Page 24 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

Without a word, he leaves my side.

As in, he leaves me alone.

I blink.

Well…that was unexpected.

This is what it took for him to finally leave me alone? An explosion?

“Humans,” I grumble to myself.

He probably fled in fear.

Weak lot, these humans.

I dust my clothes and walk out of the alleyway. I should probably scout other areas for demons. If I’m lucky, I might be able to get another one before dawn. That would bring my total to one hundred ninety-five. Just five short of two hundred. Of course, considering some are close to five hundred already, I am still nowhere near where I should be if I want to earn that commendation.

I’m about to head in the direction opposite the explosion, but my eyes are inexplicably drawn to the mayhem.

Two buildings have collapsed—totaled to the ground. A fire is raging in the second one, eating at the wooden foundation and growing stronger by the second.

A couple of people have gathered around the ruins of the first building, grabbing onto rubble and pieces of concrete and moving them out of the way in search of survivors. Though with the state of the building… I doubt there’s anyone still alive in there.

Wait a moment…

I glance around and retrace my steps from the party, counting down the buildings. My eyes slowly widen at the realization that the explosion occurred in the building where the party was held.

Something else catches my eye.

A military uniform, but the person wearing it is not among the casualties. It’s one of the people working to get them out.

That male…

I take a step forward.

The fire illuminates his face. Sweat and soot are gathered on his brow as he wipes his ash-ridden hands against his skin. He’s pulling onto a large piece of concrete by himself, but I doubt he’s going to move it.

A whoosh of air sweeps past me.

I look to the side to see a dozen or more messengers appear on the street, walking in a procession toward the building.

One by one, souls rise from the rubble. They are disoriented and confused, the perfect combination to allow the messengers to take them to the afterlife in a smooth process.

Each messenger latches onto one soul and opens a portal toward P’asala, the intermediary realm through which all souls must pass in order to be sorted into their afterlife by merit.

There are maybe thirty or forty souls in total that are taken.

I await silently by the side to ensure no demon shows up to attempt to consume the souls.

But something isn’t right. There were more than forty people in that basement alone.

I close my eyes and recall the images from before, doing my best to approximate the number of people at the party.

I did not see everyone, but I am certain there were at least double that number. And if their souls have not left their bodies then…

They’re either alive or they’ve been consumed.

I purse my lips as I try to detect any demonic signature, but there is none.

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