Sleeping Redemption (Feathers of Darkness Duet #1)

Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

I mmediately, I recognized the lustful glint in Kinley’s captivating blue hues when she dragged Atlas to the bathroom. During the length of time they were gone, only Sylas and I remained at the table. Being the thoughtful chap I was, I took it upon myself to order ice cream for the two long-lost lovers.

Spinning a spoon in a circle on the table, I watched Sy’s irritation grow at the light scraping sound. His icy eyes watched each rotation of the utensil. Suddenly, his hand slammed down on top of it, rattling the rest of the items on the table.

“Will you knock it off?” he ordered.

A sly grin spread across my face. “Jealous, mate?”

I knew I was pushing buttons and souring his mood even further while Atlas got his jollies in.

“We should be looking into the saliranimum demon, not going out for dessert and bathroom sexcapades.” Sy’s words dripped with a mixture of irritation and frustration .

Casually, I shrugged my shoulders. “I tried offering sandwiches, and nobody took me up on it.”

Sylas looked like he was about to give me an earful, but then his eyes shifted as he looked beyond where we were seated. Seconds later, my assumption was confirmed as Kinley took a seat next to me and Atlas next to the brooding archangel.

Atlas’s fingers ran through his shoulder-length blonde hair with a lazy smile on his face as he melted back into the booth. He seemed blissfully unaware of Sy’s scowl, or maybe he just didn’t give a fuck. I hoped it was the latter.

My beautiful fallen angel’s cheeks were flushed, and her lips were swollen, making them appear even more kissable than they normally were. Something about her smile caught my eye, causing a smirk to form at the corners of my mouth.

Grabbing a napkin, I reached over to dab the flimsy paper product just below the curve of her bottom lip. Leaning over, I whispered not so quietly, “Missed a spot, love.”

I could practically feel the stabby look Sylas directed at us.

There was a hint of satisfaction on Kinley’s face as she leaned over to capture my mouth with those beautifully plump lips of hers. My hand slid over the side of her neck to gently hold her close as I tasted the remnants of Atlas’s angelic grace in her mouth.

The kiss ended just as my cock began to perk up at attention.

“Thanks,” she said in such an innocently delicate tone.

My thumb brushed over the sensitive skin just below her ear as I imagined all the ways I wanted to pull her under the table to add my own flavor to the back of her throat. The thought of hearing the light gagging sounds I’d draw from her made the idea all the more tempting. My dick was most certainly in agreement.

I’d love to see the look on Sy’s stone-cold face if I made good on my little fantasy. The chap had it so bad for her that my balls almost ached on his behalf.

A scratchy teenage voice interrupted any thoughts of further riling the archangel up. “One maple bacon chocolate sundae.” The gangly waiter set the towering mountain of ice cream down on the table in front of Kinley.

Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of the sweet and sticky mound presented to her. She let out a squeal of delight as she wasted no time digging in. Watching her pull the strip of bacon sticking out of the top and sucking the melty chocolate ice cream from it had me audibly groaning.

The waiter placed the other sundae in the center of the table, a dish filled with strawberry ice cream with marshmallow sauce and a drizzle of blackberry syrup.

“And our signature snowball sundae with jelly.”

Leaving the ice cream parlor, Kinley seemed to have forgotten all about her disappointment in having to set her pet free earlier.

“I should head back.” Sylas suddenly spoke up as we all walked along the sidewalk. “I have some work to take care of.”

Kinley immediately pouted and looped her arm through Sy’s as she leaned into his side. “You can’t leave already,” she whined. “Souls can wait. The hour of judgment isn’t going anywhere.”

You could see the tension in his shoulders as Kinley hung off of him. “Unlike the rest of you, I have responsibilities that I take seriously. I’m supposed to meet up with several other archangels to see if they have any experience with entropic souls.”

She huffed out a disappointed sigh as she dropped her arm from his. Then, her attention was drawn to her pocket, where her phone began to ring. Pulling it out, her face lit up upon seeing the number. She put the call on speaker as she answered. “Wolffy! Is it really you?”

I often embraced feelings of dread, but the sensation that filled my gut when I heard that name was very much unwelcome. From the looks on Atlas and Sy’s faces, I wasn’t the only one.

The lad that had briefly been Kinley’s pet should have been back to living his life without another thought to his stint as a lap dog.

“I’ve missed you. I can’t stay away from you. Please come home to me; I’m being such a good boy and waiting for you.” Wolff’s voice begged on the other end of the line.

My jaw clenched so hard I was lucky that my demon canines didn’t break through the facade of my human jaw.

You could nearly see Kinley’s heart flip-flopping that her wayward pup had loyally returned home.

“Oh, Wolff, Mommy will be home soon. You stay right where you are.” Her voice sounded full of such affection you would have thought that she had known the guy for years.

She hung up the phone and brightly smiled at each of us. “See? I knew there was a reason to keep all of his stuff. Let’s go!”

I dug the car keys out of my pocket, and Atlas snatched them out of my hand.

“One experience with you behind the wheel was enough.” The tension was evident in his voice.

If I hadn’t been concerned about what we were going to walk into when we arrived back at the house, I would have argued, but I’d let the guardian angel have this one.

We all headed back to the car and piled in, with Atlas taking up the spot in the driver’s seat. On the way back, none of us said anything except for Kinley. She rambled on about how it was meant to be that Wolff had returned to her and all her plans for his doggy house.

After parking the car, we all entered the house through the garage door. Kinley nearly bowled me over on her way inside.

“Wolff! Wolff! Come here, boy!” she called out immediately.

“I don’t like this,” Sy muttered at my side.

Sparing a glance at him, I added my snarky comment, “Worried he’s gonna piss on your leg again, mate? Or would you rather he humped it?”

Atlas shook his head. “I thought you did your whole illusion thing, Rook?”

I was on edge knowing I had filled that man’s head with so many thoughts of a drug-fueled orgy that he should have been in therapy for the next twenty years. The illusion I had presented him was a fabricated video of him barking while getting stuffed full of dick in a glorious display of sexual deviancy.

“I did.” My response came out defensively.

Sylas grumbled, “Maybe you’re losing your touch.”

“Careful, mate. Don’t give me a reason to show you just how powerful a trickster’s illusions can be.” My tone dropped low, bearing a light warning.

While Kinley frantically searched downstairs, Sylas perked a brow and turned to Atlas and me.

“Do you smell that?” His face twisted in disgust before something appeared to dawn on him as his eyes darkened.

The scent lingering in the air was faint; the closer I got to the stairs, the stronger it got. Before I could pinpoint it as death’s fragrance with a nauseating undertone of burnt meat, Kinley jogged up the stairs, still calling for her man-dog.

Instinct took over. She only made it halfway up the stairs before I sped past her with my enhanced speed. I blew down the hallway, the odor growing stronger the nearer I got to her room. Within seconds, I found myself inside her master bathroom.

Life as a demon had shown me some twisted and grotesque shit, but I was not prepared to see what was displayed before me.

Wolff, or what was left of him, still smoldered there in her bathtub. His body burnt to a crisp and the chain of his collar still around his throat, the outer layer of his skin had been peeled back from the rest of the bloody flesh like a severely overcooked rotisserie chicken. The air was hazy from the lingering smoke still coming off the corpse.

I was at a loss for words at that moment, but what was not lacking was my sense of anger. The body may have been a blackened mess of flesh and bones, but all I saw was red.

Kinley’s high-pitched scream behind me chased away my rage enough to allow my awareness to come snapping back to me.

“Get her out of here,” I growled as I turned to see both Atlas and Sy arriving just behind her.

She had a look of absolute horror on her pretty little face, her eyes struggling to comprehend the sight before us.

Without hesitation, Atlas wrapped his arms around Kinley’s waist and pulled her back, dragging her away from the bathroom.

Her shouts and tearful words filled the air. “Is that my Wolffy? No, don’t let it be him! It can’t be! Not my good boy!” There was a weight of intense agony in her words that twisted my heart into painful spasms.

My gaze settled on Sylas, who stood there, taking in the scene. The shifting of his eyes indicated he was tracking the movement of something unseen to me. Without bothering to look at me, he spoke up in a serious tone. “The soul is here. It’s entropic.”

Fuck. The leaping lizard demon strikes again.

We were oh-for-three, it seemed—the spunked doll, Christina number sixteen, and now Wolff.

I took a few steps toward the door and paused at the glass shower stall to my left. In a swift blur, I turned and drove my fist into the thick wall of glass. With my demon strength, my hand plowed through it like it was nothing more than a thin sheet of candied sugar.

The impact immediately caused a violent shattering of that entire section of glass. It all rained down like tiny diamonds, scattering across the floor.

I heaved out a few breaths as my hand quickly began dripping blood onto the white tile floor and glass shards. My skin was broken and shredded from the strike, but I didn’t feel a damn thing other than rage with a side of concern for our fallen angel.

“Rook.” Sy stepped up to me, placing a firm hand on my shoulder. “I will take care of things here; you go help Atlas with Kin.”

Shaking my head, I ground out my words. “We need to find this motherfucker. The coward knew we weren’t here. He knew what Wolff was to her. This wanker is trying to single-handedly break her without so much as laying a hand on her.”

“We’ll find him, but right now, we need to make sure she doesn’t unravel into a homicidal train wreck.” For the first time, I heard the smallest inkling of fear in Sy’s voice.

Something else lingered under the surface that he appeared to be heavily masking, but not well enough for a master of illusions like me. Standing there, my eyes bore into his, letting him know that I knew there was more to this than he was letting on. However, now was not the time to press him for explanations.

“Go,” he urged.

Swallowing past the knot in my throat, I gave him a nod as I walked out of the bathroom to check on Kinley and Atlas.

I didn’t know how we were going to track down this asshole trying to torture our girl, but I did know one thing. I was going to show him who the bigger and better demon was.