Page 16 of Sin of the Saints

Valentina takes the gun from my hand like it weighs nothing at all. I hear her giggle as she cocks it. Then she says in a patronizing tone: “Oh please, I was at the top of my class in firearms. They won’t know what hit them.”

“Very good,” I smile darkly.

“Fuuuuuuck!” I roar, punching the dashboard in front of me.

“You’re keeping me from focusing on the road, idiot! You’ll get us killed before we reach Belle!” Valentina screams, and herdark aura moves towards me, but as soon as her hand touches my skin it burns her and she pulls away.

“I’m done for, they’ll never forgive me!” I bang my head on the headrest of the car Valentina stole from the demon castle.

“I guess we’re in the same boat then, angel.” She focuses her eyes ahead towards the road, towards the blackest night I’ve ever felt since being pulled from my grave. The chill implies there isn’t so much as a drop of light in this night, not even from the moon or the stars. It’s as though tonight foretells the doom that will fall upon us once we set out on this suicide mission.

“I shot him,” I say, more to myself, not believing the chaos we’d left behind. The place I can never return to. Not after what I’ve done.

After we’ve armed ourselves and snuck out over the walls of the Vatican palace under cover of darkness. Just as we thought we were out, I heard Ellis behind me, and sensed the gun in his hand being cocked as he pressed it up against Valentina’s head.

It was instinct. I just fired. One clean shot straight to the heart.

I felt Ellis’ eyes shooting sparks at me in shock, then he plummeted to the ground and his lips wouldn’t stop murmuring a silent prayer as his pure aura slowly faded.

I wanted to run to him, to help him, the angel who had been my commander, my friend, my brother, but Valentina pulled me away. An alarm sounded throughout the palace, and luckily the demoness had extraordinary physical strength and managed to pull my heavy body away. The scent of seared flesh hit my nose but I pulled myself together and got into the car. Valentina got us out through the secret rear entrance, the one the guardian angels use.

Now I’m looking at Valentina. Her dark aura, that had been raging around her, is now calm, and I hear her sigh in relief. I empty my lungs as the adrenaline slowly leaves my body.

I reach a hand out to her and she flinches. I can’t blame her; she must be experiencing tremendous pain.

“TheLordshall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul1,” I mumble the prayer for healing, skipping the part where I erase memories. It served me when I needed my students’ blood, but now I only wish to ease her pain.

Valentina lets out a gasp and I realize the burning sensation is slowly fading. Though I’m keeping my gaze straight ahead, I feel her gaze, so full of awe.

“Thanks,” she chokes out, as though she’s witnessed a miracle. “Your God has given you immeasurable powers.”

“Your Devil has blessed you with something else we holy ones are deprived of, yet we all secretly long for it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The deadliest sin,” I growl, “Lust.”

“Ah… I can’t imagine a life of celibacy. God must prefer his saints to be tormented.” She giggles and I can’t help smiling. Yes, she’s probably right. “Is that why she sent me to get you of all people? Has she snagged you too?” The second part of her sentence is said in a loose whisper, and I think I hear a note of embarrassment in her voice. I shift uncomfortably in my seat, the leather creaking. “Don’t worry, she’s ensnared us all.” I look at her, her aura that’s once again raging around her, and I try to decipher her words.

“All?” I dare to ask.

I hear the leather creak again as she shifts in place. “Yes,angel, all of us.”

Oh fuck,I feel the blood flow and pool between my legs as filthy sexual fantasies assault my mind. I tighten my grip on the seat and breathe deep.

“We’ve got time to burn, angel. I can make it easier for you. I can smell your need for release.” Her voice grows thick and the temperature in the car climbs at least a few degrees.

I reach for the A/C button and turn it onto the lowest temperature. She giggles in response. It’s not Valentina’s offer that’s heating up my blood, but the knowledge that I’ll soon see Belle, the one who ignites sparks of fire inside me.

“Really? How exactly will you do that? You’ll catch fire if you so much as approach me,” I taunt her.

“Clever,” she bursts into laughter and leans back. I’m grateful that Valentina can’t touch me, but I’m suddenly nervous about the possibility that this fucking aura will keep me from touching the one I want more than anything.

“But Belle will be glad you survived.”

Belle thinks I returned to the Creator? I twitch with fear when I consider everything she’s been through all this time, thinking that. In a few hours I’ll have answers to all the questions running through my mind.

Chapter Ten

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