Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 93412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Abaddon placed his index finger across the soft mouth, and felt it pucker against his flesh. The warm touch was an instant reminder of kisses shared not so long ago in the hot shower. Of the pulsing heat filling Abaddon’s mouth. Of the soft mewls and cum rolling down his tongue.
He shook off the arousing memories and stepped toward the door just as the person on its other side knocked again. He flinched when the tools in his pocket clinked.
“Dr. Rogers?” a woman asked, prompting him to remember the dead man’s voice. He spoke in a British accent with the most annoying, nasal tone that would have lulled a coffee addict to sleep, and while the voice had a higher pitch than Abaddon’s, imitating it caused him no trouble. The thick wooden door would aid him by distorting it further.
“What is it?” he asked as Gabriel stared at him wide eyed, covering his mouth.
“Has Gabriel concluded his session already? Mr. Watson hasn’t come to work, and Robin could use some help in the kitchen. But I’ve heard Gabriel’s had issues today so I wanted to check in with you first.”
Abaddon swallowed and once again imitated the man lying sprawled only a couple of steps away. “Unfortunately, Gabriel had a minor episode—”
“An ‘episode’?” the young woman asked, raising her voice. “This isn’t the time to—”
“Of anxiety. I administered heavy sleeping pills. He’ll be knocked out until tomorrow,” Abaddon said with growing confidence.
The person behind the door let out a prolonged sigh. “No need to coddle him at this point. But whatever.”
What an odd thing to say to a doctor about his patient.
Abaddon spoke before she could have left, because they couldn’t have everyone thinking a second man had mysteriously gone missing. “One more thing: I got a call about a family emergency. Could you please let everyone know I will be away for some time?”
“But... you will be back for the ceremony?” the woman asked, freezing Abaddon to the floor. A part of him itched to storm the door and pull her in, because it was clear she too was a member of the Keys.
She didn’t sound like Mrs. Benson. Maybe the young woman with hair red as a fire truck, whom he’d seen in his visions?
“Of course,” he said, further exaggerating the English accent, which prompted her to release a string of unintelligible words before saying her goodbyes and walking off down the corridor. Abaddon listened for the click of her shoes until he could no longer hear them.
Gabriel finally moved, rubbing his reddened eyes. “You killed Watson in the morning. And then we burned him. It really happened.”
They studied one another in near-perfect silence, but while Abaddon’s veins pulsed with confidence, the boy looked to him for reassurance. Seeing the glint of tears in his eyes, the trembling of his delicate fingers was the confirmation that God had sent Abaddon to Earth for him. To guard, protect, and punish those who’d wronged this innocent. Gabriel held on to life by the last thread of sanity left in him, but by the time Abaddon was finished here, he would be stronger and not have monsters trying to confuse him at every step.
He could start over. Free from their clutches on his body and mind.
Abaddon approached Gabriel, who leaned against the wall as if his legs couldn’t carry the weight of his worries on their own. “Of course it happened. How could you have doubts?” he asked, resting both his hands on the boy’s shoulders. They were so bony it made Abaddon want to swipe Gabriel off his feet and take him someplace where he could eat undisturbed.
“Because it’s unbelievable. I thought I was being delusional. But now I know about the placebo, and Rogers is right here,” he said, gesturing at the corpse. “This fucking bastard… experimented on me. He knew I wasn’t crazy, but he made me do all those tests, hypnosis, and a special diet, and—” He had to stop talking, choking up, and Abaddon squeezed his shoulder in silent support. Terrible things had been done to this poor soul, but he would persevere.
“How do we even get rid of the evidence? I am so fucked!” Gabriel said when he found his voice. It was time to show him that when Abaddon was in charge, there was nothing to fear.
“It will be all right. You have a servant of the Lord at your side, remember?” he asked, moving his hands up the long neck, all the way to Gabriel’s jaw. The boy’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, inviting kisses, but despite the growing sense of heat inside, this wasn’t the right moment to comfort him physically.
Gabriel took a shaky breath, feeling like warm clay in Abaddon’s hands despite his jaw and face having such sharp edges. “Okay. Okay. What do we do? Do you have the power to make him disappear? Turn him to ash?”