Holy Device X: Resurrected Read Free Page B

infuriated mind. Regressing and frenzied, her head tilted in feral confusion. Flickering halo-light danced around her head.
    Drip, drip, drip.
    Blood from her self-inflicted wounds trickled down her legs and onto Devon as he smiled all the while. He had not said a word and his burning eyes had not flinched. He did not seem impressed in the least. That only made her fury worse.
    All she knew was the wrath, the need for a bloodletting. She had done this so many times before, in one aspect or another, sent so many foul creatures to the Under Side. But she sensed this demon was special. He seemed almost indifferent to the fact that in mere moments she planned to reintroduce his foul soul to his master.
    Casually he asked, "Are you finished?"
    His eyes crackled brimstone red, electric with hate. He stared into Vivian’s eyes, scraping her soul with his very thoughts. Her head tilted as he gained access to her weakened mind, learning all her secrets, all her desires, and fears.
    "My, my, aren’t we the little whore?" He laughed. "If I didn’t know better, I would think that you were enjoying this, my fucking you."
    She had nothing to say. What could she say? Her dreams of earning passage back to the Everafter melted away as her mind fought to focus. All she knew now was piercing pain that stabbed her mind. Her hair tossed about as she struggled to shake free the stabbing spikes in her head, to block the mental assault. But he was inside now and she could barely move.
    A vicious swing knocked Vivian from his lap, their carnal link broken. Her heavenly white panorama of wings faltered against the darkened backdrop of the wall into which she smashed. Once on his feet, Devon was a blur of bronze skin, his advance unstoppable—an unholy juggernaut. One of her wings tore, now soiled and tattered. Devon gripped the feathered appendage and launched Vivian into the air. The sounds of bones snapping echoed through the room. The words poured from her mouth, laced with a piercing crescendo, "You bastard!"
    "No wings for you, my little harlot," he spat. "You have no clue, do you? You should’ve just let me come and it would’ve been over with a quick snap of your neck."
    Her disguise shattered, shredded before its time and against her will. The failed plan of a rogue Angel of the Authority, an envoy who had fallen from the grace of Heaven's Second Sphere on a self-appointed mission to appease her Lord, to regain his love—to do His work the only way she now knew how. 
    She knew her methods would raise His ire, but she hoped beyond hope the results of her work spoke for itself and He would grant her respite from this lunatic Earth and reentry into His Golden Kingdom. Eradicating these enemies of Heaven and driving them back from where they came was all she knew, in this life and the last. After what seemed an eternity, all she longed for was entrance into Paradise.
    Devon moved closer. In a failed attempt to protect herself, she fought against the burning tendrils in her mind and raked her nails across his bare leg. Tiny rivulets of static charged pain snaked over his skin leaving a bloody mark.
    Demons could bleed. Demons could hurt. Demons could die.
    However, Devon was not the average blasphemy of God’s creation. Hiding amongst mere mortals, Devon Illes was no man. He chuckled as he looked down at the mangled form at his feet. This holy device had made the wrong choice of whom she attempted to kill.
    To his dismay, he had neglected to recognize the signs of the omen, of Vivian. Lust had overwhelmed his mind. He had bided his time until there was no doubt his opportunity to return darkness to the world had arrived—ahead of his schedule. "Why wait?"
    He dropped the moniker, the act; for he was ready to introduce the world to his true self, allow them to witness the meaning of true evil.
    Devon Illes ... how pathetically clever, he thought.
    Yet, he grew fond of this name. Having been known as many things, by many names scarring the