Page 163 of Nightshade

At the sound of the familiar voice, I turned to find Virgil standing in the hallway. It was only during a pause in time when a fallen angel could separate himself from a human host. Not all fallen angels were capable of manipulating time and space. Only the higher ranking, and only for a short time, as it ate up much of their energy.

“Release him,” I gritted past clenched teeth. He’d clearly manipulated the old man into harming his daughter, as Augustus wouldn’t lay so much as a finger on her, otherwise.

The moment the surroundings set back into motion, Virgil slipped back into Augustus, and the water splashed as Farryn fought against her father, kicking and flailing her limbs.

“You are the spawn of Lucifer himself!” he screamed in a crazed voice.

I rushed forward after him and threw him off her, sending his body flying backward into the hallway wall. A hole marked the impact of his hit, and still possessed by Virgil, he scrambled to his feet and charged at me.

Hand to his throat, I dragged him out of the bathroom and down the hallway. The way his body flopped and flailed about was unnatural for a man his age, and though his strength wasn’t quite comparable, he had gained some of Virgil’s power. As he clawed back toward the bathroom, I threw him backward again, this time holding him pinned to the wall. A fiery amber stared back at me from his ordinarily green eyes.

Blade propped at his throat, I ground my teeth. “Enough of this! Let her go!”

A smile stretched the old man’s lips. “You wouldn’t dare kill an innocent, would you, Jericho?” Though spoken in Augustus’s voice, it was Virgil’s threatening words that clawed at my conscience.

“I will return. Leave her alone.”

“Not a chance in hell.” Eyes screwed shut, Augustus tipped his head back, his jaw slack, and he gasped. When he opened his eyes again, they were green.

“Fuck!” I released him, and dashed back down the hallway to the bathroom, only to find Farryn wasn’t there. With lightning speed, I bolted down the stairs and out of the house to the backyard, where Virgil hoofed it across the yard, holding Farryn’s wet, limp body over his shoulder. Not giving him a chance to cross back over, as I was certain he intended to do with her, I barreled forward and slammed into him, knocking her out of his arms.

The sounds of coughing and gasping were drowned by Virgil’s grunts, as I hammered a fist into his face. Punch after punch, I bloodied his lip and nose, and I drew back for another punch.

“Farryn!”

The sound of Augustus’s voice made for a brief distraction, and Virgil’s fist cracked against my jaw, kicking my head to the side as the impact rattled my teeth.

Anger renewed, I drew back my fist, but halted mid-punch.

A shadow slipped over the two of us.

The surroundings darkened, turning the afternoon daylight into the crepuscular shade of twilight.

A quick glance at Virgil showed him looking around, as if just as confused.

Sentinels.

They’d undoubtedly found me.

Dread sank to the pit of my stomach, and I pushed off him and strode toward Farryn, who lay on her back, passed out, her chest still rising and falling with breath. Her father also lay passed out beside her, an induced fainting, seeing as the Sentinels wouldn’t risk being seen by human eyes. Urgency compelled me to swipe her up and take her away.

Now.

They were coming.

“You promised to return. To come work for me. Instead, I find you pining after a teenage human girl. This is creepy, even for you, my friend.”

At the hint of a threat in Virgil’s voice, I turned to find him aiming an arrow at Farryn.

I tracked his every move, ready to jump in front of that arrow.

There was some bit of truth to his words. The deal was, the Fallen would smuggle me into the earthly realm under a cloak of darkness. An essence, specific to the Fallen, which would disguise my nature. A trick, really, and because I happened to be half demon, it was harmless, unlike many who risked succumbing to its effect. So long as I didn’t use my powers, I’d appear as any other lowly demon. And in exchange? I was to provide souls. Pure, human souls to help boost Virgil’s ranking.

“I’ve given you fifteen years,” he prattled on. “You’ve given me nothing. Not a single little soul in exchange for all I’ve done. Do you even realize what’s at stake here? Helping the banished return to this godforsaken place is grounds for Ex Nihilo.”

A shadow moved across the dark sky, drawing my eyes there again.

“Then, I’ll return now. Let her go, and I’ll return with you.” The idea of giving her up sank like blades in my stomach, but I wouldn’t risk any harm to her. Besides, I’d found my way back to the earthly realm once, I was certain I could do it again. Virgil wasn’t the only fallen overlord in dire need of souls.