He ignored me.
Hellsing leaned forward until his face was inches from mine.
“You listen to me,” he said. “I know all your tricks, demon. You want me to lose it. You want me to break. You ain’t gettin’ that satisfaction. You let her go, and maybe I will send you back to the pit quickly. You keep this up, and I will drag you out slow and I’ll make sure it hurts.”
Bael turned my head, studying him.
“You are very sure of yourself for a man who cannot keep his own house clean,” he said through my lips. “You carry so many ghosts. Shall we count them?”
Hellsing’s mouth tightened.
Seraphine cut in, voice sharp. “Enough,” she snapped. “You do not speak through her.”
She tossed more herbs. She traced a burning sigil in the air with oil that flared when it hit the candle flame. She pressed her hand flat against my forehead.
Heat seared my skin.
For one second, I felt myself slam forward. My vision cleared and the world suddenly sharpened. Hellsing’s face filled my sight. His hand gripped mine. His thumb rubbed over my knuckles.
“Peter,” I whispered. My own voice. Small. Real. “I’m scared.”
His eyes shone.
“I know, cher,” he said. “Hold on to me. I’m right here.”
Bael snapped the chain tight.
Pain exploded through my skull. Every nerve lit up. My back arched. A scream tore out of my throat. It was mine at first, then it deepened, stretched, became something else.
The candles guttered.
The bowl of water tipped over and spilled across the floor.
Seraphine staggered back, then planted her feet again. Josh lurched forward and Ajax, Bullet and Hoax appeared in the doorway, drawn by the noise, frozen by the sight.
I fell back into the chair. My head dropped forward. My chest rose and fell in harsh breaths that I did not control.
Inside, Bael settled himself, smug and satisfied.
“You are fragile,” he said. “Every push tears you smaller. Every breath costs more. Soon there will be nothing left but me.”
“You’re wrong,” I whispered. “Peter will find a way. Seraphine will find a way. You think you know everything. You know nothing.”
He hummed. ‘I know enough, he said. I know he loves you. I know that love makes him weak. I know every time he touches you, he claims you. That gives me a path. I will use it until he breaks.”
Tears dripped off my chin, yet on the outside, my face was blank.
Seraphine and Hellsing spoke just out of my hearing. Their words blurred. Their shapes moved. My focus slipped in and out. The room darkened at the edges.
Bael leaned in.
He spoke right against the raw center of me.
“Listen very carefully,” he said. “I am going to tell you how this ends, you wretched fiend. I will kill you. Not now. Not quick. When he thinks he has you back, I will take you from him. When he believes he has won, when he lowers his guard, I will cut youout of your own body and leave him with the shell. He does not deserve happiness. His joy offends me. His hope disgusts me.”
My heart tore. “You don’t know him, I said. You don’t know me.”
“I do not need to know,” he laughed again. “I only need to enjoy the sound he makes when I take you away.”
