Page 92 of Sleeping Redemption
I transported myself to the cemetery, hoping that the only dead people we’d find had been those long-buried six feet under.
When I appearedin the cemetery, I noticed Atlas a few yards to my right and Rook just ahead of him, jogging up a grassy hill like a damn bloodhound tracking a scent.
I let Rook lead the way, allowing his link to our angel’s whereabouts to guide us closer to her. Atlas and I both caught up to Rook at the top of the hill, where the oldest part of the cemetery greeted us.
At the top of my vision, the broken angel statue appeared against the night sky, and as my gaze dropped lower to the ground, the nearly white-blonde hair contrasted against the darkness.
The sound of her sobs pierced my heart, and as my gaze followed the outline of her body on the ground, my mind finally opened my eyes to what was taking place.
Her body had been pushed into the ground, and her fair skin was exposed to the moonlight from the waist down. Kneeling between her legs and assaulting her was a despicable excuse of a being – human or otherwise.
The perpetrator looked over at the group of us, his demonic eyes reflecting the vileness of his soul inside the human he possessed.
Before I could shout my orders, a rumbling of energy poured off of Rook. His eyes glowed like lumps of coal, fueling a feral energy deep within him. The sudden escalation of his rage made his lips twitch before curling back as he unleashed a startling growl that shook the ground underneath our feet.
Taking off, his speed kicked up the dirt like a detonated mortar round in his wake before he knocked into the foul entity attacking Kinley.
I barked my order at Atlas, “Go help Kin, and get her out of here!” I needed to make sure this dickhead suffered and that Rook didn’t go nuclear on the rest of the city in the process.
We both separated with our tasks laid out before us. Rook had pinned the attacker to the ground, viciously pounding his fists into the man’s face as blood quickly coated his fists.
Nothing but the sounds of snarling and snapping like a rabid beast came out of our typically laid-back trickster. His hands lost their human facade, and the demon claws extended, slicing at the man’s chest, tearing it open in wide ribbons.
Right as I made it to the bloody altercation, I witnessed the demonic energy immediately exit into the air and burst forth into the sky. It was like watching a shooting star leaving its lifeless host behind. Despite the jumper demon’s prompt departure, it didn’t deter Rook’s violence on the corpse left behind.
Leaning down, I grabbed Rook’s shoulders and yanked him back off what remained of the body. He scrambled onto his hands and knees after I forced him a couple of feet back.
Snapping his head in my direction, Rook snarled at me with ferocity in his eyes that rivaled any pack of hellhounds I had ever encountered.
“Rook! He’s gone!” I shouted at him sternly, trying to snap him out of his frenzy.
I watched as he dipped his head down towards the dirt and drew a deep breath. His nostrils twitched and flared as he scrutinized the scent left behind.
His shoulders slumped as he let out a harsh grunt.
“It was Nicodemus, and I fuckin’ let him get away.” Rook’s voice was filled with dejection and self-reproach.
My hand clasped down onto his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze of support. I wasn’t sure what to say. Even if Nico hadn’t leaped out of this body, we didn’t know how to actually destroy a saliranimum demon.
After a heavy moment of realization of how close we had come and how far we still were from making any significant progress, Rook pushed up to his feet.
There was another fleeting moment of wanting to draw him into my arms and ease both our pain of how we had just failed our girl.
“Atlas is with Kinley.” My words came out hoarse from the potent emotions warring deep inside me.
Rook’s head perked up, his demeanor shifting into one of concern.
We both marched back to where we had initially seen her when we arrived.
Atlas was down on a knee by her side as we approached. She still lay there on her stomach, whimpering with strangled cries of pain. His hand stroked over the back of her head gently.
He turned to look at Rook and me with tears flooding his eyes.
Looking at our girl, I could tell that Atlas had made an effort to get her pants up as best as he could, but she just lay there, writhing in pain.
As I came to crouch at her other side across from Atlas, Rook knelt down in front of her. My eyes scanned over her trembling form, taking in the extent of her physical injuries.
The fucking bastard had sliced his name into her back like a sadistic branding of what he thought was his property.
