Page 12 of Soul Redeemed

Oliver stood from the bed and crossed the room to the door. The beast didn’t even seem to register his approach, but continued slamming into the steel panels until the hinges began to pop. She’d probably set Oliver up for the kind of blow to the spine that would cripple him, but what the fuck did she care?

Dashing across the room, Ava skidded to a halt and bent forward, patting her hand over the floor beneath the chair, in search of the key Oliver had dropped in there before attempting to sacrifice her to the Sang. Many supes simply carried a special kind of chalk to traverse worlds, but unless she was mistaken, the one Oliver had lost was a skeleton key that would turn any door into a portal to Obsidius.

Metal slipped beneath her fingertip, and she held it up in victory. Scrambling to her feet, Ava dashed across the floor to the door, and as she slid the tip into the lock, the metal entrance slammed into her, knocking Oliver to the floor. Kicked back a step, she tensed as the grip at her throat damn near squeezed the last bit of air from her.

“Don’t kill her!” Oliver shouted beside her, his fingers probing a gash that she could hardly make out in her periphery. “She’s going to pay in ways she can’t even imagine. Get her chained. Quickly!”

Stars floated in front of her eyes, as the room began to shrink. As the seconds of her fading consciousness ticked by, only one face came to mind.

Calix.

In vivid detail, she could see his bedroom in her mind’s eye, the silk sheets that drifted across her skin, the scent of him, the woodsy aroma with a hint of spice and tobacco, the soft plush mattress upon which he’d held her well into the afternoon, and the warmth of his breath against her nape as he’d slept peacefully beside her.

When she opened her eyes, all that she’d imagined surrounded her.

As she sat up in Calix’s bed, a beat of panic inside her chest brought tears to her eyes.

The beast had killed her, after all, and somehow she’d found her way to heaven. To the one place, the only place she could be safe from the horrors that had plagued her.

For once in her life, Ava finally felt peace.

6

Calix sat at his desk, flipping a pencil between his fingers while he watched the security cameras. Sanctuary had the best security team of any nightclub, so it certainly wasn’t necessary to watch, but one particular supe had caught his attention.

To the human patrons in the club, he looked like a big, muscled, tattooed guy with a shaved head—the kind one might see in a biker gang, or something. The cameras revealed his true nature, though, and Calix instantly recognized him as an Impetusi demon with his deep set eye, long forehead and top heavy build that gave him the appearance of a gorilla. Zooming in, Calix could see that, over one of his eyes, a metal plate had been seared into his flesh. The Impetusi demons tended to be strong but somewhat docile creatures, mostly called on for grunt work, but like many demon species, they could be violent and destructive when provoked.

He’d taken a seat at the bar, where Pat had served him a mug of beer. Many supes opted for demon liquor, so it struck Calix odd that he’d order a human drink. That, coupled to the fact that he didn’t seem to take an interest in any of the surrounding females, seized Calix’s attention, since Impetusi demons worshipped the female form. Some could get off just by observing a female for a time.

Lucky bastards.

On screen, Calix watched Zeke move in beside the demon, no doubt drawn by the crowd of scantily clad females standing nearby. Calix rolled his eyes and shook his head. Although his brother was big enough to take care of himself, he was weak. An Impetusi feeling threatened could certainly do some damage to Zeke, if he wasn’t careful.

Zeke leaning into the demon set Calix’s nerves on edge, but when both kicked their heads back, laughing and pointing at their eye patches, the tension eased a bit. Perhaps Zeke might be able to determine what the hell the demon happened to be doing in their club, looking around like he was looking for something. Surely Zeke noticed his beer and could see past the façade the demon wore.

Ten minutes of watching the two chitchat, and Zeke stood up from the bar, disappearing from the cameras view.

Calix’s phone rattled against the desk beside him, and he leaned forward to see Zeke’s number popped up on the screen, before he answered it on the second ring.

“What’s up?”

“Demon at the bar. You see him?” Zeke spoke low into the phone.

“Yeah. ‘The fuck does he want?”

“Asked about a girl. The way he described her, it sounds like yours.”

Calix’s lungs crystalized in his chest, quickly doused by the flames of fury rising up from his gut. “Ava?”

“Sounds like. He didn’t say a name, but sounds pretty spot on for Ava.”

“I’m going to have security detain him. Keep him distracted.” Calix pinched the bridge of his nose. “Zeke, don’t piss him off, okay?”

“I’m easy going, Brother. I’ll tell him some jokes.”

“Nothing insulting. He’s the first tip I’ve had in months.”

Calix didn’t wait for Zeke’s response before he ended the call, and in the next breath, he dialed security. “Mack, I need the team to detain the big guy at the bar.”