Page 92 of Judge of Saints and Sinners

But I was done waiting. I was going to save him, and we were getting out of here. The door in front of me looked unapologetically solid, and as I raced towards it, I raised a shoulder and prayed to God and even Nephesh’s dear old dad that I might make it through. Surprise spiraled through me when I arrived at the door, and instead of slamming into it, I seemed to slip right through, my flesh chilling to ice then heating to three hundred degrees all at the same time. As I dragged air back into my lungs, I slowed my feet and realized that I was standing in the middle of the jail area once again…but with one large difference.

Nephesh was dangled from above, his limbs strung wide as he hung unmoving in the thick metal chains. A cry was torn from my lips as I realized he was limp, asleep or passed out or… I swallowed. He couldn’t be dead. I would know if he were, right?

I lurched towards him. “Nephesh! Nephesh, please. I’m here.” I rushed to where he was suspended in the middle of the room. Panic gripped me as I wrapped my arms around his middle and tried to get a grip on the floor enough that I could prop him up. I couldn’t let him hang there a moment longer. Anything so that he wasn't hanging like that, like a puppet with no matter, an eagle trapped in lines.

Nephesh groaned in my ear, his face shifting as he ran his nose into my hair. My muscles shook under the weight of his body as I attempted to lever him up.

“You came back.”

My heart felt like it was being shredded. “Yes, yes, I’m here. I’m so sorry.”

Nephesh’s beautiful smile surprised me. “You saved your family. I’m proud of you.”

I sobbed, his weight heavy in my arms as my feet continued to slip against the cement floor. Frustrated, I looked down then wished with every bit of my heart that I hadn't. I was standing in a thick puddle of blood. His blood.

“Monsters,” I whispered, my words slurred by the onslaught of tears that continued to race down my face. “We will make them pay.”

“Hmmm,” Nephesh groaned, trying to pull away. “You are supposed to be somewhere safe.”

“We are supposed to be somewhere safe. And this is my fault. I’m getting you out of here.”

That statement caught his attention, and his eyes focused on me. “Justine, what are you talking about?” Then, as if in slow motion, he rolled his head back over his shoulder to look at the sliver of bright light spilling into the room.

I whimpered, realizing I hadn’t heard the door open, but sure enough, it was wide open, and at the front of the squad that filled the hallway were my parents.

“They are not your parents,” Nephesh said behind me, his voice soft and gentle. “They may look like your parents, they may even act like your parents, but they are Corrupted. Souls that were taken from the Underworld and placed in those bodies for one purpose and one only.”

My mom moved into the room, a club in one hand, a cell phone in the other. Dad was following behind, weaponless, save his height and bulk, which I imagine would be quite formidable.

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“Look at them,” Nephesh said. “Really look at them. They may be the bodies of your family, Justine, but their souls are not here any longer.”

“No…” I shook my head. It was too much, too far. No one could possibly be that evil. Could they?

“Yes,” Nephesh said. “Close your eyes, little thief. Let me show you.”

I backed into him, my back to his front as a sudden burst of warmth was lit between us. His soul—the dark, devious part of himself that he feared so much—flared between us. “Nephesh…what is this?”

“Let me show you.” I could feel the fear in his words, the ominous warning in his voice.

I blinked down at the dancing flame between us, at the soul longing to be reunited with the half that burned at his center.

Nephesh breathed in, a small bit of that flame rising and flicking across the lower part of his face before lowering again. But I didn't watch what he did next, because as soon as he breathed in that bit of his missing soul, Nephesh leaned in and pressed his forehead flush to mine.

“Look at them,” he said again, but this time his voice echoed in my mind. Slowly I turned, my feet careful on the slick floor. When I spotted my mother, I leaped back, impacting Nephesh as I took in the creature that had once been my mother. When I looked hard, I could see the smooth outline of her form, the familiar one that I had protected. But at her center, it was an ugly writhing mess of black tendrils, curling over and over at the core of that form, as if unhappy to be confined in such a small place.

My stomach rose in my throat, and I almost threw up. But as soon as I blinked again, my vision was normal. My family had never come back. They were safe in the Underworld, where they belonged. These were Corrupted souls, using my parents bodies for their own benefit. Rage lit up my powers like gasoline.

I didn’t owe the Drude anything. He had made me swear allegiance to save people that didn’t exist anymore. Relief tempered the rage I still felt as I stared at the soul who had pretended to be someone I had loved so dearly.

I was free. And I was going to make it worth it.

“Justine, honey, don't listen to him. You know what he is now. Come back.”

“You are not my mother.”

Tension filled the air, broken only by Nephesh’s rasping breath at my back.