Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
W hile Kinley was out handling matters with Lucifer, I found myself looking for any distraction worth its salt.
Running the cloth over my own Divinity Sword one final time, I smiled in satisfaction at the gleam of the freshly polished metal. Setting the weapon on the table, I looked over at Atlas who rubbed a square of sandpaper against a wooden heart-shaped block in his hands on the far end of the couch. On the other end, Rook lounged back, eating another one of his fucking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
“Do you ever eat anything else other than those damn sandwiches, Rook?” I asked, genuinely curious.
With a mouthful, he responded with barely understandable words. “Nuffing tastes as gud when I’m horny.” Swallowing his bite of food, he released an audible sigh of satisfaction.
Shaking my head in disbelief that he had managed to survive this long in the demon gene pool, I stood from my seat and came to stand behind the couch. Leaning over, I rested my forearms against the back of it.
On the television hanging on the wall straight ahead of us, some British cooking competition show played. Contestants ran around like headless chickens, tossed pots and pans around, and flung food onto plates with reckless abandon.
Right as the show’s countdown clock ticked down its final seconds, the digital tune of Sister Christian by Night Ranger played from Rook’s phone. Digging into his pocket, he put the call on speaker. “Hey Zorah?—”
“ What the FUCK did you do?! ” Her words were clearly on a warpath, Rook being her target.
He sat there blinking cluelessly. “Ate… a sandwich…?”
“To Kinley, jackass! What did you do to her?! ” she angrily clarified.
I straightened up, not liking where this conversation was heading.
“Um, so she has this thing she likes when I use my tongue and?—”
Zorah growled into the phone. “ Right now . What did you do to her just now!? She’s not answering her phone, and her emotions are all over the place! One moment she’s pissed, the next, she’s in pain, and she’s scared as fuck! ”
That drew Atlas’s attention as he stopped smoothing out the rough edges of the wooden object in his hands. He looked at me for enlightenment, but I was as out of the loop as Rook seemed to be.
Clearing my throat, I spoke up. “Zorah, it’s Sy. Kin isn’t even here.”
Atlas added, “Yeah, she left for a meeting about an hour ago.”
Before Zorah could even respond, the ring on my left hand grew hot around my middle finger. Looking down at the dark metal, it emitted a warm glow. The amber light pulsed as it grew in intensity.
Fuck .
My eyes widened at Kinley very possibly was going off the rails again. The blood link of the ring I had given her had been activated. Had she so easily slipped back into her morbid extracurricular activities despite our efforts?
“Rook,” I said, my voice filled with a command for his attention. When he looked over at me, I raised my hand to show the ring’s glowing light.
“I’ll call you back, Zor.” He hung up the phone and closed his eyes, tilting his head back. His ability to pinpoint Kin’s location was one I’d be eternally grateful for.
His eyes popped open. “Brixton Historic Cemetery,” he stated before his presence dissipated, the last half of his sandwich falling onto the cushion.
I looked at Atlas, whose face was filled with concern at what frame of mind our girl could be in at that very moment.
“Do you think she just got triggered and relapsed?” he asked me.
“I thought we’d been making headway with her, At. I don’t know, but we can’t assume she hasn’t.” I hated the reality of it, but Kinley had been riding the edge of insanity long enough that no one knew for sure what state we were going to find her in.
“Meet you there,” he said before his presence also faded from the room.
Hang in there, Kin. We’re coming.
I transported myself to the cemetery, hoping that the only dead people we’d find had been those long-buried six feet under.
When I appeared in the cemetery, I noticed Atlas a few yards to my right and Rook just ahead of him, jogging up a grassy hill like a damn bloodhound tracking a scent.
I let Rook lead the way, allowing his link to our angel’s whereabouts to guide us closer to her. Atlas and I both caught up to Rook at the top of the hill, where the oldest part of the cemetery greeted us.
At the top of my vision, the broken angel statue appeared against the night sky, and as my gaze dropped lower to the ground, the nearly white-blonde hair contrasted against the darkness.
The sound of her sobs pierced my heart, and as my gaze followed the outline of her body on the ground, my mind finally opened my eyes to what was taking place.
Her body had been pushed into the ground, and her fair skin was exposed to the moonlight from the waist down. Kneeling between her legs and assaulting her was a despicable excuse of a being – human or otherwise.
The perpetrator looked over at the group of us, his demonic eyes reflecting the vileness of his soul inside the human he possessed.
Before I could shout my orders, a rumbling of energy poured off of Rook. His eyes glowed like lumps of coal, fueling a feral energy deep within him. The sudden escalation of his rage made his lips twitch before curling back as he unleashed a startling growl that shook the ground underneath our feet.
Taking off, his speed kicked up the dirt like a detonated mortar round in his wake before he knocked into the foul entity attacking Kinley.
I barked my order at Atlas, “Go help Kin, and get her out of here!” I needed to make sure this dickhead suffered and that Rook didn’t go nuclear on the rest of the city in the process.
We both separated with our tasks laid out before us. Rook had pinned the attacker to the ground, viciously pounding his fists into the man’s face as blood quickly coated his fists.
Nothing but the sounds of snarling and snapping like a rabid beast came out of our typically laid-back trickster. His hands lost their human facade, and the demon claws extended, slicing at the man’s chest, tearing it open in wide ribbons.
Right as I made it to the bloody altercation, I witnessed the demonic energy immediately exit into the air and burst forth into the sky. It was like watching a shooting star leaving its lifeless host behind. Despite the jumper demon’s prompt departure, it didn’t deter Rook’s violence on the corpse left behind.
Leaning down, I grabbed Rook’s shoulders and yanked him back off what remained of the body. He scrambled onto his hands and knees after I forced him a couple of feet back.
Snapping his head in my direction, Rook snarled at me with ferocity in his eyes that rivaled any pack of hellhounds I had ever encountered.
“Rook! He’s gone!” I shouted at him sternly, trying to snap him out of his frenzy.
I watched as he dipped his head down towards the dirt and drew a deep breath. His nostrils twitched and flared as he scrutinized the scent left behind.
His shoulders slumped as he let out a harsh grunt.
“It was Nicodemus, and I fuckin’ let him get away.” Rook’s voice was filled with dejection and self-reproach.
My hand clasped down onto his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze of support. I wasn’t sure what to say. Even if Nico hadn’t leaped out of this body, we didn’t know how to actually destroy a saliranimum demon.
After a heavy moment of realization of how close we had come and how far we still were from making any significant progress, Rook pushed up to his feet.
There was another fleeting moment of wanting to draw him into my arms and ease both our pain of how we had just failed our girl.
“Atlas is with Kinley.” My words came out hoarse from the potent emotions warring deep inside me.
Rook’s head perked up, his demeanor shifting into one of concern.
We both marched back to where we had initially seen her when we arrived.
Atlas was down on a knee by her side as we approached. She still lay there on her stomach, whimpering with strangled cries of pain. His hand stroked over the back of her head gently.
He turned to look at Rook and me with tears flooding his eyes.
Looking at our girl, I could tell that Atlas had made an effort to get her pants up as best as he could, but she just lay there, writhing in pain.
As I came to crouch at her other side across from Atlas, Rook knelt down in front of her. My eyes scanned over her trembling form, taking in the extent of her physical injuries.
The fucking bastard had sliced his name into her back like a sadistic branding of what he thought was his property.
“Love.” Rook bent down, bringing his mouth right up to her ear. “You’re safe. We’re here. We’ve got you.”
He cooed hushing sounds into her ear, though it seemed to be doing little to put her at ease. I wasn’t even sure she realized any of us were here with her.
I looked at Atlas, keeping my voice quiet. “Let’s get her home.”
In response, Atlas nodded. He rolled his shoulders back, and in one fluid motion, his brilliant wings exploded into view behind him.
Reluctantly, Rook eased back from Kin, and I did the same.
Atlas leaned over, his wings protectively shielding her body as his arms scooped up underneath her. Standing to his full height, he cradled her to his chest.
“We need to find her car so we can get her home,” he stated.
This was one of the times when Kinley’s inability to simply be transported worked against us. She was suffering and in pain; we didn’t have time to waste using archaic methods of travel like an automobile.
Stepping over to Atlas while he had Kinley cocooned protectively with his wings, I glanced at Rook. “Go ahead of us; we’ll be there in a minute.”
For once, the trickster listened without argument. It was just shy of a miracle.
After Rook disappeared, I looked over at Atlas, who stood there looking uncertain of what my plan was.
Closing my eyes, I reached out past the barriers of the human realm and called a prayer to Evangeline. She wasn’t my favorite to deal with, and it was no secret that I wasn’t hers, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Evangeline, it’s Sylas. I have a favor to ask of you, and I need it done quickly. I know you have connections with the higher-ups. Atlas needs to be granted the ability to transport Kinley. If you want him to do his job as her guardian, he needs to do this. I’m aware this isn’t a frivolous ask but it is a necessary one.
As I stood there, I waited for a response and heard nothing back from her.
Do you want to hear that I’m desperate? I am. I don’t ask for much from anybody, but I’m asking this of you from all people. Get someone up there to lift the damn restriction. I’m begging you, Evangeline.
Finally, I received a response to my pleas. It wasn’t so much of a verbal response more than a prickling feeling of agreement with the condition of wanting a future favor to be determined from me.
Whatever you want, just do it!
I allowed my frustration to feed into my communication with her.
There was a moment of radio silence before the image of a green light flashed behind my eyes, symbolizing that she had successfully gotten Atlas the clearance needed.
Relief overcame me, and I looked at Atlas.
“Go.”
I waited until he vanished with Kin before following close behind.