Sleeping Redemption (Feathers of Darkness Duet #1)

Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I t was the day that I was convinced was the perfect timing for Sylas and me to embark on the road to an everlasting friendship. That was if the wanker would come off his high horse.

After he had transported Wolff’s entropic soul to the great beyond and come back to get a well-deserved lapdance, he declared he would be moving in with the three of us. Supposedly, it was all in the name of Kinley’s safety. I’m sure that was the reason he used to go to sleep at night, but deep down, I think he couldn’t stand the fact that our dirty girl had twenty-four-seven access to two other men.

“You know, mate, you’d think after she set you off in your pants like a shaken bottle of cola, you’d be less crotchety,” I said while lounging sideways over an oversized sitting chair in the corner of the bedroom, observing his current mood. One of my legs was draped over the brown leather arm, with the other off the edge of the cushion as my hazel eyes watched him carry in another cardboard box.

It had been less than forty-eight hours, and it seemed that getting his holy scepter tended to by Kinley hadn’t erased his pissy mood. However, it did prove his royal bastardness may finally be coming around to what we all already knew: he wanted the off-kilter blonde angel just as badly as Atlas and I did.

Sylas grumbled incoherently as he placed the box of dusty-looking scrolls and notably ancient artifacts on top of the worn dresser at the far corner of the room. I hadn’t yet told him that he had a roommate, I was holding onto that card for just the right moment.

Bounding into the room, Kinley appeared with an energetic smile that had my lips curling into a delighted grin. She wore a light pink sweater dress that made me want to pull her ass into my lap and fill her tight cunt with my cock. You add the thigh-high grey boots? I may as well piss away my bloody plans for the next three days.

“I brought you a housewarming gift!” she proudly declared as she held out a small gift bag toward Sylas. The black string handles hung between the pads of her thumb and forefingers, the shiny black bag swinging slightly from side to side.

It seemed someone was handling Sylas moving in much better than anticipated. I was sure it wouldn’t last long once he lent his typical overbearing and blunt approach to, well, everything.

He turned to Kinley and raised both his brows, his face displaying surprise with a dash of reservation about what she picked out for him.

I swung my leg off the arm of the chair, placing it on the ground next to my other, and sat on the edge of the cushion in anticipation of what insanity lay inside that bag. I hoped it was a wrench.

Stepping over to where Kinley stood with the bag extended toward him, Sylas had a wary smile. Taking the bag from her, he observed the exterior like Lucifer himself was going to spring out of it at any moment like a jack-in-the-box from Hell.

“Thanks, Kin,” he preemptively gave his gruffly spoken gratitude.

Leaning my elbows on my knees, I smirked. “Open it up, mate. Let’s see what ya got!”

He cast me a hard glare before he obliged. His hand dipped into the bag, and when he pulled it back out, he held a thick book in his hand.

Setting the bag off to the side, he seemed to be in deep thought as he ran his hand over the front of the deep brown leather the book was encased in. Sy’s brows furrowed together as he ran his fingers over the front, where there was an embossed image of a cross with wings set behind it. Along its spine, there was additional embossing of Hebrew letters.

Before Sylas could speak up, Kinley’s excitement immediately had her explaining as she held her hands behind her back and lightly swayed her hips. “Even though we both know humans have jacked up the stories worse than a game of multi-millennia telephone, it’s the Bible. I got a copy written in the original Hebrew and had the leather cover custom-made.”

The room fell into complete silence. I didn’t need to be a mindreader to know that Sylas was as genuinely surprised as I was that our girl had managed to pick out such a surprisingly thoughtful and selfless gift.

“Kin…” His voice was a deep whisper that trailed off as he seemed to search for any words to convey his thoughts.

“Oh, and also, there’s this,” she piped up again as she took a step forward and reached out to open the front cover.

I couldn’t see what was inside, but if it was even possible for Sy’s face to show another level of surprise, it sure as hell did.

“What is it, mate?” I asked curiously, leaning forward.

Sylas stood there staring at whatever was inside the front cover. “Is this…?”

He retrieved the object tucked in there and pulled out a sole white feather. There was an aura to it, not what you would consider a dull white like that of a swan. No, this particular feather appeared to have a brilliance to it, almost as though it could be a beacon of light in the darkest corners of the universe.

Kinley’s mouth curved into a delicate smile before explaining. “I know I don’t have many white feathers left in the remiges of my wings, but I decided I could part ways with at least this one from my primary coverts.”

I was suddenly grateful that I had been sitting, or else I would have fallen straight on my ass.

Letting out an extended exhale from his lungs, Sy stared at the feather for a period of time that almost bordered on awkward, with Kinley’s eyes solely focused on him.

“Wow, Kin. I… Thank you,” his gratitude evident in how his cantankerous attitude had flown the coop.

“Well,” I slapped my knees as I stood up. “Since we are welcoming Sylas with gifts, I think it is only fair I bestow mine upon him.”

That captured the archangel’s attention, a flickering of skepticism across his icy blue hues. He shut the cover to the gifted Bible, the soft flap of the leather meeting the first page almost like a crack of thunder, given how silent the room had gotten.

As for Kinley, she was seemingly just as excited for me to give my grand reveal as I was as she bounced on the balls of her feet.

Extending my arms out at my sides, my debonaire smile was on full display. “Ta-da!”

Silence.

Not even crickets.

Perhaps it was because the buggers were the insect world’s little vampires, hiding in the daylight and only disturbing the peace at night. But still, it felt like a huge letdown that not even nature’s elevator music was here to witness my equally selfless gift to Sy.

My arms dropped to my sides as I rolled my eyes at the lack of reaction I got.

“Blimey, are you going to make me spell it out for you? I’m your new roommate!” I exclaimed after not getting a proper reaction in the first place.

Sy’s face remained set in stone as his eyes shot daggers in my direction. The only minute movement I caught onto was the slight tick in his jaw.

I strode over to him and draped an arm around his shoulders. “Now, I know what you’re thinking, but rest assured, I am not the type of bloke that leaves a right mess. I am the pinnacle of tidiness.”

Feeling the tension in Sy’s shoulders, I knew that his mood had taken a hard shift, and he was on the precipice of exploding like Mount St. Helens.

As I opened my mouth to continue to explain how this was the beginning of a beautiful kinship, I was met with the backside of his brand-new holy book straight to my face.

Thwop!

“Ow! Bloody hell! Are you trying to fucking exorcise me?!” I shouted as I stumbled back with a hand to my nose. I’m surprised my nose ring hadn’t been knocked to the back of my skull.

With a grunt, Sy looked approvingly at the book in his hands and then back at me. “There are other rooms in this house. See to it that you find another one to call yours.”

“Sylas,” Kinley’s tender voice spoke up with a hint of disapproval. “Rook doesn’t have another room to go to, and besides, he was here first.”

That was not what he wanted to hear. Sy dropped the leather-bound book onto the dresser with a thunk before making a large gesture toward the hallway.

“There are five damn bedrooms in this house, Kin.” Sy’s voice lowered to a point nearing a growl.

“Yes, and they are all full. There’s my room, Atlas has his space, this room here with Rook, the storage room, and Cioppino’s room.”

I laughed at the mention of Cio as I so affectionately knew him. “Bloody Christ! That ol’ chap is still around? I’ll be damned. Slap me with a Bible and call me a trickster knocking at Heaven’s door.”

Tilting his head in confusion and a dollop of jealousy, Sy warily asked what was burdening him, “Who the hell is Cioppino?”

As though it should have been obvious, Kinley rolled her eyes. “My pet goldfish. He’s just the bestest good boy ever. I don’t know that he’s a boy, but I’d like to think so based on how he wiggles his one fin so proudly.”

“You… you named your goldfish after fish stew? And he has his own room?” You could hear the gears churning in Sy’s perplexed brain.

“Sylas, of course, he has his own room! Where else am I going to store each of his bowls of the month and all the holiday-themed ones? Not to mention all his house decorations.” Then, she paused as a thought popped into her head like a lightbulb. “Wait, cioppino is a stew?”

He gave a firm nod.

Kinley’s face grew solemn and then thoughtful. “Would I like it?”

“No, love.” I shook my head. “It hasn’t a lick of seamen in it.”

“Oh,” she said in disappointment. “I guess that means Cioppino is staying right where he is.”

I, for one, was relieved to hear that she wasn’t going to sacrifice a goldfish that had been my muse for so many of my illusions thrust upon the sick and depraved.

The subject abruptly changed as Sy stood there rubbing his temples and spoke gruffly. “Where’s Atlas?”

“He went to the store so he can make me waffles,” Kinley responded.

Sy drew in a deep breath. “We will sort out this rooming disaster later.” He shot me a stern glare that I was basically living for at this point.

Continuing, he looked back to Kinley. “Now that I’m here, we need to focus our efforts on locating your sword and finding the despicable demon responsible for all the chaos and destruction going on around here.”

“Where do you suggest we start, Mr. High and Mighty? You going to start smiting every demon in town while demanding answers?” One side of my mouth lifted in a partially amused smile at the thought.

His body stiffened, his back straightening like a rod.

“No, jackass. I’m suggesting we start by talking to my people,” he stated firmly.

I scoffed that he thought his people were going to be privy enough to provide information on one of Hell’s most horrendous creations.

“Ah, yes. You let me know how well that goes, yeah?” I shrugged at him. “When you find nothing, you let me know, and we can go speak with my people.”

“Now, boys. Let’s play nice if we are all going to be playing house together. Sy, you go see if any of your war buddies know a thing or two. When you return, you can regroup with Rook, and both of you can try a new approach together .”

Grumbling, Sylas managed to mutter his words through his teeth, “I’ll return in a little while,” before vanishing from sight.

The bloke was in for a world of frustration when he realized that a cunning demon like the saliranimum sort was unlikely to leave traces behind for the white-feathered bunch.

Standing there, already preparing my mental list of contacts, I noticed that Sy had left his cell phone on top of one of the boxes of his belongings. A sense of adventure overcame me.

My eyes drifted back to the pair of creamy thighs on display, thanks to Kinley’s boots and the length of her dress. I smirked and snagged Sy’s phone on my way over to her.

“You know, love, we never did have a discussion about your rodeo on Sy’s lap.” I ran the flat electronic along the inside of her thigh.

Kinley bit her lower lip as she allowed me to drag the device made of metal and glass over her smooth skin. “I wasn’t aware there was anything to discuss, Rook.”

Leaning forward, I whispered into her ear, “You never told me how good it felt.”

With a little zap of my demon powers, I used my tricks to bring Sylas’s phone to life on vibrate mode. I slid it to the apex of her legs underneath her dress and pressed the edge against her panty-covered pussy.

Promptly, her body shivered with a jolt of pleasure, informing me that I had the vibrations on the right spot.

She gasped out and tipped her head back as she let out a heavenly moan for me. Her hands grabbed onto the front of my black tee.

“Fuck, Rook,” she said over a breath.

I showered her exposed throat with my hungry kisses. “Are you going to show me how you came for him, love?”

Her hips rolled against the pulsing movements of the phone in my hand as she nodded her head. “Yes,” her agreement definitely both in appreciation of her body’s delights and her willingness to give me a glimpse of her interaction with the stubborn archangel.

“Good, because I want him to smell your sweet cum every time he holds his phone to his face.” Maybe then the bastard would stop denying himself and Kinley of what they both needed.