“Cen fath a bhfuil tu anseo?”
Whywashe here?
One must follow the trail of fallen feathers to locate the nest of evil, the Shepherd had instructed. But he hadn’t told Cornelius what to do once the nest was located, so he spoke the words written upon his heart. “I am here to save you, to cleanse you of your sins so that you can be made anew through God’s grace.”
The fallen lunged and smashed the empty gun against the side of his face. He felt a second blow, and squeezed his eyes shut from the pain, raising his arms as he attempted to shield himself from more violence. The high-pitched ringing in his ears almost obscured the sound of a door banging open, of a commotion. Her weight was lifted from his body and Cornelius lay there stunned.
When he dared to open his eyes, he found the woman standing docilely—save the banked hatred in her gaze—between the demon with the white eye and scarred, tattooed face, and a man twirling a blade at alarming speed. Cornelius suspected that the latter was the demon who’d pressed the knife into his neck the night before.
An older black woman about the same height as the fallen, and a sable-haired Native American man walked from the sun-dappled outdoors into the interior of the cinder block building. An Asian man stepped between the older couple and came to a stop, eyeing the towering demons with wary exasperation. They eyed him back with disinterest.
“The fuck?” the Asian man said, watching blood seep from Cornelius’ temple. Cornelius flinched, the foul language assaulting his sensibilities as surely as the fallen woman had assaulted him physically.
The Asian swung his gaze back toward the silent trio. “Brideas the interrogator? Really? She’s, like, less communicative than the two of you combined…and less patient.”
The demons remained silent, which was unnerving.
“She did okay,” the Native American man said. There were more cultures in this room than Cornelius had interacted with in his entire life. “She would have done better had he not spoken of saving her.”
The Asian rolled his eyes. “He’s a saint, he’s supposed to say that shit.”
“Except with Bride,” the knife-wielding demon said; the other snorted beside him.
The little black woman advanced and the demons made space for her, allowing her to wrap an arm around the fallen’s shoulder and press a kiss to her temple. “Randy must be rubbing off on you, little Falcon. Soon he’ll have you saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’”
The blade stilled, and the two demons looked at each other before turning to leave.
The Native American checked his phone and turned to follow them out, looking severely at the Asian and the black woman. “Big Country’s on his way up the mountain with Stormy. You two ought to leave well enough alone before it bites you in the ass.”
“Please. We got this.” The Asian smirked, heading out the building behind him.
“You look half-starved, so I’ll bring you to the main building to eat soon. There’s some clothes and house shoes under your bed, and bathrooms through there.” She pointed to the left. “We have more questions and for your own safety I want you to answer them and answer them honestly.”
“It is a sin to lie.”
The black woman’s eyes narrowed. And then she smiled.
Cornelius’s soul shuddered.Mother of Demonsslithered through his throbbing head. He was in the nest of evil. He must persevere, take the time to discover his purpose as neither he nor the Shepherd were unable to do at the Keep, and allow the Lord to work through him.
His stomach growled, and he turned crimson with shame. He would fortify his body and soul against the unholy tempest to come.
“Breakfast will be served soon.” The black woman said and left with the fallen, who turned and cast her evil gaze upon him as she shut the door.
God preserve me, he prayed as he pushed the covers back and rose from the bed.
Chapter 6
Big Country drove toward the mountain in the same boots, boxers, and baseball cap he’d arrived at Stormy’s house in because one, he wanted everyone to know he’d been balls-deep inside Stormy this morning, and two, with the interruption of fuck-boy Chad, he and Stormy hadn’t had a chance to say a proper good morning.
They’d remedied that by good-morning-ing each other all over her kitchen.
“Okay, so we agree to item one: during our time together we’re exclusive, no sex with outside individuals until we end things.”
Chewing on the end of his cigar, he glanced at her and nodded. She reclined in the passenger seat of his truck, her bare feet propped against his dashboard, bent knees cradling the tablet in her lap.
“And when the contract ends it ends; no blame or drama, Stormy, we just wish each other well and go our separate ways,” he added, and she typed that in.
“Also, I have a few toys from Red’s I want to experiment with so if I want to play, you at least have to try it…” She slanted a look at him from under her long eyelashes. “You being aSex Godand all.”
