Page 44 of Sinner's End

“You fucking fools, you killed her.”

Chapter Twenty

Loopholes and Lollipops

Mana

“I can’t leave you alone for ten fucking minutes,” I seethe, storming into Lethe’s room, cell, whatever. “You should have been fucking. Or whipping, or sucking each other’s cocks. Or even fighting. But you had to try to get the fucking soul out and you nearly took the wrong one.” I shake my head, shoving Lethe back.

The destitute angel sprawls on his back, staring up at me. His lips part, but nothing comes out.

I snarl. “Fucking pathetic. And you,” I round on Bowen. “Youknowbetter.”

He shrugs. “I was curious.”

“Cat. Killed. Curiosity. Those go together. When I wake her, we are having fun with all those things together,” I warn him, letting my true promise enter my tone.

Kaleb, I ignore in his entirety.

Fucking mortals.

“You can bring her back?” Kaleb rises, gripping my shoulder.

I growl. “I was going to ignore you, my friend.Step away.”

His survival instinct kicks in, and he drops his hand.It’ll do.

I kneel on the hard mattress Lethe requested, straddling Addi, pleased when the bedding doesn’t dip. My eyes closing, I listen to the weeping stones. Some of the oldest souls exist here and that helps me locate hers in the overpopulated map of Harken Asylum.

“Come back with me, Addi.” I find her flitting from place to place, and frown. Usually souls cower in one spot, hiding, butshe races on, leading me in a dance not so merry. “Where are you going, little toy?”

“Away,” she whispers back, so close.

I open my eyes to find her sitting up, her lips mere millimetres from mine, her eyes wide open, and completely solid blue.

“Fuck,” I snap, the shock ripping the curse from me.

Kaleb yelps and stumbles back, and Addi giggles. “Mortals, am I right?” She winds her body around mine, like a snake slithering out of her skin, only hers is still on—for now. Her limbs are liquid, and her coils are tight, restricting my air.

I swallow back the revulsion of what the thing I thought had left her could do with that sweet body and beautiful mind, how it could torture her, ruin her. I played with her, teased her, fucked about with her and her sister, and pretended not to care while I fell for the mortal girl who I’d give my immortal existence for … and now I don’t know what’s inside her or how to save her.

Addi winds her body around mine like a snake coiling about its dinner, her hands running across my chest in a frenzy. Her mouth fuses to my skin as she writhes and moans, making cooing, inhuman sounds that rip at my heart.

I want my little hell kitten back. But if I touch her, I’ll kill her. Or worse.

“If any of you fuckers have an idea of what to do without hurting her, I’ll take the advice,” I grind out, stopping shy of begging.Just.“Fuckinghelp her.”

Kaleb looks on helplessly, while Lethe tries to untangle Addi from the legs up, but she doesn’t have control of her body and it doesn’t work. Searing patches where her teeth fray my skin away in spots registers, but my pain was the least of my worries.

“Addi, honey, let Mana go. Let us help you,” Kaleb starts, clasping her face and staring into her sightless eyes.

The solid blue that covers her entire eyes freaks him out as much as it does me.

“I don’t want to stop,” she says sweetly as she turns her face to his, her body tightening around mine. Something cracks, and the searing stops being skin deep and hits bone level.

“Fuck,” I whisper, my body arching in an unnatural angle. “I left the underwo—”

Another crack, and I can’t speak, can’t breathe.

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