Page 59 of Sin and Salvation

I brought my plastic shiv back to my cot, and ripped away bits of my mesh shirt, wrapping it around the end of the shard to create a makeshift handle.

Maxime and his guards were too quick to be caught, but once I knew if my men were alive or not… I would do the deed. Maxime would never keep me.

If they lived and abandoned me, I would cut until I bled out. If they died, I would descend into madness anyway, and the earthly woes of my body would no longer be any concern of mine.

I felt like I waited for years for the guard to come back… but he never did. I was left to remain curled up, my plastic shiv hidden in my grasp, staring at the door…

I felt something. A slight tingling of my power, as though it were waking up and stretching inside me. As I sat up again, frowning, my hair brushed my cheek. I caught a hint of their smell, ingrained into me forever.

It was like a reminder. That no matter where I was, they would always be with me… even if that wasn’t true. Even if they were going to leave me here.

But the tingling sensation within me grew stronger, my power bubbling back to life. I was no longer a dead battery.

Hope flared in me, brief and almost sickening, but it felt like too much to hope for.

A strange sound echoed from overhead and my head snapped upwards, trying to follow the sound.Tap tap tap. Tap tap.

What in the Devil’s namewasthat?

I even dared to creep off my cot and slink closer to the door, until I could eventually press my ear to the cold metal.

The sound echoed in the halls, much louder now. I realized what it was with another sickening rush of hope.

Gunfire.

The sounds grew steadily louder, demons shouting and returning shots, and inside me, my power began to rise again. It demanded to be let out.

I closed my eyes, reaching out through walls and floors. I felt sparks of life moving overhead and around me, and three of them felt familiar, the taste of spices, silver, and fire echoing in my mind.

Maxime hadn’t lied, but he’d been wrong. My mateswerelooking for me.

I couldn’t touch them, but I hadn’t had to touch the guards in Club Onyx to kill them, either. This time, when I reached out for my mates, I released my grip on my power, letting it flow into them. They were several floors above me; maybe I could show them where I was.

I felt magic reach back, brushing against my mind. It was furious, seeking me out.

I’m here!I wordlessly screamed at it.I’m beneath you!

I clutched my shiv hard, backing away from the door. There were noises in the hall outside, but they weren’t made by my mates.

The door burst open moments later, showing a guard. He pointed a pistol at me. “Move, bitch. Boss’s orders.”

I hid the shiv against my forearm, creeping out into the hallway in front of him. The guard prodded me in the back with the gun. “Walk. We’re going down to the exit tunnels.”

I’d had no idea Giraud Tower was equipped with exit tunnels, either. The gaps in my education about the prison I’d lived in for years galled me.

He pushed me towards a set of emergency stairs, but instead of going up, he pushed me downwards. “Keep moving.”

Magic tugged at me, tracing my power. My mates knew where I was, and my own magic responded as they drew closer and closer. It was bolstered with hope and happiness. “I don’t think I want to go down. I want to go up.”

“Did I ask you—” he started to say, but I reached out for his magic, curling my power around his spark of life.

This time I saw it in real-time as he was sucked dry. A leathery corpse crumpled, sliding down the stairs.

Breathing hard and fast, I headed up. My head was splitting when my magic warned me to stop: my mates were on whatever floor I’d reached, and the infrequent gunfire was louder than ever. I heard the muffled, bestial roar of a hellhound.

I shoved the door open, ready to lash out at the first demon I saw and suck him dry.

Instead, I opened the corridor to a lot of bodies, blood, and my mates. Crow glowed with dark fire, Zane had a death-grip on a guard, and a fire-dripping hellhound prowled towards me.

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