If he heard me, he chooses to ignore it. His voice pitches higher and higher until it overrides mine. “The Shining Days of Glory are among us! Sinners will burn—the righteous ascend! But in order for those glorious days to commence, evil must be slayed, and that son, means you…”
He repositions the stake so it’s resting dead center over my chest. The tip gouging into a holy book he’s grossly misinterpreted. And when he flings the mallet back and slams it down hard, I watch in fascination, as though it’s happening to someone other than me.
The stake screws into the book, resulting in a muffled groan as it gouges a hole in the white leather cover. Grinding its way through shiny gold lettering until it breaks through and begins shredding the pages inside.
I wait for the sting of the razor-sharp tip to impale my flesh, but there’s still an inch of paper stretching between me and deliverance. The progress much slower than I’d anticipated.
He pulls away, centers his hand once again, and I squeeze my eyes shut, eager for the release soon to come. Having no idea where I’ll end up. What sort of place would admit someone as dark and soulless as me? Yet clinging to the dream of redemption—of landing in the place where Daire rests.
He shoves his knee hard against my rib cage, pinning me down as though I might try to flee. Then he returns to the grim business of slaying. Pounding the stake over and over, the effort causing fat beads of sweat to pool on his brow, as his arm grows shaky, his aim poor.
“You can do this,” I whisper, figuring he could use the encouragement. “I completely understand and I won’t try to fight you.”
He drives the stake harder until my nostrils jam with the stench of metal burning through paper. His voice rising, eyes rolling in his head, as he cries, “Good shall overcome evil! I will drive the Word straight into your soul. Though make no mistake, it’s too late to save it. There is no Grace for a blasphemer like you!”
Yeah, whatever. Just make it quick. Daire is out there somewhere, and I really need to find her …
I heave my chest higher, hoping to speed things along. Biting back a grin at the first pinch of contact, the moment when the sting of sharp metal grinds into my flesh.
Won’t be much longer …
The stake gouges harder, deeper, slowing only slightly when it butts against bone.
I grit my teeth hard, commit to the pain, and prepare for the end. One more blow should see that it’s done.
His sour breath blasts hard against my cheeks as he grasps a fistful of my hair and drags my face closer to his. “Look at me, sinner!” He shrieks, flecks of saliva showering my cheeks. “I want to look into the face of evil. I want to see the life force snuffed from your demon eyes!”
I do as he says, hoping it’ll speed things along. My desperate gaze meeting his crazed one, only to watch as he screams, “Where the hell did it go?” He jerks my head higher, ripping a chunk of hair straight from my scalp. “What the hell happened to it? What did you do with it?” He butts his nose against mine.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I groan, frustrated, breathless, aware of a warm stream of blood surging down my sides. I heave my torso up, keeping it taut, as I thrust deeper into the stake.
If he won’t end this, I will.
“Your soul!” He screams, waving the mallet carelessly above me. “What did you do with your soul? Where is it? What have you done with it?”
Oh. That.
I close my eyes in defeat. Sink deeper into the dirt. “It’s gone. Lost. I heaved a last breath, and it went. But then I heaved another breath and…” There’s no use explaining it. No need to tell him about my connection to Cade. And how the mere act of Coyote saving his soul has kept me alive without mine. I press my cheek to the ground, saying, “I have no idea where it went.”
Suriel grunts. Shifts his weight off, and gets to his feet. Muttering a long stream of curses as he slams his tools back into his bag and makes to leave.
“Wait! Come back!” I shout, staring in anguish at his retreating form. “Finish what you started! You can’t stop now—not after coming all this way!”
“It’s the soul that I need. You’re no good to me now.” He shoots me a look of disdain. “The Last Days are upon us?
??I shall not be defeated! If I can’t snuff your soul, I’ll get Cade’s. You were both conjured by evil—as far as I’m concerned, you’re one and the same.”
He leaves me with blood seeping from my chest—hope seeping from my heart. My dream of being reunited with Daire gone, just like that.
Suriel may be crazy, but he’s smarter than most people think. Able to see the very thing most everyone else has sought to deny—the mystical connection between Cade and me.
I roll to my side, steeple my palms tightly against the wound at my chest.
I was so close. So damn close.
Yet, while it may not have ended in the way that I wished, there is comfort in knowing it’s just a matter of time before it will.
When Cade goes, I go.