Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Turning away from the bookcase, she grabbed her cell phone from the drawing table and made her way out of the room. After locking the door behind her, she padded through her bedroom, into the en suite, switched on the light—
A creak on the stairs.
She went completely still, her nape prickling. Well, it would seem that she had company. Rather than uneasy, she felt a tingle of anticipation.
She closed the bathroom door and flicked the lock as she telepathed Jolene. It seems the clerics have taken the bait. Her demon all but clapped its hands with glee.
Her Prime’s psyche stroked hers. I was confident that Martina would come through for us. Jolene had assigned her daughter to flirt outrageously with Konstantin and distract him enough that any watchful clerics would take advantage and slip into Naomi’s place.
It was something they’d had Martina do on several occasions since the clerics last attacked, never knowing if they were lingering; always hoping they were and that they’d snap up the opportunity to get to Naomi.
Stick to the plan and keep them occupied, Jolene went on. The rest of us will be at your house shortly.
Okay. You’ll find us in my bedroom, Naomi told her.
She waited a good twenty seconds and then flushed the toilet, giving her intruders the impression that she was simply doing her business. She washed her hands for real—well, she’d just pressed the flush button, which wasn’t exactly hygienic—and then dried them.
A spike of adrenaline quickened her pulse as she exited the room. Sure enough, several Eliouds were gathered around. There were more this time. Fourteen in total. All were bald and clothed in their cleric gear, magick-infused swords in hand.
Her demon smirked, pleased that there were plenty for Naomi and the others to kill. It would for sure enjoy the show. How typical.
“I’m starting to think that you and your brethren don’t like me.” She scanned the large group. “So many of you. How curious. I suppose I should be flattered that you felt it necessary to have so much backup. Though I had thought that maybe you guys only worked in groups of seven.”
A cleric with brown bushy brows shot her a glare. “Apparently you can too easily handle one unit, since our other brethren have disappeared.”
“So two groups came along this time.” As always in response to a threat, the twisted seraphim power that she harbored stirred. Seeped upward. Pooled beneath her skin. Began to heat the room. “At this point, though, I would have thought you people would stop coming at me. I mean, are you not tired of losing brothers?”
“So it is as we suspected: they are dead,” mused a young, baby-faced Elioud.
“Where did you bury them?” Bushy Brows demanded.
Naomi gave him a smile of mock pity. “There wasn’t anything left to bury. I figured they’d prefer that, though. You Lemures don’t like to leave evidence of yourselves behind.”
There was an almost collective intake of breath. Bodies tensed, and unnerved looks were exchanged.
“Yes, I know about your order,” she continued. “If you wanted to keep its existence quiet, you should have scrapped the emblem on your clothes—it’s like wearing ID.” They really should have thought of that.
“It doesn’t matter that you know who we are,” Baby Face decided, tugging at his collar, his cheeks flushing from the heat.
“It does matter that you’re being manipulated by a dark practitioner who’s posing as an angel. He gave you those swords, right? They aren’t blessed, they’re enchanted. But hey, I don’t suppose you’ll take my word for that.”
The bland expressions aimed her way confirmed that no, they didn’t believe her.
“Also, you misread the prophecy,” she added. Not that the actual translation would make them leave—they wanted her dead so that her child wouldn’t rid the world of their order. Still . . . “I’m not going to birth the Antichrist. I won’t have a child who’ll lead an army of demons.”
Bushy Brows sneered, using the back of his hand to swipe at the sheen of sweat on his forehead. “You expect us to believe anything the whore of the devil would say?”
Whore? Fuck you, asshole. “You act so very pious for a bunch of people who believe in kidnapping little boys and dragging them into your monkhood to be brainwashed.”
Baby Face flushed. “We are not brainwashed, we are enlightened.”
Ah, so this guy had been one of the abducted. “If that were the case, you’d know the truth. You don’t. You’ve come here on the basis of a prophecy that, in reality, you don’t fully understand.”
“And it was a tremendously unadvisable thing to do,” Jolene chipped in.
The clerics whirled to face the demons who now stood at the other side of the room—Jolene, Tobe, Ciaran, Khloë, Beck, Tia, and Alfie. Curses flew out of their mouths, and they shifted uneasily.