Page 49 of Sleeping Redemption
Rook spoke up with curiosity, “Did you say a saliranimum demon?” His pierced eyebrow perked up.
Maintaining a stone-like exterior, Sylas just gave a curt nod. “Yes. I did a little digging into the old tomes after I realized Christina’s soul was entirely in shambles. It was like nothing I’ve seen before. From what I’ve read, it’s indicative of possession by a rare demon that inhabits humans for a time and then leaps to its next host.”
My heart sank, fear tugging it into the pit of my stomach. I looked down at Kinley in my arms, and I saw the same realization in her face. I squeezed her a little tighter in my arms.
“Sylas, how sure are you?” My eyes met his, the seriousness of the situation resting in my gaze.
He forced out an exhale, dropping his arms to his sides. “I’m certain. All the indicators match up. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I have a call out to several other archangels to see if anyone else has experience with this type of demon.”
I looked over at Rook, who shared a look of concern with a hint of possession that said he was less than pleased to have another demon lingering so close to his territory.
His tone turned dark. “Are you saying that a leaping lizard could have been here in this house?”
There was a flicker of amusement in Sylas’s eyes at Rook’s description, so damn subtle that I nearly missed it. The cranky bastard nodded in response, adding, “It’s very likely.”
Kissing the top of Kinley’s head, I spoke to her quietly. “I know what you’re thinking, angel. There’s nothing to indicate it’shim.” My reassurance seemed to do little as I saw the wheels spinning wildly in her head.
“I killed him,” Kinley gritted out through her clenched teeth.
There wasn’t any part of me that wanted to think that Nicodemus still lurked on Earth after all these years. However, all the pieces lined up. We had a body jumper of a demon thatdisposed of Kinley’s favorite human and a demon sending her trinkets tied to her past. We couldn’t ignore the evidence being presented to us.
“I know you think you did, angel.” I kept my words gentle. “But we can’t ignore that there’s a strong possibility that he escaped.”
She pulled out of my arms, spinning to face me with a combination of fear and anger in her sweet blue eyes. “I made sure he didn’t escape, Atlas! I destroyed every last soul in that shitty little village!”
Sighing, I knew the news was going to be a hard pill to swallow for all of us. It had been difficult to hear how she had wiped out so many human lives after my death. But now, to consider it had all been in vain, and Nico was still slithering in and out of mortal bodies? I worried that realization could push her down a path I couldn’t pull her out of.
“Love, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” The backs of Rook’s fingers traced down the length of her arm in a soothing gesture. “Atlas, here, is just saying it can’t be ruled out. That’s all.”
Standing there like a hardass, Sy stared at all of us. “If this isn’t a reason to keep all humans away from Kin, I don’t know what is.” His pale blue eyes held a cold stare at Kinley before addressing her directly. “That means no damn pets.”
She visibly bristled as she narrowed her eyes at Sylas.
Sensing Kinley’s shift in mood, Wolff whimpered and whined as he crawled over to the group of us. He gave a low snarl at Sylas before biting Sy’s leg.
“Fuck!” Sylas jerked back, hissing in pain as he glared down at the man who was so far under Kinley’s charms that he began to behave more and more like the canine she thought he was.
To add insult to injury, Wolff pushed the front of his shorts down, and much to my surprise, he wasn’t as housebroken asRook had claimed. The golden shower fountained onto the top of Sylas’s boot.
You could tell there was a moment where Sylas considered taking a boot to the human’s side but barely refrained. Instead, he fiercely growled deeper and darker than any canine I’d ever heard.
“Bad dog!” Kinley scolded while giving a stern look that may have been cute under any other circumstance. “We don’t bite unless it’s asked for,” she explained, totally ignoring the piss puddling at Sy’s feet.
The man looked remorseful and hung his head down before crawling over to her feet, nuzzling his face against her legs.
Angrily, Sylas looked at Kinley. “He hasgotto go, Kin.”
“I can’t help it if he just doesn’t like you,” she retorted.
Kinley squatted down, took Wolff’s face into her hands, and kissed his forehead. “I know. He’s a mean old angel, isn’t he?” Her thumb stroked over the man’s cheek soothingly.
Wolff leaned in close to her, dragging his tongue over her cheek several times. Then he continued down over her neck in a mix of open-mouthed kisses, flat-out treating her like his favorite ice cream cone. Each drag of his mouth against her skin made her giggle.
The moment the affections drew out the first moan past her perfectly pouty lips, Rook leaned over and yanked Wolff back by his collar away from Kinley. “Down, boy.”
I could sense a wave of possession coming over Rook as his hand tightly held the collar around the man’s neck. “Love, he needs to find another home.”
“It’s what’s best for everybody,” I added, making it clear the three of us were all on the same page.
