Page 161 of Nightshade

“Evil must never be granted mercy. For it grows like a vine that will one day strangle the righteous. The souls of nonbelievers are destined to perish in the fire!”

It was Jericho who laughed that time, a cruel and wicked laugh. “You still believe that you are the chosen.”

“We are the only warriors of the Holy Father. The only true avenging angels.”

“Then, an angel you shall become.” Jericho reached down, grabbing the neck of the bishop’s robe, and dragged him across the courtyard, through the flames and remains of charred bodies, out beyond the walls of the monastery.

* * *

Jericho lifted the makeshift cross, to which he had nailed the bishop. The flesh of his back had been torn open, his skin pinned into the wood at either side of him, spread out to look like angel wings.

Morning had arrived, but only the charred remains of a city that once thrived stood as a grisly backdrop. Flocks of ravens fed on burned carcasses, cawing and fighting over what little meat remained.

The bishop, whose pallor bore the telling sign of shock, stared down at Jericho, his life growing weaker by the moment. Through panting breaths, he whispered, “Absolution.”

Unmoved by the word, Jericho tipped his head. “For you, there is nothing.”

Black, shadowy figures circled above, and a raven perched itself on the bishop’s outstretched arm, which had been secured to the cross by the metal crucifixes Jericho had gathered from the soldiers’ burned carcasses. At the bird’s caw, more ravens flocked around the dying old man. They prodded his flesh with their beaks, sending an agonizing sound past his lips.

As they feasted on his wounds, like that of carrion, Jericho watched the shadows of darkness settle in overhead.

Not long now.

The Sentinels would come for him, just as his mother had told him.

He hurried back to the woods, his body covered in the bishop’s blood and gore, and he found Lustina still lying by the edge of the forest where he’d left her the night before. Not a single bird, or animal, had disturbed her.

With tears in his eyes, he fell to his knees beside her, and curled himself into her body, pulling her into his warmth. “I do not have much time, but what time is left, I long to spend with you. To remember your face, so that I might find you again.” Stroking a hand down her face, which had turned colder in the night, he pressed one final kiss to her lips. “Do not forget me, Lustina. Do not forget my love for you.”

50

Jericho

With her body limp in my arms, I carried Farryn up the staircase to her room and laid her down on the bed. On the ride back to the cathedral, after her failed attempts to seduce me in a drug-induced stupor, she finally passed out on my lap. Given what little I knew about the drug she’d taken, I decided to stay for a moment, to observe a few breaths. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the task of watching her sleep. Eyes fluttering in dreams, she looked peaceful. Calm. I pushed a strand of hair from her face, and something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.

A marking on her arm.

Tipping my head, I noted the familiar shape. The lines and intersections that made up the Pentacrux symbol. Its edges held the irregular shape of a birthmark, and I ran my finger over the surface. When the silver symbols trailed after my touch, I frowned and glanced back at her.

A sigil cloaked within the marking on her skin.

I brushed my finger over it again, and the sigil reappeared, gleaming against the light of the room.

“Amreloc aehter’nu.” Eternal love, in Pri’scucian

“Unbidden and unbound.

“Once lost and twice found.”

As I spoke the words aloud, the sigil gave off a soft glow of light, its intricate symbols sparkling with electricity, and a flash of memory struck me out of nowhere, so vivid and powerful, I reached out a hand, certain that I could touch it.

A girl with raven hair running through the woods. The smile on her face brightening her eyes. Laughter echoing all around me as I chase after her. Soft fingertips across my face while she lies beneath me.

More memories slipped through my mind, a tidal wave of memories, crashing through me all at once.

Watching her through a window as she sleeps. Hand in hand, stealing away into the woods at night. The look of ecstasy claiming her face.

They arrived in rapid succession, and I fought to keep my attention on each one.