Revenant (Lords of Deliverance 6)

“Damn,” she breathed. How much longer did she have before she was going to be exposed for what she really was?

She took a deep, bracing breath to keep panic at bay. The door swung open with a squeak, and holy shit, the place was trashed. She’d expected a scene from a battle, and sure enough, furniture was turned over and broken, dishes were shattered, and blood spatter and smears left ugly stains on the once-pristine white walls and bamboo floors.

But what she hadn’t expected was the ransacking. Books had been knocked off shelves, drawers had been emptied, and papers were scattered all over the place. Someone had been looking for something, but what?

Letting go of the invisibility enchantment since it wasn’t working anyway, she grabbed a butcher knife off the kitchen counter and tested the blade. The stupid knife was dull and chipped, as if Deva had been using it to chop wood. How handy it would be right now to have the vyrm ability to summon powerful weapons instead of relying on what amounted to a large butter knife for defense.

Dull-ass weapon in hand, she tiptoed to the bedroom, checking all of the closets to make sure she was alone – not that the angels who did this couldn’t flash inside again at any moment.

As she moved to the bathroom, a crash rang out. Heart pounding, she whirled, blade poised to strike. Across the room, the blinds crashed again, blown through the open ocean-facing window.

“Damn,” she muttered. She was going to have a heart attack before she got out of here.

Feeling a little foolish, she went to the den and sat down in front of the glowing computer screen on the desk. When her mother wasn’t out partying and causing trouble, she was on the computer, which meant that somewhere on the hard drive there had to be information about the False Angel she planned to trap.

A hasty scan of the computer’s history showed that on the day of the attack, her mother had been reading articles at theCHIVE and downloading some disturbing fetish and vampire porn that would never allow her to look her mother in the eye again. She’d also been instant messaging someone named SexySweetXOXO. A lover, maybe? Did she have a partner in crime?

She opened up the app, and right away, a message popped up.

SexySweetXOXO: Hello, darling. You left our chat so abruptly yesterday. Is everything okay?

Blas had no idea how to respond to that, and seriously, couldn’t her mother have chosen any name but HornyAsHell69? Ew. Just… ew. And why in the hell was her avatar a good-looking black dude? Was she pretending to be a male?

She thought about ignoring SexySweetXOXO, but according to the time on the last conversation, chatting with SexySweetXOXO had been one of the last things her mother did before she was attacked.

Okay, so she’d play along for a few minutes, even though SexySweetXOXO’s avatar was a butt with an angel tattoo on the right cheek.

HornyAsHell69: Sorry I had to go so suddenly. I had an unexpected visitor, but I’m fine.

SexySweetXOXO: Are we still on for a good time?

Well, crap. Unsure how to respond, she settled for playing dumb.

HornyAsHell69: Remind me what you consider a good time. I know what MY idea is.

SexySweetXOXO: I’m going to show you what Heaven tastes like, my sweet boy.

Boy? Okay, so her mother was masquerading as a male. Interesting. And weird.

SexySweetXOXO: Did you still want to meet?

Meet? What in the name of everything unholy was Deva getting herself into?

HornyAsHell69: Let me get back to you. Something may have come up.

SexySweetXOXO: Aw. :-( Let me show you a little something that might encourage you to cancel whatever it is.

A picture popped up in the IM screen of a naked blond female sitting on a bed. She was holding her breasts provocatively, her legs spread wide, her ivory stilettos digging into the mattress.

Massive gossamer wings spread out from behind her, which could have been faked… except that they weren’t. Not if her sparkly, translucent pubic hair was real.

SexySweetXOXO was a False Angel. The chosen sacrifice.

Feeling sick, Blaspheme leaned back in her mother’s leather desk chair. This was how Deva had planned to trap the False Angel. By pretending to be a human male, Deva was luring this female to her house, where, no doubt, a trap visible only to Deva’s eyes was waiting to snap closed.

SexySweetXOXO: I’m ready for you. I have your addy, and I’ll be at your place at nine o’clock to make every one of your angel fantasies come true.

Another picture popped up, this time with her bent over – still naked, of course – her perky, round ass sticking up as she spread herself with her fingers. Her wings fanned out over the bed, where dozens of assorted sex toys lay strewn about.

Aaand… that was about enough of that.

HornyAsHell69: You’re gorgeous, babe. But I changed my mind. I’m not into angels anymore.

SexySweetXOXO: I can be anything you want me to be.

Blas sighed. Thanks, Mother, for choosing a False Angel who is clearly desperate and ready to screw complete strangers. Granted, that description fit most False Angels, but criminy, Blaspheme did not want to be absorbing that kind of personality.

Blas figured she should be grateful that her mother hadn’t chosen to sacrifice a soul-eating fugwart or a Sensor demon, which lived to destroy half-breeds like herself. She couldn’t imagine a life in which she had to kill demons who had the misfortune of being born to the wrong parents the way she had.

Okay, time to make this False Angel go away for good. Blas didn’t trust her mother not to attempt to reestablish the relationship and snatch the female no matter what Blaspheme’s wishes were.