Page 41 of The Wickedness of Man

She reached for me again, her mouth spreading into that hideous, too-wide smile.

“I will cleansssse him—tame him. Here…” She stuck out a long, snake-like tongue, letting it roll around as she spoke. “Let him ressst himsssself here. Let me tassste the powerrrrr… I will take him insssside… ssssswalllow the evillll… Ssssswallow it down…” She stood faster than I could blink, mouth curling intorage. “Give him to me—give him to me! I mussssst have him! Sssshe doesss not desssserve him!”

“Enough, Mercy,” snapped Harry, grabbing hold of her arm and whispering a small prayer or incantation of some kind into her ear that made the woman go still as a stone.

She appeared frozen; her face captured in that same rictus of agony.

“What. Is. Happening,” I panted, having practically pushed myself through the wall to get as far away from her as I could. “And whatthe hellis she?”

Harry stood and pulled a white handkerchief from his belt, wiping the sister’s bloody foam from his knee, where he’d accidentally knelt in it. He tossed the manacles back to me with his free hand.

“Put those on,” he commanded, before turning to Jax. “Bishop, I’ll leave him in your hopefully adequate care. We’ll talk more tomorrow about this… turn of events.”

“As you say, Harry,” said Jax, weariness in his voice. He stood, grabbing hold of his cane. “Gather your things Caleb, and come with me.”

Magda

Iwoke with a start, feeling like my insides were on fire. The room was empty. Sleep and confusion fogged my brain as I tried to remember what had happened. I’d…

I felt like I knew this place, but my brain was hazy.

Why did I feel this… ache…?

It was in that moment I realized I was completely alone… and nude. But then, why did it feel like I’d…?

With a trembling hand, I reached down and slipped a hand between my legs. My fingers came away wet with hot, white fluid, tinged ever so slightly with the pink of my blood. I stared at it, transfixed, as images flooded my mind. Two bodies entwined; my fingers clutching him; my legs hooked around his waist as he filled me—I leaned back against the headboard, a spasm rippling through me. I needed him—I neededthat. I squirmed, desire building within me.

I could scarcely move. Every single time I did, my body sang with a delicious longing that made me want to take him again. Who? Who had been here with me?

A name against my lips. A mouth against mine. His hands holding me on this bed. I bit back the moan that nearly escaped.

“Caleb,” I whispered. “Caleb…”

I looked down at the bed and buried my face in the scent of him, entangled here in these sheets. I rolled over to where he’d fallen asleep beside me, taking in the pure, heady smell of him, and the feeling of his hands on my hips. The room was such a bright purple… I was relentlessly tired, but if I didn’t have more of him soon, I didn’t know how I would survive.

“Caleb,” I whispered. “I need you. Come back…”

Caleb

“Not a word,” said Jax. “Not a single word.”

We got in the elevator, and that was all he’d said. I remained dutifully silent, staring down at the manacles on my wrists. At least Jax seemed more… himself. Once Harry left, he was back to his usual curmudgeon levels.

I expected Jax to bring me to the cells right away, but the old man surprised me by walking toward the wing that branched off down a hall near the reception room. This was the area the organization reserved for visiting dignitaries, which sometimes included demons, rare as it was. He opened the door with a key from the ring he kept on his belt, then beckoned me inside and shut the door behind us. He unlocked my manacles as I studied the bedroom; well adorned, richly furnished… it looked like it would be better suited for a king than a demon or religious dignitary.

Jax knew as well as I did that I wouldn’t be able to leave even if he let me go wandering around the underground area on my own, so there was no need to keep me locked up. I didn’t have a security pass, so none of the exits—even those for emergencies—would open without one. Mine would have been reissued onceI’d gotten back from my mission under normal circumstances, but…

“Caleb, I’m sorry,” he said. “Harry Benedict—damn him.”

“Jax, you gotta let me in on whatever the hell is going on here.”

The bishop scrubbed at the scar on his forehead with an agitated hand. “What I told you before is true. We have been hunting Carmilla de Mornay for ages. We don’tquiteknow how she’s making new demons, though we have our suspicions…” He paused here, staring at me balefully, but then his voice broke unexpectedly as he said, “God, boy, how could you be sostupid?”

Yep, there it is. Should have bet myself twenty bucks he’d say it.

“C’mon, Jax?—”

“No. There is no ‘c’mon’ anything anymore. I can’t protect you from what comes now that you’ve gone and done this.”

---