Whisper to a Scream (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #6.5)(4)

A figure stepped out of the shadows ahead, falling into step with me. I wasn’t surprised to see Serene. We walked in silence until we reached the soot-stained front step of the church. The stink of burnt wood, metal and plastic mingled into an ugly scent that marred the otherwise crisp night air.

“I don’t suppose he found anything here.” Serene pushed the blackened double doors open. One of them fell from its hinges, collapsing at our feet. A puff of dust and soot rose up in a suffocating cloud.

“I doubt there was anything to be found.” I crossed the threshold, pausing to survey the destruction.

Most of the stained glass windows had exploded from the heat of the fire. The pews were lined up in perfect rows though nobody would ever sit in them again. The floor moved slightly as I approached the charred, overturned altar. The interior of the church was beyond repair, though the fire had been put out in time to save the foundation of the structure. We sifted through the rubble, seeking a sacred scroll amongst the debris.

I took in the remnants of lingering residual energy. It was faint but detectable. “Shya murdered a man here. While others watched.”

“Human casualties.” Serene gave a nod of his blond head and let his wings expand in full. They fringed his tall frame in a burst of iridescent white feathers. “A small price to the demon.” Shya was acting recklessly.

The heavy negative energy of a violent and bloody death clung to the air. It was almost tangible.

“He’s a fool. It will end badly.” It would; I knew that undoubtedly.

It would end terribly for all of them if Shya saw this ridiculous farce through to the end. Shya wouldn’t be the first demon to believe it was possible to control humanity by manipulating supernatural forces. However, Shya was particularly dangerous since he was among the few demons who might succeed.

Things were changing. They were always changing, but in this century, things had taken a turn. Humanity was advancing in leaps and bounds. People saw their technological breakthroughs as a success, but they couldn’t see it from the outside. The more they advanced, the more they lost themselves. With the people so distracted, demons were already taking advantage of every temptation. Every day, the humans edged faster toward their downfall.

As life got easier due to the invention of various convenient gadgets, the plight of their souls grew. Detached from one another and even from themselves, humans were coming apart at the seams, though they were none the wiser.

Serene reached to touch the scorched pages of a hymnbook that lay open on a nearby pew. The blackened pages crumbled, staining his fingers with soot. “I don’t like this, Willow. I can feel the power of the underworld shifting.”

“He’ll be expecting us.”

I wasn’t sure what to anticipate from Shya. It had been a long time since we had been brothers. Shya’s fall had been a time of great sadness. He’d embraced the darkness wholeheartedly and never looked back.

“That’s alright,” Serene assured me. “We’re not here for him. We’re looking for the scroll, just as he is.”

I refocused on Shya again, but every few moments, my thoughts strayed to Christine. I replayed our brief time together, wishing I had said something after her date’s rude revelation. It was not my place to judge, nor did I, though I was sure she now assumed otherwise.

Had she been trying to distract me from protecting Alexa or to sell herself to me for a price? Or, was she honestly a lonely woman seeking love?

“Is something wrong?” Serene’s question pulled me from my reverie. “You seem preoccupied. Is everything ok with your charge?”

“Yes,” I breathed a sigh of relief that his question had been one I could answer honestly. “Yes, she’s fine. It’s just this woman I met tonight. She seemed so lonely and in need of comfort. I regret that I was not able to help her.”

Serene clapped me on the back. “Maybe you did, and you just don’t know it.”

“Perhaps.” I nodded, following him out of the church. He was wrong. Of that, I was sure.

Still, I felt I owed Christina an apology, otherwise, I would regret forever my silence. Finding her might be a challenge, but it was far from impossible. That wasn’t the real question though.

Would it be a mistake? I refused to ask myself that question; I’d already made up my mind.

Chapter Two

The night drew to a close. After departing from Serene, I set off back the way I’d come. Surely the charity dance had ended by now, yet I found myself heading back there anyway.

With just a thought I could be anywhere on earth, yet I chose to walk. I liked to be among people in all their forms. Walking alongside them, I liked to just observe their interactions, whether they knew my true nature or not.

I passed by the coffee shop and resisted the urge to go inside for another sweet drink. A lone figure in the corner made me do a double take. She stared at the wall, her back to the window. It wasn’t her oddly out of place, white faux fur coat that caught my eye nor was it the dangerously high heels adorning her feet. It was the flowing long black hair and the silver skirt cascading over her legs. Christina.

With a shaky hand, she swirled the contents of her cup and set it back down. She clutched a cell phone in her other hand, quickly tapping out a message, then shoved it into her purse and reached for a napkin.

Christina was not my charge. It wasn’t my place to step in to her life. Yet, here she was, all but dropped in my path, even as she haunted my thoughts.