Page 60 of The Sinner and the Scholar
“Uh-uh.” Lightning sparks at Envy’s fingertips. “I’ll fry your circuitry this time.”
“It’s okay, babe,” Alice says to Pride, mollifying him. “I’ll just steal some of those x-rated drawings he’s done of Grace before they started dating.”
Evan blanches. “You wouldn’t.”
Alice scowls and returns to Thea. “For fuck’s sake. You’re not going to hell. It’s not even—”
“Real?” Thea finishes, her brows raised. “How can you still think that?”
“If you keep filling yourself with shame, you’ll never make room for what’s important.” Alice’s tone softens, and I almost miss her following words. “And you’ll end up alone.”
Thea glances at me, then away.
A lightbulb blows further down the alley, and we all look. Dawn is on its way, but it feels darker than midnight. And colder. Another bulb blows—closer this time. As we watch, lights over doors burst in procession as though someone invisible is walking toward us, breaking them with a bat. Darkness encroaches like rolling fog. Every hair on my body stands on end as though Envy has sent another bolt of electricity through me.
“That’s weird, right?” Alice mutters.
But no sooner have the words come out of her mouth than water bubbles from the sewer grates and rain falls from the sky. In a matter of seconds, we’re drenched.
Stiletto heels click and splash. Out of the storm, a tall, immaculately dressed woman appears. My brows knit together as I take her in. A drenched white business suit, long dark hair plastered to her face, and black-as-ink eyes—the same as Asmodeus.
My half-attempt at a spell must have gone up like a beacon to any demon in the area.
“Thea?” I collect my backpack.
I see a businesswoman, and I’m sure Envy, Pride, and Alice all see the same thing. But Thea’s eyes are darting about the woman, landing on targeted areas like she notices something we can’t.
The moment they confessed their strange Sight at the abbey, I believed them. They were too horrified to fake it. And Cisco confirmed the demonic possession—he has a knack for sensing evil presences, no matter what form.
“Demon,” she confirms. “Has a fish tail and maggots crawling out of pustules on her scales like she’s diseased and rotting.” Her eyes widen in horror. “Some fallen maggots are turning into little fish beasties with fangs and four legs.”
My old demon-marked palm burns as I study the sodden businesswoman through the rain. Apart from the black eyes, she looks normal, but then something Thea said plucks at my memories. Fishtail. The demon who took my uncle had a fishtail.
The last time we met, I was a child pissing my pants and hiding behind a doorway, watching it slither out of a hole in the ground. Her tail wrapped around my uncle. Water flowed and sizzled from the pits of hell. Then she took him down. I ran forward and reached—grabbed his hand—slipped, lost hold, and the hole in the ground closed up. All that remained was a burning in my palm. When Vepar tried to influence me in the asylum, I saw nothing… only heard voices in my mind.
I didn’t know a demon’s true name gave you power over it back then. Didn’t know that my uncle had left me a nugget of gold in his notes by writing her name down. I also don’t understand why he didn’t use it… maybe he never had a chance.
She probably thought she could attack me again if she turned up here disguised as the human she possessed. She didn’t count on Thea’s special vision or me, all grown up and knowing her name.
“Vepar,” I growl, much to her surprise.
Twenty
Thea
Rain runs down my face. The atmosphere is darkening, but the vile vision of a pustule-covered mermaid slithering over puddled asphalt is sharp in my mind. Her visage flickers between demon and businesswoman, which must be what my allies see—a simple woman in heels and a suit.
I glance up. The moon is still shining, and no clouds are in the sky. I have no idea where the rain comes from or how water oozes from the drains.
My allies have frozen, just like me. They don’t see the demonic fishtailed monster. But they might see the maggots dropping from her flesh and turning into cat-sized grotesque fish with legs because they’re all quietly freaking out.
“Vepar,” Wes growls as he moves to stand between the demon and me.
Wasn’t that the name of the one who tried to claim him as a child? The same one whose mark was on the severed hand? What are the odds that it’s back here now?
A cold, calm takes over me as I flip into Sinner mode. I reach down and release a blessed dagger from my strapped ankle sheath. My crucifix is tugged out of my shirt next, and Wesley’s charm follows it. I grasp the two together, ready to hold them before me like a shield.
“What the fuck?” Envy mutters, his eyes taking in the minions.
