Page 39 of The Sinner and the Gunslinger
Her voice comes out deep and wrong as she says, “They’re coming to tear us apart. We win one, we lose one, we can’t trust our own.”Her eyes return to normal and she stares at me for a minute, confused. Then she blinks and clears her throat. “Go and get the blessed weapons from the Sin Bin. You’ll need them.”
Raven lets go of me and then winces. “Headache,” she grumbles.
“Maybe ask Thea to—”
“No. The moment we start abusing that relic, it will stop working.”
“You saw this in the vision?”
“It’s common sense.” She hunts around her bedside table until she finds her pills and takes one.
I’m not sure I believe her, but hand her a half-empty bottle of water I find sitting on the floor.
“Raven. What did you mean? Who’s coming to tear us apart?”
“What?” She takes a swig of the water.
“You just had a vision. You said, ‘They’re coming to tear us apart. We win one, we lose one, we can’t trust our own.’”
“I said that?”
“Your voice was creepy and deep.”
“Huh.” She leans back on the bed and closes her eyes, then shoos me out. “Go get the weapons.”
“You have to tell Thea.”
“I will,” she murmurs. Two seconds later, she’s asleep.
Frowning, I give her room a quick sweep to remove fire hazards. If I’m not here, she might do something stupid like fall asleep with a cigarette burning. With a last final thought, I take her entire cigarette packet and toss it in the trash on my way to the church.
Can’t trust our own.
* * *
I walk down the church aisle toward the Sin-Bin but stop at the sound of clinking metal within. Who’s here?
After Raven’s strange warning, I tense. Whoever is inside, even one of our own, can’t be trusted. With my senses on high alert, I push the Sin Bin’s door open and find Zeke plucking blades from the rack on the wall.
“What are you doing?” I narrow my eyes.
He glances at me with guilt, like I’ve caught him stealing. Then he rubs his neck and blushes. “I wanted to surprise you.”
“With our own weapons?”
“I’m carving spells on them.”
I lift my brows, instantly curious. “What kind of spells?”
“The kind that give you extra supernatural protection.” He points at a short claw dagger. “The basic ones repel evil on contact. The symbols are small and easy to remember. I have them on my bullet casings.”
“What happens when you shoot a demon?”
“I’ve never shot a demon,” he replies, frowning. “But I’ve shot demon-possessed people. Usually, the demon is exorcised.”
“At the expense of the host.”
He nods.
