Sacrifice (Revelations Book 1) by Mia Bishop

to get used to it sooner or later.
    “For you, yes. For one of the Hands of God, no. Holy warriors or anyone who has a holy weapon doesn’t have to decapitate and burn the body, but for us humans,” He paused and added, “and you vampires, it’s necessary otherwise we run the risk of them coming back to life. Demons are resilient little bastards, but holy light or holy weapons, can do the job in one shot.”
    She took in the information. Nico had been out there for a decade cutting off the heads of every demon he killed. It seemed like such a daunting task for someone who appeared to not care about anyone or anything. “Can I ask you something?”
    “I’ll probably regret it, but go ahead.”
    “Why do you do this and why are you bothering with me? You don’t even like Arveda, so I don’t understand why you would do this favor for her.”
    “That’s more than one question.” He laid his hand on a small handgun. “Try this one first, it’s a standard .45, aim for the big green bottle. Make sure the safety is off, here” he pointed at the back of the grip to a silver lever, switching it off and on to show her what to do before handing the gun to her, “Aim and squeeze the trigger.” She nodded and held the weapon, taking several deep breaths before she squeezed. The bullet struck the bottle dead center and shattered it on impact. “Good job, nicely done. How did you like the feel of it?”
    Placing it carefully back in its spot on the table she shook her head. “It didn’t feel right. I guess it wasn’t comfortable.”
    He seemed to understand what she was saying and moved to a bow and quiver. Before he picked it up he paused. “I do this because it’s the right thing to do. These people were kind enough to take me in when I was lost in the desert. They don’t deserve to have their children and loved ones dragged off and turned into a demon’s dinner. What kind of man would I be if I sat here and watched something bad happen to innocent people and I didn’t do anything to help?”
    He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, after looking it over he held up a fade hand-written quote for her to see. She whispered the words on the paper, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” She picked up the bow and notched an arrow. Now it made sense why he did what he did. Day in and day out. He was a good man even with his rough exterior and abrasive attitude. Deep down he was just a man, trying to do something good in a world full of evil.
    He cleared his throat, “Do you need help?”
    Abby gave him a sideways glance, “I think I’ve got it.” She drew back and released the arrow in what felt like a familiar action but with no memory attached to it she could only guess that at one point she might have done this before. Familiar or not it didn’t feel right. Like the gun, it didn’t feel comfortable. If she were going to use a weapon she needed it to feel like part of herself. Shaking her head, she placed the bow down and heaved a sigh. “What’s next?”
    Nico started to reach for the crossbow sitting on the table but his hand hovered for a moment before he reached for something on his belt instead. “Try these.”
    He held out two small blades. Abby took one and held it up to examine it. It didn’t look like any knife she’d seen before, no big bulky handle. It was a simple but slightly heavy blade, the handle was part of the knife with no extra grip to it. Abby ran her thumb over the blade. “It’s dull.”
    “It’s a throwing knife, the blade doesn’t need to be sharp, it’s the tip that does the damage.”
    She held the knife in the palm of her hand then switched hands trying to gauge how hard to throw it. She took a deep breath and gripped the knife at the hilt and drew back. Nico’s hand caught her waist, “Not like that.”
    A shiver rushed through her body as Nico stepped behind her. She could feel his heart pound against