Page 25 of Satan's Priest

That might have explained why I felt like shit—other than coming back from the dead.

I climbed onto the mattress, not caring that I was still soaking wet. I would take my medicine after I got some rest. I could barely keep my eyes open.

My stomach knotted again. I squeezed my eyes shut, lay on my side, and curled into a fetal position. Now that I was home, maybe things would return to what they used to be. I could forget about being murdered. I could also forget about eating Layla like she was a twelve-course meal.

“Grace.”

I shivered, whimpering and burying my face into my pillow.

“Ride his dick,”the same scratchy, feminine voice whispered.

I shook my head and covered my ears, blocking out all the sounds.

12

LUCIEN

My footsteps echoed in the unholy church as I headed toward the offering slabs on the dais. It smelled like death in there, which let me know there was still a body. I went up the three steps and approached the corpse. Flies buzzed around her head, and her skin had turned ashen and blue. Dark blood pooled beneath her, the color almost bordering on black.

The expression of terror was still frozen on her face.

I turned to look at the slab next to her, where Grace had been. It was empty.

So, she really came back.

I frowned as I noticed the broken cuffs that had held Grace’s wrists and ankles. Someone with incredible strength would have done that kind of damage. Some human girl couldn’t accomplish that.

Turning back to the corpse, I pursed my lips as I looked her over. My eyebrow quirked as I noted her arm had been reduced to bones with a bit of muscle still clinging to it. I inspected it closer, tilting my head to the side, and saw gouges in her bones, like someone had chipped away at them.

Straightening, I glanced at the dead girl’s chest, noting the hole in the middle of her sternum. I took one step back and looked at the ground. Her heart was off to the side, chunks missing from the organ. Somebody ate her and left before they could finish.

Very interesting.

I wondered if it was Grace’s doing. If she managed to come back to life, then she certainly wasn’t human anymore. Lucifer disclosed very little, aside from his suspicion that she’d returned to the mortal realm.

The chapel doors opened, and footsteps echoed as the man I needed approached me. If anyone could find a missing person, it would be Daiman.

“Find the girl and come back to me with information about her,” I ordered. I didn’t look away from the heart on the ground, my hands in my slack’s pockets.

“Right away,” he said.

He left, the doors opening and closing behind him with a loud thud.

Where, oh, where are you, little sinner?

13

GRACE

Mom blubbered as she snatched me into her arms, my face smashing into her shoulder. I winced as she held me close to her, practically smothering me, and her loud sobs made it impossible for me to understand what she was saying.

Dad stood to the side, scowling at me while leaning his hip against the kitchen counter. He frowned as our gazes met, and his eyes narrowed in anger. He’d always been harsh with me, but I was unsure what I had done to make him angry this time.

Mom was frightened and distressed, whereas Dad appeared as though he was prepared to take me over his knee and spank me like I was a disobedient child. It wouldn’t be the first time he punished me that way. Even as a teenager, he raised my skirt, swatted my bottom like I was five years old, and took the Lord’s name in vain.

“Where have you been? We thought something happened to you!” Mom sobbed into my hair, stroking the back of it like I was a kitten she couldn’t resist petting.

I broke Dad’s stare, squeezing my eyes shut, and bit my tongue to prevent myself from spilling everything to them. If they knew, they’d call the priest from their church and demand an immediate exorcism.