Page 99 of Shadow

I blinked and looked at Church lying beside me, who had ended his conversation and was staring.

“You, sexy,” I answered, putting a smirk on my face.

He rolled his eyes at me before smacking me with a pillow.

“I fucking love foreplay, Dante. Be careful,” I said, laughing as I swatted him back with my pillow.

“Weird prick,” he said, no venom in his words as he chuckled. I’d never really heard him laugh before. It was a nice sound for the onery murderer.

I watched him roll over and stare at Sirena in Shadow’s arms. This was new for him, and given what I knew about him, he wasn’t good with sharing. How he managed to do it with the watchers still amazed me.

And with Shadow? It was a whole new world for him.

“I want you to know that I don’t like this,” Church finally said.

“I know,” Shadow answered. “And I want you to know that I love her more than anything in this world, and I swear I won’t fuck it up. I’m willing to kill to have her.”

“Good,” Church murmured. “Because you will. That’s what being a watcher is. We kill. We don’t take any shit. We always come out on top. There is no room for fear. Are you afraid…Shadow?”

“The only thing I’m afraid of is not having her,” he answered firmly. “Give me a target and I’ll make sure whoever it is gets dealt with. That’s my promise to you.”

Church said nothing for a long time before he spoke.

“Ok. Tell me about Sister Devon. I want to know what you did.”

I glanced at Shadow and inclined my head at him.

He exhaled. “We took her from her place in the middle of the night and brought her to the cave. I’ve been watching her for a long time. I know she met with Sully often. She’d fuck him in his office with Emerson. She attended meetings with Everett. She was basically a glorified holy secretary for the shit they were doing. So we took her. Asylum tripped over a welcome rug in the cave and dropped her on the floor. I kneeled beside her and found my crucifix in her robes. I took it out and beat her with it until she died. Asylum shoved his fork into her eye somewhere in the fray. We disposed of her body by cutting her up and feeding her to the wolves.”

Church was quiet again. “What was her sin?”

“She had the list,” Shadow murmured. He looked over Church and locked eyes with me. I got up and went to my dresser, where I pulled out the pages and brought them to Church. He took and scanned them.

“These are the deeds ordered here?” He looked at me.

I nodded. “And those which are planned. Look at number seventy-two.”

He went back to the pages. His hands visibly shook as he read the entry.

“They planned to take Sirena at some point. Stitches too. Even me,” I said thickly. “Mine is a test by Everett, as was Stitches, in a manner of speaking. Although, judging by what they have written there, a few people paid decent money to fuck him.”

Church let out a snarl and climbed over me so fast I nearly fell out of bed. He paced, his fingers twisted in his hair, the pages still fisted tightly.

“They still want her,” I said softly. “Check out the last page.”

Church stopped and reviewed the papers until he reached the last page. I watched as he read what was there. His breathing changed. Ragged. Short. His chest heaved.

And then…

Pure fucking violence.

His fist collided with my wall, sending a hole through it. Again. Again.

I finally got up and pulled him away because he was about to tear down the entire wall, and I didn’t want to put up another poster.

Sirena stirred and sat up, her black hair a wild mess. I caught a glimpse of fear on her face as I tore Church away. He sagged against me, still breathing hard, his hand bleeding.

She scrambled away from Shadow and stumbled over to us. Church immediately went to her and dragged her into his arms, holding her tightly.

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