Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
The next three rooms are much different. Bedrooms. One with a giant bed, the other with a regular queen bed, and the third sparse, with a simple mattress on the floor. Then an office—the place most likely to house what I’m searching for.
As I grip the top drawer of the oak desk, a sharp prick hits my neck. My hand flies to the spot on my skin just as everything goes dark.
No light.
No Fear.
No Joy.
Just. Black.
Chapter Three
ASMODEUS
“She can’t be alone,” Iblis whispers as he hovers over the pretty little thing lying on my bed.
Abaddon’s blades glint in the moonlight dripping between the curtains. He sneers as he gently pokes the tip in her jugular before sliding the knife along her joints. He makes an action to hack but stops as he reaches her flesh. “She’d make pretty souvenirs.”
I observe my twin’s demeanor. Usually, Abaddon wouldn’t hesitate. He’d have a limb amputated before I uttered a word, yet he hesitates with this woman. Fascinating. I had a similar urge not to harm her. Probably a moment of weakness.
I drink in her beauty, her hair fanned over my pillow, her scent invading my senses with brute force. The glow of her soft skin and curvy frame makes my mouth water, and my fingers twitch with the desperate, illogical need to touch her.
“We’ve got to kill her. She broke into our place, and we can’t leave that unanswered.”
Abaddon’s voice is a blizzard in my mind, washing away the fiery desire that was there a moment ago. Leave it to my twin to ruin a perfectly pleasant fantasy.
He’s right, of course. We need to deal with the girl, but I lack the desire to take on the task for some inexplicable reason. I’m an idiot because this girl is an interloper, here to ruin the small moments of peace we’re granted as we burn in eternal hell.
Deep in slumber, her serene face calms me, something I haven’t experienced in the last twenty years. Besides, I want to grill the girl to see how she found this place because it sure as fuck isn’t a coincidence. The video footage confirmed it when we watched the little beauty move from room to room like a damn ninja.
We were out in the woods because someone tripped the alarm in the forest. We were too fucked up to use logic to check the cameras set up all over the place. I was sure it was some random animal or a lost traveler. In the last ten years, no one has tracked this place down. It’s always been our refuge, a sanctuary where we can be ourselves.
Iblis is on his knees facing the wall with a rosary in his hand. His fingers flick the beads as he chants a prayer. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.”
Not sure how he still thinks he’s worthy of salvation after the fucked-up things he’s done. Abaddon and I accepted our fate a long time ago, embraced it even, but Iblis is still desperate for the love of a deity that abandoned him from conception.
Iblis rises from his knees and turns to stare at me. “We can let her go.”
“Let her go?” I ask in disbelief. “She could have accomplices. We got our freedom, thanks to Dariyus and Malachi. Do you want to go back to someone owning or hunting us?” If not for those two men, we’d still be in debt to the monster who owned us.
Iblis casts his eyes down, fully aware of his part in making my brother and me what we are. I don’t blame Iblis for what happened to us anymore. Dominic Roads fucked with him as much as he did us. So what if he was older? It’s not like a ten and eight-year-old differ much in mental capacity.
Eventually, the hate and resentment turned into love and acceptance, at least for Abaddon and me. But though Iblis loves us, deep shame courses in his veins like a life force keeping him alive. If I were a better man, I’d help him heal and deal with his internal damnation. But I’ve accepted who and what I am, and a savior isn’t it.
I grip Iblis by the throat and drag him toward the girl. “I’ll let her go once I’ve drained her body of all its blood and fucked you in it.”
“Then fuckin do it,” Iblis spits. “KILL her and get it over with. There’s no point holding her here to contemplate her death. Put the girl out of her misery.”
I tighten my hold on Iblis’ throat and pull him to me, wrapping my arm around him and pushing my erection against his ass. “Maybe I should fuck you while you kill her for us. That’s a new game, isn’t it, Iblis? I’d like to see you in the gutter with the two of us. After all, it was you who dragged us here, wasn’t it?”