Page 61 of Judge of Saints and Sinners

“Nephesh isn’t like that.”

“Maybe not now, but as soon as he has his soul back, he could be. Would you really trust a demon with that kind of choice? Imagine the opportunities he would have to wreak destruction on all of this world.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” I hissed again, my frustration making my eyes water.

Gregory focused on the screen again, his fingers rapidly tapping. “We aren’t leaving the fate of the human race in one moody demon’s hands.”

“And what do you get out of all of this? Do you sleep better at night?”

The man smiled. “I sleep like a baby at night, demon whore. And I do this because the Fallen have ruled the Underworld for too long. We will claim it for ourselves, return the balance to the side for good. You can see it every day. I know you did.” Gregory shook the tablet in my direction, “After all, you’re not exactly a shining example of a good citizen either. But that’s not all your fault. Darkness from their world is seeping into ours. We have a plan to change all of that. But until then, we need to disarm their greatest weapon. And that, my dear, is the soul you are carrying around with you.”

“So you’re all insane. Got it.”

“Say what you will. I can see it even now. You believe your monster will come save you. But I have to tell you, he will only come for your soul. He doesn’t care about anything else. They never do.”

“Sounds personal there, Gregory.”

He stood, moving over to stand above me, and his thumb pressed against my lips and dragged them across in a painful pull. I jerked back, my body recoiling at the way his black pupils seemed to bleed into the colorful irises.

“What are you?” My voice shook with surprise. He had looked so human, acted so human. He’d been a dick, but now, knowing he was something other, it made my blood run cold.

“We are the trusted soldiers of the real master.” His hand moved down, cupping the nape of my neck. “And after we free your soul, giving it to my master will be simple. And then you will join us.”

“You can’t just take someone’s soul.”

“We can if we have the witch who originally cast the spell.”

I blinked rapidly, confused by his words. As if disappointed in what he’d told me, Gregory paused. His hand moved around to the front of my neck, and my breath wheezed out of my throat as his fingers continued to hold there, pressing and holding in a slow threat of what he was capable of doing. After a moment, his head tilted back, his top lip lifting in a mark of disgust.

“I cannot kill you yet, monster fucker, but when I can, I will take great relish in it.”

He pressed harder, and a dark spots appeared in my vision as I fought to keep my mind clear, to focus on slowing my panicked breaths.

He thought I still had my soul.

But I didn’t.

I could only buy more time. Maybe I would be able to escape. Maybe I would be able to…

Gregory's body was suddenly snatched away from me. My breath rushed back, making my still-bound limbs tingle as oxygen swept into my blood once again. In the shadows, there was movement, horrible sounds, the crunching of what could only be Gregory as soft cries suddenly stopped. Slowly the shadows slipped, gathered it seemed as a pair of massive white wings spread. The feathers quivered as I stared, awestruck at the deadly efficiency of Nephesh’s movements.

I followed the crest of the wings to the straightening body; Nephesh looked back at me through a pair of glowing ruby red eyes. Below those eyes, an inhuman set of fangs dripped with red, blood staining his neck and now bare chest. The jeans were cut off at the ankle, his feet turned to claws that curled against the cement as he lowered himself into the shadows ever so slightly more. My eyes snapped up, lighting up on the pair of sharp black horns that slipped through the silken white strands that I’d buried my fingers in.

“Nephesh,” I said, knowing him in an instant. It could only be right, as this was his true form. Or at least his truer form. Nephesh lifted his head again, and I could hear the thick inhale.

“Did you kill him?”

His rattling growl echoed around the room. “He touched you.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I croaked, a strange emotion filling my throat at his words. “I’m glad.”

The horns cocked sideways.

I struggled against my ties. “Are you alright?”

His laughter was the same, deep and rumbling as the dove white wings shifted. “You are asking me if I am alright? When you are the one who has been held captive?”

Nephesh stepped towards me. The fluorescent lights above cast a shadow over him, illuminating more of his skin, the scars that littered his flesh. The ones I had pressed my hands to, my lips to. My belly squeezed as he moved around me, and then I felt the ropes around me go slack.