Page 302 of Sinister

“Correct.” He chuckles. “I go by different names. Some people call me a demon, others a god. My mother comes from a long line of purebred demons, but my father is a primordial god of nether. In a way, you could say I am neutral.”

“And we made a . . . deal?”

“Yes,” he answers grimly. “I do not usually engage in these types of deals, but I like you, Sister Agatha. I would have hated to see your soul consumed by a puny demon. As per our terms, you will meet Elroy and Plum again in another life. Elroy will remember you, too. I will make sure of it.”

“I just have to give you five evil souls?”

He nods.

“But how?”

82

PETRA

Present Day

“Ahh,” I mutter groggily as I turn on my back. Coldness seeps into my skin. My eyes snap open, my heart beating wildly in my chest.

There is nothing but darkness around me.

I am . . . not in my room.

Trying to regulate my breathing so that I don’t devolve into a panicky mess, I slowly rise to my feet and feel around my surroundings.

The smell of damp stone and mold immediately hits me like a punch to the gut.

“Hello? Anyone here?” I call out, tone wavering slightly.

My voice reverberates in an echo.

All right, so this is a big space, likely the underground tunnel.

But how the hell did I get here?

The last thing I remember is reading Sister Agatha’s journal. I was so close to getting more clues into the murders, too.

Sister Agatha made a deal with Valerion to meet her beloved again in a future life in exchange for five evil souls.

Five . . . like the five paintings depicting the murders. Could they be connected? Could Sister Agatha be the one responsible for them?

But how? She lived more than two hundred years ago. It’s unlikely she’s still around. Unless . . . she’s like Sin, immortal. I frown as I think on it.

Although this could be the case, I feel that something is missing—that I am missing something. Surely in over two hundred years she would have had plenty of time to kill five people instead of waiting around for some angsty high schoolers.

What is clear, however, is that these murders are different than the ones committed by Sin, and they are not part of his deal.

So he was telling the truth.

That somehow makes me feel a little better; at least Sin is not going around killing high school kids.

But does that mean that the entity Sister Agatha made a deal with is the same as the one Sin did?

He’s never mentioned a name in conjunction with the entity before, but the details of the contract are too eerily similar not to think they might be the same: kill evil souls to get one their beloved.

Five evil souls. But there’s only been three murders so far.

Unless . . .