Page 100 of The Sinner and the Gunslinger
I pull the casing from my pocket and turn it in the light until the engraving is visible.
“Forgiveness,” I mumble.
His brown, human eyes suddenly flick to black. He snarls, baring fangs and a forked tongue. Black-tipped taloned fingers take a swipe at me. I dodge, but he scrapes my midsection, tearing my clothes.
“Fucker.” I press the barrel of the relic against his forehead and pull the hammer down with my thumb.
But he’s in even more agony than before. His attack cost him more than it did me. It’s like a repulsion beneath his skin.
“Do it,” he spits, leaning into the cold metal pressed against his forehead. “Shoot me.”
I holster the relic again and step back.
“Shoot me!”His eyes leak water.
But I turn my back on him, stroll to the tomb and collect Snuggles and my backpack. After fitting them both, I walk past him. He reaches for me, but not to attack, to beg.
“Please!” He gropes my legs weakly. “Shootme. End my misery.”
I kick him off me like a nuisance pest. I don’t turn back until I climb to the steps.
“It hurts,” he cries.
“It hurts because you feel guilt. Because you feel bad. All the sin you’ve ever committed is returning to haunt you.”
He gnashes his teeth at me, trying to be the dragon one last time. His eyes flick to black. But it doesn’t stick. It hurts him. I have no pity for him... only envy. Zeke and I always played theone thinggame—asking each other what we would change if we could turn back time. And here he is, the demon prince, rotten to the core, and he’s been handed his one thing in a silver bullet. He’s been given a miracle that has turned back time to the moment Lilith fucked his life up.
“I’m still me,” he rasps, thumping his chest like a gorilla. “Still a demon.”
“A demon with a soul.”
Thirty-Seven
Mercy
Ibite my juicy, crisp apple and watch from the abbey steps as Leila helps Zeke out of the taxi. They return victorious in a blaze of glory under a setting sun. Asmodeus has been neutralized—he has a soul. She has the relic in her hands, and apparently, it makes her blood sing. We’ve proven, yet again, that we Sinners have what it takes to save this world. To be the saviors they tell us we’re not.
I should feel good.
But I don’t.
My eyes narrow on Leila’s lingering touch as she helps Zeke hobble toward me. The others are on their way. But right now, it’s just me here waiting. And I’m glad. Because there’s no one to see the contempt on my face. My stomach curdles when he kisses her on the cheek, and she smiles. I must hide my feelings well because when they reach the base of the steps, Leila turns that grin my way.
“We did it,” she exclaims, tapping a pistol now holstered at her hip.
I can’t even look at it.
“Mercy?” Leila frowns. “Babe, you okay?”
“You warned me off him.” I point at the gunslinger without looking at him. My accusation is for Leila only. “You told me not to go near him. That he’s not to be trusted.”
That they all lie and cheat. That these men are just like all the rest.
Her jaw drops. She blushes. “I... um... there’s a story.”
My brow arches. They look happy. In love. I shouldn’t feel this envy clawing at my heart, but it’s a poisonous snake wrapping around my Eden. I don’t have feelings for Zeke. I don’t even like him. But he would have been a willing release when I was in need, overcome with my urges and desires. I knew it. She knew it. And it wasn’t only him she warned me off. It was all of Team Saint.
“So?” I ask. “What’s the story?”
