Page 49 of The Fallen
“Getting arrested for indecent exposure will not help us,” I grit out, staring pointedly.
Asenath grins and then I feel a tug of power. The air goes hazy around the demon, and when it clears, he’s in a pair of tight-fitting jeans and a black T-shirt, which makes his gray skin more apparent and enhances his silver hair. His tail flicks sedately behind him, and I take a moment to contemplate how he even gets pants on with it in the way.
Hot damn, he cleans up nice.
“Going to assume you’re at full power, since you’re just now materializing clothes for yourself?” I stuff my feet into my shoes and grab my phone to call a rideshare. I can’t help but glance at Ben’s phone, sitting forlornly on the entryway table where I put it the day before after talking with Dean Hayes and Cecil.
We make our way out of the building just as our ride pulls up and we quickly get in, telling the driver there’s a change in destination. He makes a disgruntled noise at the change, but when I promise him an additional tip he stops complaining.
We direct the driver, following the pull of our third, until we arrive at an old church that’s clearly been abandoned. Graffiti covers the brick walls and half the structure is overrun with some sort of vining plant, the foliage thick enough that I can’teven see the bricks. Most of the windows not covered by plywood are broken, the glass sparkling in the midday sun.
“Shit, man. You sure this is the right place?” the driver asks, looking between us and the building warily.
The power tugs at me, flaring brightly and I nod. “Yeah, this is it.”
“Yeah, well, I ain’t waitin’ around.”
I barely have time to give him his additional tip before he’s speeding away.
Asenath watches the retreating car, an expression of amusement on his face before we both turn to regard the imposing building.
“Through the back,” Asenath says, leading us across the overgrown yard. Asenath is silent as we weave our way through the junk and weeds, while my clumsy ass trips over something with every other step. I didn’t think of myself as stealthy, but at this point, I’m pretty sure a herd of elephants is less noisy than me.
My phone chimes as we finally get around to the back of the church, which is even more chaotic with junk. Seriously, how did half a jacuzzi and a shredded sectional get back here?
I dig the phone from my pocket, not at all surprised to see a text from Charlie demanding I call him. I ignore the text, powering off my phone and tucking it back in my pocket. I can let him know what’s going on after I get Ben back.
Asenath is watching me, one hand on the back door. There’s a gaping hole where the handle used to be. I want to ask if he broke the handle but almost immediately, I know that he didn’t. That it was already broken and that he can feel a secondary source of magic inside, someone who isn’t Ben.
I startle at that realization. That his knowledge can be so easily accessible to me through our bond. All the things that I can learn makes me giddy with excitement, but I tamp it down.
We have to survive first, after all.
I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry. Terror is there, beating against my chest with every thump of my heart — but also anger. Anger that Jacob — Dimitr,whatever—thinks he can take what’s mine. That he can steal Ben like he’s some sort of possession.
Asenath grins at me, tail whipping back and forth as he opens the door. We make our way through the back of the building, skirting trash, collapsing walls, and what I assume to be excrement based on the smell.
I can feel Ben, feel that tether of power as it pulses, and I know he’s in pain. Whatever Dimitri is doing is causing him pain. A growl rumbles behind me, Asenath also picking up on Ben’s distress. My own lips twist up in a snarl as we rush farther inside.
I can feel Dimitri’s power now, an insidious blackness that coats the back of my throat like some foul sludge. I choke on it, bile rising in my throat, and I almost turn around. It’s only the quiet whimpering from deeper inside that keeps me going.
Asenath snarls something in his own language, practically ripping the hinges off the last door. I rush forward, stupid I know, and that tar-like power lashes out. I can feel it roaring toward us and I throw my magic out, the glyphs for protection and shielding flaring bright red in my vision as Dimitri’s power slams into it.
Holy fuck. I have never been able to do that.
Asenath rushes past me, and it’s only as I’m blinking after him that I see the mammoth thing in the center of the nave. It shrieks as Asenath slams into it with the four-inch claws suddenly sprouting from the tips of his fingers.
I rush into the main part of the church, following that whimpering sound around to a raised area at the back where the preacher does his sermon.
And stumble to a stop in horror.
There’s someone on that platform. A nude woman, whose body has been pulled apart like some fucked up science dissection. Her brown eyes are staring at me, and when she blinks slowly, I damn near piss myself.
She’s alive? Her lungs inflate, the air rasping out of her open mouth sounding like the rustle of dead leaves, and that high whimper follows. I ignore the sounds of fighting behind me, my sole focus on the woman. A tear escapes her wide eyes, trailing down her cheek. I can’t even begin to fathom the agony she has to be in. There’s no way she can’t be. The entire front of her body is missing, her ribcage removed and cast away like trash to expose her lungs and heart. The skin of her stomach split and held back with nails, her organs taken out of her body and placed around her like some sort of display.
How she’s still alive is . . . It’s horrifying.
A grunt and scuffle has me jerking my head to the side and my knees almost give out. Staring back at me with eyes wide in terror is Ben, duct tape over his mouth and his wrists bound and secured above his head with rope. The front of his shirt is shredded, blood still drying against his chest and stomach, and bile rises in my throat again. His pants aren’t much better, nothing but tattered denim fluttering around his waist and one leg.
