Page 36 of Dark Shadow of Guilt

Chapter Ten

Angor, OneWorld

With the dawning sun, Dom continued his search for Praevus. He tightened his onyx-tipped wings against his spine to keep the feathers from dragging on the city sidewalks. Stupool was a pit. Industrial waste and fecal matter from Scourges. Probably other sorts of shit littered the ground, too.

With a city map in his head, he began at the vacant warehouse where Praevus had last kept Madeline, exploring street by street, alley by alley. He banged on doors, routed Scourges out of hiding, and interrupted a shit ton of activities as depraved as the ex-Immortals living here.

Of course, not everything in Angor was doom and gloom. Some Scourges worked hard, saw the light, and redeemed themselves. When that happened, they met with Harmony and, in consultation with the OC, their Immortal appearance kicked back in and they returned to Vast, their rehabilitation complete. Though some made it out, most didn’t.

Dom pounded on a door facing the street. No answer. He slammed a shoulder against it until it splintered. He drew air into his nostrils.Terror.“Get the fuck out here now,” he said, “unless you want to taste my blade.” Dom popped his sword from the sheath at his back.

When it swooshed into view, two Blood Leeches crept from behind massive cardboard boxes. “We’re in hiding,” whispered the taller male, large fangs protruding from his gums.

“From whom?”

The same guy answered. “We don’t wanna go to the Fountain of Blood. The fucking poison makes me puke my guts out.”

The punishments in Angor fit the malady. The Leeches drank tainted blood from a fountain, drowned in the Rushing River of Blood, or dodged sharp steel in Blades Forest. Flesh Eaters were boiled in pots of acid or exposed to skin-eating vermin. Mind Rats faced the horrors of Fear Mines and Hallucination Woods. Soul Suckers spent time at the Slough of Despair or on Frustration Mountain. And there were many more Ordeals.

“Sad. But if you do the crime, you do the time. I’m not here to bust your chops about absences. Someone else will have that fun. Have you seen Praevus?” Dom wasn’t interested in the Ordeal dodgers.

The shorter male shook his head while the talker tapped an ear. “Rumor tells me he got a sweet deal.”

Dom was about to exit the same way he’d entered, but the shout-out pulled him back. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t know much. Just talk around Angor. Rumor has it he earned a new place to live and an absence from the Ordeals. You know. Sweet deal.”

The quiet Scourge pursed his lips and nodded.

“Gotcha. So where is Praevus’s new palatial estate?”

Dom left with an addy for the Mind Rat’s digs. Turning right at the corner, he stared up at a building. His gaze crawled from ground level to the eighth story. The place was cleaner than its surroundings. Though the white stone was grayed from smog, it wasn’t crumbling.

Nice.

Applying muscle, Dom broke through the outside door. Most Scourges didn’t live in locked buildings. What’s next? A security desk?

Nope.

Empty lobby. Dom’s boots echoed as he strode across the floor to an elevator. He punched a button. Damn thing worked. The door swooshed open, and he stepped inside, riding it to the fifth floor, where he exited into a red-carpeted hallway.

Dom shook his head. None of this made sense. Only trustees earned these lodgings. Praevus didn’t fit the bill.

After a pause in front of the correct apartment, Dom kicked in the door. He flicked on a light switch. The view made him puzzle his chin.

He smelled fresh paint and newly laid carpet. The furniture in the large great room wasn’t new, but it was in good shape and clean. Off to the left was a kitchen with shiny stainless-steel appliances. Nothing was measuring up to reality as Dom knew it.

Off the kitchen was a single bedroom. It had been tossed. The closet door hung wide. Discarded clothes littered the floor and bed. The dresser drawers had been pulled out and emptied. He glanced into the adjoining bathroom. Same treatment.

Praevus had boogied. Dom investigated but turned up nothing useful. So far, all he had was a shitload of questions, a vacated too-nice apartment, and no answers. He searched for signs of a female companion. None.

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