Page 83 of Soul Redeemed

Inside was a much larger room, with an open space, where at least three or four dozen Sang, in various stages of the virus, swarmed like insects. Some crawling like maggots. Some hanging from the ceiling.

A face slammed into the window, leaving a sliver of a crack, and Calix frowned. Half its face had a milky-white bat-like appearance, deformed with snaggled teeth and a pure white eyeball. The other half of its face could scarcely be identified as a Saevious demon.

Another slam shot a cloud of dust from the hinges.

“Let’s go!” Logan roared again, clutching Avalon to his chest. “Now!”

They doubled back toward the stairwell door that Logan had blown off earlier, and up the staircase toward the second door.

“What about Thais?” Calix asked, halting his steps.

“I got her.” Xander spun back toward the direction they’d come, jogging down the stairs.

Seconds later, the steel door ahead swung open to reveal Thais ushering them inside “We have to leave! Now! They’re trying to escape!”

“Xander!” Logan’s voice thundered inside the empty stairwell, quickly drowned by a much more intimidating sound.

At the rear of the group, Calix swung his gaze toward the mouth of the stairwell.

The fallen angel stood frozen in the doorway. Brows furrowed. Listening. A human scream interrupted the momentary stillness, and in the next breath, Xander lifted his gaze, before bounding up the stairs toward Calix. “Fuck! Go!”

With Ava passed out in his arms, Calix sprinted up the remaining stairs toward Thais. The thud of multiple oncoming footsteps beat down his spine.

One of the mutations breached the stairwell.

Xander drew his blade and slammed it into the creature’s skull with a twist. A spray of clear fluid glistened across the angel’s hand.

“Ah, what the fuck, man?” Xander swung around to a second mutation clambering up the few stairs toward him.

Two more broke through the entrance behind it.

“C’mon, Xander!” Calix called out, flinching at the sensation of Thais gripping his elbow.

“We have to go. Now.” Her eyes held focus, as if she’d already begun to visualize the demon’s mansion.

Yanking his arm from her grip, he snarled. “Not without Xander.”

More mutations filed into the skinny stairwell, with Xander only a few steps ahead of them.

The angel slammed through the door where the demons waited, and the moment he plowed into them, the stampede of mutations scrambled up the staircase toward them.

A dizzying cold swept over the group, and the agonized cry of the human male echoed in Calix’s ears, until he opened his eyes to his bedroom, where Gavin, Sabelle and Calla shot up from their seats.

Xander had fallen atop of Thais beside them on the floor. Logan broke into movement, the second the baby released a cry, and Calla rushed toward them, brows drawn as she wiped the slime from the baby’s head.

“What the hell happened to her?” The panic in her voice settled when she took the baby into her arms. “Oh, baby. Oh, my sweet Avalon.” Ignoring her own question, she rose to her tiptoes, yanking Logan by his nape for a kiss. “Thank you. Thank you for bringing her back to me.”

Ava shifted in Calix’s arms, groaning with pinched brows that told him she was in pain.

“Is she all right?” Sabelle asked, lifting Ava’s hand to examine the increasingly translucent skin. “What happened to her, Calix?”

“She’s been injected. With Sang virus.” He half-heartedly explained while lying Ava on the bed. “Call Drechler. Now!”

“He’s on his way.” Gavin’s voice arrived from behind, along with a squeeze of Calix’s shoulder. “Wasn’t sure what to expect when you returned. Just thought it better to have him here, in case.”

“I get it now.” Eyelids heavy, Ava lifted her chin to meet his gaze, and the glisten of a tear streaking down her temple churned knots in Calix’s stomach.

“You get what? What is it?” he asked, tamping down the dread that threatened to crush him from the inside.