yet.
    I worried about her because of that.
    Keep your mouth shut—it already bothers her , I berated myself.
    "We're ready to see the prisoner," Opal said, interrupting my thoughts.
    Yes, I wanted out of this hellhole already. Lexsi was upset enough as it was.
    * * *
    Lexsi
    Four guards stood outside the room that held Vic Malone.
    At least they thought it was Vic Malone. Warden Green swiped his badge across a reader to open the door for us.
    Once inside, he closed the door and locked it behind us with the same badge. Across the room, sitting at a single desk with wrists and ankles shackled to bolts in the floor, sat Vic Malone.
    Kory and I were still far enough away that any spell would still be active. "I'll go first," Kory said and strode forward. We all knew it the moment Kory came close enough to disable a spell.
    Vic's features changed. Warden Greene stifled a gasp. The man—a hapless victim forced to take Vic's place, blinked helplessly at us.
    * * *
    "Fingerprints and blood type match our missing guard," Warden Green tossed a tablet onto his desk, rattling the photographs sitting there. "DNA will take a few days, but it'll probably match, too, goddammit."
    "How long has he been missing?" Opal asked.
    "About as long as Vic has been acting strangely," the warden admitted. "The guard disappeared while he was off during a