Page 102 of Gray

“What the hell just happened?” I asked. Zombies, reapers, seeing souls. My mind felt like it was on the verge of collapse, like a mental version of Jenga. There was only so much I could take before the tower fell.

Bellamy glared at the floor. “Total bullshit. That’s what happened.”

“So you know this Holden guy?”

“Yeah. He’s a reaper who hangs out at Krave. I never thought he’d side with Asa. Fuck, this is bad.”

“It’s about to get a lot worse,” Galen said, looking up at the windows. “We have company.”

Glass exploded inward as something large burst through it. Black wings. But it wasn’t one of the Nephilim brothers. The man who landed on the warehouse floor had black hair and bronze skin.

“Ramiel,” Galen said through gritted teeth.

“A fallen angel,” Gray told me, eyes wide.

“I thought we killed you in Transylvania.” Bellamy tightened the grip on his sword. “Pity. Well. No time like the present, I suppose.”

Their bodies collided like a crash of thunder, and they moved so fast they blurred. I couldn’t follow their movements.

A string of throaty growls then echoed in the corridor outside the room we were in. My blood froze.

Ghouls.

They barreled through the doorway, their slender upper bodies bent forward as they ran on all fours. Chills spread down my spine at the scraping of their nails on the floor. More came in from the opposite door. Dozens of them. Some stopped at the dead bodies and started munching on them, the sound of teeth scraping bone making my stomach turn.

Fear had me in its clutches. I couldn’t move.

It was just like that night. We were outnumbered. The dead were being feasted on. And as a few ghouls charged at us, the living became targets too.

“Eyes up, hunter,” Galen called out to me. “Get your head out of your ass and help us kill these bastards.”

“You can do this, Mason,” Gray said, the kindness of his voice reaching me even through the chaos.

I raised my gun and shot one ghoul in the center of the forehead. The ones who’d eaten on the human bodies began to change. Their flesh rippled and their limbs twitched before they took the shape of the dead, hair growing from their bald heads and color bleeding into their skin.

They were a little harder to kill that way. Because they looked human.They’re monsters, I reminded myself. Exhaling, I took aim and shot them, one by one.

Bellamy and the fallen angel were locked into combat, swords sparking. Was Ramiel’s sword forged with celestial steel as well? If so… that meant it could kill Bellamy.

It could kill Gray.

My gaze found him from across the room. He plunged his short sword into a ghoul’s chest and pulled it free right as another reached him. Watching him fight was remarkable. I’d seen him in action when we had gone to the graveyard to hunt, but this was something else entirely. His movements were graceful and his reflexes sharp.

Gone was the adorable, sleepy Gray who liked cuddles and giggled when I tickled him. As he drove his sword into the monsters, he was swift and deadly. And he was so damn beautiful.

“Gray!” Galen suddenly shouted. “Don’t you dare.”

I saw it then, the way Gray’s body slumped a bit. Sloth was taking him over. It had been roughly three hours since he’d napped. He had reached his limit.

A ghoul slammed into him from the side, and my heart jumped up into my throat. He was across the room. Too far for me to reach him in time before the monster tore into him. It couldn’t kill him, but the thought of it hurting him caused a twisting in my chest. My ammo was low. I only had three bullets left.

I only need one.

I locked onto the ghoul and pulled the trigger. Blood splattered from the back of its gray, bald head before it collapsed. Gray wiggled free and stood on unsteady legs, offering me a small, grateful smile. I rushed toward him, pulling my silver machete free and hacking at an advancing ghoul—the backup weapon Alastair had given me from his personal collection.

Gray’s eyes blew wide. “Mason!”

The hit came from behind me.