Page 56 of Unholy

He had no idea how much time passed like that. He’d seen many things in his long life, witnessed horrors andwonders alike. He’d thought he was desensitized to the kind of fear that had gripped him when he saw Luke go down. It was a human emotion. How strange that he should feel human again after coming so close to losing the person who’d revived his humanity in the first place.

When a knock sounded on the door, he shouted for them to enter without taking his eyes off Luke’s slack face. Talon strolled in with a small, tied garbage bag. Alex followed on his heels, holding a rolled-up cloth under his arm that appeared to be five sheathed swords bundled together. He closed and locked the door behind them.

“Fingers and rings, as promised,” Talon said, shaking the bag, which jangled slightly.

“Good. Set it on the island. I’ll deliver it later.”

“I can help you deliver it now,” Talon offered. “You know you won’t want to leave when he wakes up. I could have you over there and back in less than five minutes. Alex has told me right where it is. He can stay with Luke for a few minutes while we toss this over their precious wall.”

Malachi shifted uncomfortably. He didn’t want to leave Lukeat all. What if he woke up while Malachi was gone?

“He’ll be okay,” Alex promised. “I’ll watch him and call if there’s any change. But Talon’s right, it’s better to do it now than wait and let him see the… aftermath.” He scrunched his nose at the bag in Talon’s hand. “He’ll be shocked enough when he realizes they tried to kill him. It probably wouldn’t be wise to let him see the severed fingers of men he used to know in your kitchen.”

Malachi sighed. He was right. Luke probably wouldn’t like this part, and having to explain it all andthenleave to deliver the rings back to the guild would be worse than doing it while he was still unconscious. There was no wayhe’d be able to pry himself from Luke’s side after he woke and started asking questions.

Gently, he lifted Luke’s left hand and removed his guild ring. They’d sent a message by coming for Luke, and now it was his turn.

“Sorry, treasure,” he murmured. “It’s better this way. I’ll make it up to you.” He pressed a kiss to Luke’s forehead and stood. “Anychange,” he said to Alex. It almost physically pained him to drag himself away from Luke right now, but he’d do it if it meant dealing with this quickly.

Alex nodded dutifully, taking his phone from his pocket. “Any at all, Talon’s on my speed dial.”

“It’ll take thirty seconds to throw this over their gate,” Talon said impatiently, brandishing the bag.

“Would you want to leave Hawk if he’d just been stabbed?”

Talon’s jaw pulsed, a sinister darkness taking root in his midnight eyes.

“I thought not.” Malachi gestured to the bag. “Open it.”

He dropped Luke’s ring inside it. He hoped the paladins weren’t stupid enough to misunderstand the message they were sending. Five fingers, six rings. Their men were dead, but Luke wasn’t. And Luke was beyond their reach now.

Talon held out his hand, smirking. Right, leviathans had to have physical contact to do their teleporting thing. Malachi slapped his hand into Talon’s, and the world around them shifted. It was like riding a rollercoaster in the dark. There were flashes of color in the darkness, and when it all came to a whirling stop, they were standing on the side of a deserted road. Just outside of Angeles National Forest, the road was nothing but rolling hills, short shrubbery dotted with trees—and a tall brick wall. Invisible blessings andinscriptions protected the brick. Malachi doubted they could even touch it without burning themselves.

“Welcome to the Paladin Guild,” Talon said, gesturing grandly at the wall. “The gate’s this way. I landed us outside camera range.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen the place. Never this close, but I followed Luke here many times,” Malachi said, falling into step with him. “This wall is a little overkill, isn’t it?”

“You’d think, but you know how much they enjoy entertaining their paranoia.”

The wrought-iron gate was impressive. Malachi doubted it would feel very pleasant if he touched it, so he sidled up to it without getting too close. A camera perched at the edge of the wall, above the hinges. He gave it the finger.

Beyond the gate, the long driveway circled in front of a big, brick building. There were several sprawling buildings, in fact, and a white steeple visible further beyond them. Distantly, the clack of wood echoed through the air, interspersed with human conversation and the chatter of children, too far away for him to distinguish actual words.

“It’s like a commune,” Malachi said.

“Mm-hm. The perfect place to bring in abused, naïve children and indoctrinate them into hating whatever they want.” He waved a dismissive hand toward the gate. “Throw it over, let’s get out of here. We both have people waiting for us.”

Right. Malachi inched closer to the gate, mindful of the way the camera turned to follow him. Did it have a motion sensor, or was someone watching him? It was midmorning. He had to assumesomeoneknew they were there. They were two demons hovering right outside the main entrance.Malachi was covered in blood. They must’ve been an alarming sight.

Good. He hoped they were horrified to realize the demons knew exactly where to find them. He also hoped that, once they opened the bag and consulted the footage, they realized he was covered in the blood of the paladins who had tried to kill Luke. He wanted them all to know exactly how and why they’d died. They’d dared to come after what was his, and that was their undoing.

He tossed the bag through the iron bars, looked up at the camera and gestured at it as though to say ‘here you go.’ And then he reached for Talon’s hand, and they were gone.

Chapter 20

Luke

Waking was a Herculean affair.Luke drifted in and out of consciousness for an indeterminate amount of time. Sometimes he heard voices, other times it was quiet. Once, he heard the low hum of a familiar voice singing in his ear, soft hair tickling his face. He knew that voice, wanted desperately to go to it. He tried to reach for it, but his limbs were too heavy, and his voice seemed stuck in his throat.

---