by Cole, Tillie
Maria smiled at the children as they passed by her. But Gabriel could clearly see the devastation on her face too. She looked up at him when a final group entered the home. The hairs on the back of Gabriel’s neck stood on end. Because it was like looking into a mirror reflecting him and his brothers in the past. This group of boys appeared different from the other orphans. No nerves or anxiousness in their demeanors, no fear. But something else hovered around them—death. Not a sense that they had experienced it, but that they wanted to bring it.
Just like Michael had been all those years ago in Holy Innocents. How Bara, Uriel, Raphael, and Sela had been when Gabriel had sinned enough to get himself a ticket to Purgatory and met them.
Those boys were guided to another part of the home. As they passed Gabriel—who had dressed in civilian clothes that day, rather than the priest’s uniform that may have caused the children discomfort—they each stared at him, arrogance and threat in their gazes … but Gabriel read what that cockiness disguised.
They were broken.
They were lost.
They needed help.
The final boy to walk through was the boy Noa had rescued from the Brethren plinth. The one who wore a collar just like Diel. His head twitched, the same as Gabriel’s brother’s had. But he kept his gaze to the ground, bypassing Gabriel and Maria without ever looking up. Katie, the den mother, gave Gabriel and Maria a nod and followed the boys upstairs to settle them in.
When the foyer had cleared, Maria moved beside Gabriel. She shook her head. “They seem so lost.” Gabriel nodded. He had just thought the same. Then Maria put her hand on his arm. “It’s a good thing you have done here. Giving them this sanctuary. To rebuild, to heal.”
Sadness caved in his stomach. “It’s not enough,” Gabriel said. He gestured around the new orphanage, where the boys would be safe and protected. They would be free to be themselves, no matter what desires ran in their veins. No matter what Brethren cruelty had turned them into.
Gabriel ran his hand down his face, and his soul shattered for all of the children still in Brethren clutches. For Cara and Destiny and the many Shunned that were listed in the ledger. And for all the other sub-groups they had yet to discover.
Because there would be others. Gabriel was no longer naïve to that fact.
“It’s a start,” Maria said, firmly. “We will both find and help others—that is our calling. We both believe this to be true—”
“That’s just what I was thinking.”
Gabriel and Maria turned to find Dinah leaning against the doorway, looking around the recently refurbished space. Gabriel caught the shine in her eyes, the air of disbelief that radiated from her as she drank in the high-spec finishes and all the room the boys would have to enjoy.
Freedom. Finally.
“Dinah,” Maria said. “What do you think?”
“Exceptional,” Dinah replied through a tight throat. She pushed off the doorway and approached Gabriel and Maria. She stopped right in front of Gabriel. “You did it,” she said. “Everything you said you would, you did.”
“Of course,” Gabriel said, understanding why Dinah seemed so surprised.
“No one outside of my sisterhood has ever stayed true to their word before.” Dinah looked behind her to the kitchen. The cook they had hired had begun cooking that evening’s meal for the children.
“Come this way.” Gabriel led Dinah into a private living area off the main room. Dinah followed, shutting the door behind them. Gabriel moved before the unlit fire, Maria taking her place beside him.
Dinah assessed the room, then looked at Maria and Gabriel. “We’re stronger together. Don’t you think?” She ran her hand over the dresser that sat against the wall.
A flare of relief fired through Gabriel. He didn’t know what the Coven wanted to do in regard to staying at the manor. In regard to fighting alongside the Fallen. Long-term plans had never been decided upon.
“I do,” Gabriel said, feeling some part of God’s bigger plan for him slotting into place.
“Definitely stronger,” Maria echoed.
Dinah walked closer. “There are more children to be rescued, to be saved.”
“There are,” Gabriel agreed.
“And you will need my Coven’s help in retrieving the Shunned, in taking the Brethren down from the outside.” Dinah smirked. “Especially since we apparently have a sister covertly on the inside.”
Gabriel nodded. Priscilla. The sister who was just like his brothers. “That’s true.”
Dinah huffed a laugh. “And now that Noa and Diel are soldered to one another’s sides, it seems there’s no separating the two of them.”
“I know that feeling,” Maria said. A blush coated her cheeks.
Dinah smirked at Maria’s reaction, then said to Gabriel, “So it appears that our two worlds have permanently collided.” Gabriel nodded, knowing where this conversation was headed and instantly feeling lighter inside. Dinah took a deep breath. “It also seems like you guys need a third musketeer in your leadership group.” Dinah shrugged, but there was a playfulness to her tone. “Someone who knows what it’s like to be under Brethren control. Someone who can fight and plan and scheme.” She folded her arms over her chest. “Someone who is used to planning missions to retrieve the children stealthily and successfully.”
“That does sound exactly like what we need,” Gabriel said.
Dinah held out her hand. “Then what do you say? Shall we continue this Coven and Fallen alliance?”
Smiling, Gabriel placed his hand in Dinah’s, and they cemented the deal with a handshake. Next, Dinah shook Maria’s hand. When they broke away, Dinah seemed brighter.
“You are welcome to stay in the old housekeeper’s home,” Gabriel said. “Or there are plenty of rooms in the main house.” Gabriel thought of the two factions sharing an evening meal each night, thought of them training each day. Although their handshake had secured the alliance, he, Dinah and Maria already knew that, somewhere along the line, they had already become family found. The rest was just semantics.
“I’ll put it to my sisters,” Dinah said. “And I’ll leave a voicemail for Priscilla, so she knows that even though she’s on her own path right now, there’s a ready-made fucked-up family and safe home waiting for her whenever she’s ready to return.” Gabriel nodded in agreement, not for the first time wondering about this Priscilla, the sister who had both saved them at the meeting house and helped them when they retrieved Noa.
As Dinah went to leave, Gabriel said, “We’ll see you and our new sisters at dinner soon then, yes?”
Dinah winked, and waved as she left. “That you will, Goldilocks.”
Gabriel looked around the orphanage once more, a small victory in the hellish war that was bringing down the Brethren.
“See?” Maria said, linking her hand through his arm. “God is slowly pushing us onto the right path. You’ll see.”
Gabriel closed his eyes at those reassuring words and sent a silent prayer to God for resilience, and for strength for the new task before them—rescuing Cara and Destiny and giving two of his brothers their loved ones back.
Then he opened his eyes and guided Maria from the orphanage and back to the manor, back to his brothers and sisters …
Back to his family.
Chapter 32
Auguste stared out of the window at the lake, a glass of scotch in his hand. The anger that had been all-consuming for weeks still coated his skin like a suffocating blanket. He brought up the heretical witches’ faces in his head and dreamed of what he would do to them when he found them again. Because he would. And this time he would make sure he wiped them all off the face of the planet. Them and the fucking Fallen, who the witches had banded with. Heathens, heretics and sinners, all in one fucked-up herd.
Then there was Selaphiel. Auguste felt his blood heat with the excitement of that prospective kill. Selaphiel, the blight on Auguste’s bloodline. The killer who shared his features.
Auguste
would kill him the slowest. Over days and days, he would drain Selaphiel of the blood type they shared, he would peel him of his skin, and he would watch him die staring into identical eyes.
Auguste’s heart raced at the thought of that much-coveted fratricide.
Reaching for the bell he kept beside him, Auguste rang it twice and watched as the Shunned women he’d requested scurried through. He loved this place. This heavenly secluded place filled with sinful women of disrepute. Women he cleansed with his seed and drew the sin from their bodies with his hard-handed ways.
A smile etched onto his lips as the two Shunned women entered, red lace dresses covering them from the neck down and red lace veils hiding their faces.
“Your Excellency,” they said in unison, bowing low.
Auguste stared at them and took a sip of his scotch. Triumph sailed through his veins. Because even though the Fallen and his devilish younger brother may still be out in the world, thinking their merry band of killers could take on the might of the Brethren, in the end, Auguste had what Selaphiel truly wanted right here before him. His eyes slipped to the petite Shunned woman in front of him. And Jegudiel had no idea his little sister was here too, about to service Auguste’s hard cock.
“Remove your veils,” he commanded. The Shunned women tensed. It was not normal that their coverings be removed; every punishment was given with their veils firmly in place. But Auguste wanted to see their faces. He wanted to look at them and know that his brother and Jegudiel would never get these whores back.
The women hesitated. Auguste retrieved the long cane that was beside him. In a flash, he lashed it out, cracking the hard wood over the backs of their legs.
The women’s knees hit the floor in an instant, but they knew not to make any sound of distress or they would be only punished harder. Auguste almost wished they would scream. He could use a few hours with them in the punishment cell. But they kept their mouths shut and heads bowed.
Auguste finished his scotch. “I said take off your veils.”
Quickly, they both removed their veils to reveal their shaven heads. Auguste curled his lip at the born sinners before him. He could sense the evil in their souls.
“Cara,” he said. The petite woman stiffened and breathed deeply. They were never called by their names. They had forsaken them when they were brought to this place to be saved by his brothers. “Look at me,” Auguste said. Jegudiel’s little sister lifted her head. The birthmark covering half her face had faded some over the years, but it was still there, along with her pale blind eye. Cara’s face was ashen from lack of sunlight. She kept her eyes lowered, staving off Auguste’s punishment if she dared meet his gaze.
“Destiny,” he said. “Look up.” Destiny was the Shunned woman he had schooled most frequently over the years. She had many ungodly failings about her, the biggest being that she had loved Selaphiel like nothing Auguste had ever seen. It made sense. The evil in her veins matched his.
Auguste pushed aside his robe and freed his cock from his underwear. It was hard and throbbing, and he let the knowledge that he had these women here clear any anger from his veins.
“Serve me,” he said, and the two women crawled on their hands and knees to where he sat. On their knees where they belonged. And when their mouths licked his slit and length and balls, Auguste closed his eyes and thought of his brother mourning the heathen who was sucking on his flesh right then …
He hissed in pleasure as Jegudiel’s sister engulfed his length, almost making him come, so trained was she to deliver ecstasy to the Brethren brotherhood. Auguste fought back the sudden need to release and tipped his head back, envisioning Selaphiel seeing Destiny like this, on her knees for Auguste, just before Selaphiel died … eyes wide in shock and pain at seeing her alive … seeing her with her mouth full of the man Selaphiel hated most.
Patience, Auguste reminded himself as he felt his orgasm building, this time surrendering to its power. He just had to be patient.
Epilogue
Diel licked faster and faster along the seam of Noa’s pussy, her thighs clasping around his neck. She moaned out loud, and his cock throbbed with the need to sink into her. She ripped at his hair, tearing a growl from his mouth, which made Noa moan even louder.
Then Diel bit on Noa’s clit, and she broke apart, body shaking and jerking. He moved from between her legs and, in one quick move, sank inside her. He groaned as her pussy squeezed around him, still coming down from her orgasm. Diel clenched his teeth and pounded into her. Noa wrapped her hands in his hair, yanking at the strands.
He loved it when it was like this between them. Fucking monsters wrapped in flames, fighting for dominance. Noa pulled Diel’s head down and crashed his mouth to hers. She thrust her tongue into his mouth, and he drank down her addictive taste.
Noa broke from his mouth, breathless. “Harder,” she demanded, smiling tauntingly. Diel slammed into her so hard and fast that her eyes rolled back as though she were freefalling off a cliff.
It had been over a month, and Noa’s wounds had faded and she no longer felt much pain. They had lasted just over a week before she had pulled Diel above her and he had taken her slowly, quietly. Then only another week before Noa had gathered enough strength to ride him, her movements careful and deep. Tonight, she had found him in the shower and brought him back to bed, wanting it raw and savage and … fuck. Diel’s head ticked as her pussy began to clench around him again.
“I’m coming,” Noa said breathlessly and rolled her hips faster.
He felt the pressure building at his lower back, at the tops of his thighs, and gritted his teeth. Noa raked her fingernails down his back, and Diel focused on the new tattoo that was now over the Coven brand on her chest, courtesy of Sela. The Brethren’s upturned cross was now a Fallen sword with wings, wrapped in the pentagram that the fucked-up priests had tried to make Noa and her sisters ashamed of for too long. Now they embraced it. It was the symbol of what they had survived, of who they were.
Now, Noa was in the Coven, but a part of the Fallen too.
Bending down, her come flooding his cock, he licked her new tattoo, and she shattered apart, taking Diel over the edge too. He threw back his head as her legs clamped around his back. He came so hard that he was left breathless and damp with sweat.
Noa ran her hands through his hair, then brought him down to her mouth, her brown eyes beaming. She smiled against Diel’s lips as he kissed her. “I’ve missed that,” she said. Diel pulled his head back to look at her. Her face was flushed, and she fucking stole his heart.
Diel rolled to the side, taking Noa with him. She sprawled across his chest and stared out of the window at the dark sky. “It’s a full moon,” she murmured. His heart fired into a sprint.
Noa lifted herself up. “What’s this meeting with Gabriel about?”
Diel shook his head. “Don’t know.” His head ticked from side to side and he blinked rapidly as the lie fell from his lips.
Her eyes narrowed. “Is it to do with Cara and Destiny? It’s nearly midnight. Something must have happened.”
Diel’s stomach turned at the mention of his sister. Jo and Candace were working night and day to break the code. They believed it was potentially coordinates of where they were being held. But in reality, it could be something else. So, they were going back to the Coven’s roots of searching priests’ homes, researching Brethren benefactors, and searching for more Brethren books, just to get some kind of lead on them, on wherever they might be.
Noa placed her hand on Diel’s cheek and turned him to look at her, all her questions about Gabriel’s meeting apparently forgotten. “We’ll get her. I swear it. Even if we have to turn this world on its head to do so.”
Diel took a deep breath and kissed her. “I know,” he rasped. Then he rolled off the bed, holding out his hand. “We need to shower.” She hesitated, clearly wanting to ask something else, but she eventually took his hand and followed him into the shower.
She was silent as he washed her,
head tilted back as he finger-combed her long pink hair. Noa had told him her original color was dark blond. But she preferred the pink—it symbolized the change from being an innocent child to the woman she was now.
When they had dried off and put on some clothes, Diel led Noa down the stairs. Noa went to head to the Nave, but he shook his head. “This way.” Noa’s hand tightened in his. She was confused, but Diel led her to the back of the manor and out to the grounds.
They crossed the lawn to the cluster of trees. “Diel, what—” Noa’s question was cut off at the first sign of the fire in the center of a clearing. She stopped dead as her eyes fell on her sisters all dressed in white. Dinah was the one to approach. Noa’s hand shook in Diel’s. He studied her face. Her cheeks were pale and her brown eyes were wide.
Dinah held out a white dress for Noa. “For you.”
Noa numbly took the dress with her free hand. Dinah walked back to the rest of their sisters. Noa stared down at the white material, then lifted her gaze to Diel. “Diel, what … ?”
Diel pulled her to him and placed a hand on her cheek. “This is who you are.” He could feel Noa’s heart racing against his chest. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. Diel pressed his forehead to hers. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. “You freed me, gave me back my past,” he said, voice hoarse with emotion. “You sacrificed yourself to find my sister.” He swallowed at the warm expression on her face. “You fucking gave me you.” Diel kissed Noa’s trembling lips. She clutched the white dress like it was a lifeline. “Let me do this for you. Let me give you something too.”
Noa was quiet for so long, Diel thought she would refuse. Perhaps she was not yet ready to remember her family this way, to embrace who she truly was the way he had done when she’d freed him from the collar. He thought of all she had done for him since he slammed her against the wall in that priest’s home.
