Page 159 of Where Sinners Repent

Devils split around the loading yard, using concrete barriers, trucks, and bikes as cover while closing the distance. The Wraiths have nowhere to go except inside. Exactly where I fucking want them.

Once that entrance is ours, nobody leaves this building without passing through us. A blood-covered Wraith raises his rifle, pointing it at Griff.

“Down!”

Griff drops and I fire, feeling a shudder through me at the way his body jolts with the hit, before thumping onto the ground in a puddle of blood. Kaleb would love this.

Griff rises, before shooting off another bullet and hitting a Wraith in the knee.

The air is full of bloodcurdling screams. An orchestra of pain and terror. Some of them will be Devils. And after we win this, we will bury them. Mourn them. For now, we kill.

A bullet hits the side of the truck above my head. The sound reverberates through my skull.

Scanning the space, I see Theo and Jules side by side, Jules using his shotgun to drop Wraiths one by one.

My attention goes back to the roller door. It’s all I care about. Because that’s where they are. The gunfire coming from the entrance is thinning. Wraiths retreat further into the building for cover.

“Now!”

We run. The Devils move with us, boots crunching over wet gravel as we close the distance, guns raised. A Wraith steps through the opening, his face falling when he sees his huge mistake. He lifts his weapon anyway. But Griff fires first. The man drops with a wet thud. We reach the entrance. Guns fire, but all I can see are the three men. On their knees and restrained.

Ash with a wild gleam in his eyes. Xavier. And an unconscious Leon. No Kaleb.

I roar, lifting my gun and spraying. Watching men drop. I don’t care who; all I care about is that they bleed.

Griff runs to the three men, shielding the defenceless Devils. He takes in Leon’s limp body and the blood coating his face. From where I stand, he looks dead. From the way his head hangs, not a single twitch despite the thunderous gunfire all around.

Griff snarls, though I don’t hear it, and drops to a knee to lift Leon’s jaw. Gun still raised, he gives him a shake.

Shots continue to fly, and Griff folds himself over Leon. His massive body completely covers the smaller man as a bullet strikes the concrete behind them.

I watch as a bullet connects with Griff’s leg and he roars.

His body buckles, but he continues to keep himself between Leon and the gunfire.

Devils close around Ash and Xavier, cutting through their restraints. Griff hooks an arm around Leon’s weightless body, hauling him closer. Leon’s head falls against Griff’s shoulder.

Ash’s restraints fall away and he jumps up, snatching a gun from a Devil. My eyes are frantically searching for Kaleb. I’m too late. Too fucking late.

Wraiths drop like flies, but none of it matters.

I was too late.

My gun drops to my side. All I can hear is my own breath. My eyes continue to search, refusing to believe it.

A scream works its way through my panic. Everything freezes. My head snaps towards the far side of the loading bay. My eyes flare.

For a second, I think I’m imagining her. I’ve been shot and I’m fucking dreaming. There is no way she’s here right now.

“Guns down!” I scream when I see her stumbling with Isaac behind her.

A blade is pressed against her throat as he shoves her deeper into the mess. She fights despite it all.

Guns still fire, and I lose it.

“Stop! Guns down! Fucking stop!”

My voice tears from my throat. My heart stops as I search her body for blood. The gunfire from our end slows, but not completely. The Wraiths are outnumbered. They know. There can’t be more than a dozen left.