Free Cast In Blood: Revelations Series Book 1: by Christine Sutton, Lisa Lane, Jaime Johnesee

lost on anyone.
    What nobody ever said out loud was that free will was something God steadfastly and truly refused to relinquish. If He deemed a soul to be good, He sent angels to protect and guide the soul. Demons were never allowed near it, weren't even given a chance. That didn't sound like free will to Polly and, as she thought about it, she grew angrier. If she found out this issue was coming from the top, she'd take it up with God all by herself, consequences be damned.
    Lucifer deserved to run Hell, and she was brilliant at it. Nobody could manage the true terrors of this world like Lucy.
    No, Polly thought, I'll make sure this asshole doesn't fuck things up for Lucy, and I'll do it before God ever knows there was a problem to begin with.
    Strengthened in her resolve, Polly picked her cell phone back up off the table and continued calling her contacts.

Chapter 15
    L enny stepped back into The Children of Light headquarters cloaked in the visage of Ronnie, the pimple-faced Casanova. She walked down the hall and had a brief taste of what Ronnie's life was like every day. Most of the other kids passing by paid no attention to him at all. There were a few that made a point of running into him or making faces at him, but mostly they just ignored him.
    Lenny had never felt like more of a pariah in her entire life.
    When she was satisfied she was out of sight, she shifted back into her own form. It was like slipping into a pair of comfortable slippers. She felt … right. As she slid through her bedroom door and turned around, she cried out in surprise when she saw Hershel sitting in the chair adjacent to her bed.
    "Oh my … you scared me to death," she said, holding her chest and breathing heavily.
    "Hello, Lenny," he said flatly. "I was just coming to check on you. Where have you been?"
    "I just needed some air," she lied. "I was up on the roof."
    He rose from the chair and stepped closer to her in one long stride. Lenny fought a strong urge to take a step back. She was surprised at herself that she was able to stand her ground.
    "Well, they need your help in the kitchen. I don't think that foul demon will try to get at you again. It seems she learned her lesson." Hershel placed a hand under her ear and pulled her in close to him. "You know that Father loves you and that you are so very special, right?"
    His lips were only centimeters from hers, and she could feel his warm breath tickling her nose.
    "Yes, Father."
    Hershel leaned in and Lenny braced herself. Instead of the kiss she expected, he diverted his path and pressed his lips to her forehead.
    "Go on to the kitchen and help Maggie now," he said, dismissing her with a coolness that matched the electric warmth of ten seconds before.
    She turned around and left without saying a word. She just wanted to get to the kitchen, make sandwiches or stir soup, or do some other menial task that did not require thought of any kind. That desire, along with all of the blood in her face, drained away when she saw the thing that was in the kitchen with Maggie.
    In the middle of a pile of ruined sandwiches, the thing stood towering over the young woman. Its moist skin was a pale aqua color with splotches of brown that gave it the look of a muddled pool of dirty water. Long arms extended outward at the monster's side, ending in three digits tipped with sharp, black claws. It stood on massive, bulging legs and sharp hooves. The atrocity turned its head full of long, black greasy hair and looked at Lenny. She felt as though her mind might slip away as its eye locked with hers—that single, solid black eye she'd seen behind the dumpster before the poor kid in the green Converse had been brutally killed.
    A long, low hiss escaped the nightmare's mouth, and Lenny thought about bolting out of the room and screaming like a loon as she took off down the street and never stopped running.
    Then she saw Maggie.
    The girl was sitting in a heap against the stainless steel counter. There was a