“Get your hands off of me!” he cries out with Summer’s voice.
Hearing her, I hesitate. It’s not her though. It’s Adrial trapped in my embrace.
I wrench his wrists behind his back, holding both in one hand. Picking him up, I haul him tighter against me.
He squirms, wiggling Summer’s body, searching for leverage, and I’m forced to grapple him so hard I risk bruising her.
“It’s okay,” I coo, needing the real Summer, the one I know is inside, to be reassured. “This will all be over soon.”
“Yes,” Adrial taunts. “It will.”
My face hardens. He wouldn’t dare kill her—at least not quickly—not when he’s so close to what he wants. He’ll use her body as long as he is able, torturing my name from her mind, assured I won’t kill her either.
He shrieks, twisting against the band of my arm. “Put me down! It’s me! Please! You’re hurting me! It’s Summer!”
I retreat toward the museum, requiring the wards to weaken him, the preparations for his containment. Maybe then I can reach Summer and help her somehow. Adrial stops fighting, stilling as his begging doesn’t affect me.
When I walk out into the street, I hear the shouts of pedestrians. Ignoring them, I stride to the museum. I’ve only been awake for minutes, but minutes are an eternity for Summer to be subjected to Adrial’s torment. I don’t have much time. Every second, our bond weakens, and at any moment, she could break, granting him my name and making me Adrial’s submissive servant until the end of time.
He tears into me anew as I reach the door, writhing as I shove it open. Genevive hisses, running deeper into the shop as I throw Adrial inside. He smacks against the floor as I lock the door, throwing a nearby bookcase in front of it. For what is about to occur, no one should enter. Neither of us will leave.
Pivoting, I face the demon. Adrial is back on his feet with real tears coursing down his face. “Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting me? I thought you loved me?” He wraps his arms around his middle and shakes, trying to appear small. “What did I ever do to you? It’s me, Summer. Summer! I love you!”
“Cut the crap, you fuck.” I hate hearing that wordlovefrom her mouth, spoken by him.
Summer hasn’t confessed her love for me. Not yet. Still, I can sense it. Her adoration seeps into me, but there has been no time for romantic words, to speak of such things. Doing so would only make our futures harder if we could not be together. I understood her silence. It hadn’t bothered me, except now, listening to him speaking as her, mocking her, I crave her declaration.
“I love you!” Adrial crones again.
Snarling, I charge him, ramming my shoulder into his stomach.
He topples to the floor, laughing hysterically, as I grapple him again. Turning him over, I bind his wrists in my hands.
“You won’t hurt me.” He chuckles as I twist him back into my arms. “Summer is still here. So fragile, this female of yours. Any pain you cause me, she feels.” He continues to laugh. “We’re one now, she and I. And I’ll keep her,own her, in a way you never will! She will fester, trapped in darkness, convinced there is no end.”
Snagging hair, I force his face up. “You will release her—”
He wiggles seductively and grins. “Or you’ll what? Kill me?”
I cover his face with my hand, using my light to fry him.
He laughs louder, the sound echoing, as his menace pours from Summer’s mouth, a sinister rush made of the void, throwing me back. I crash into the wall, still gripping hair. Adrial lands in a tangle on top of me, twisting over, ripping Summer’s hair to straddle my hips.
The demon spills like smoke, spreading across the room. I curl my wings, shielding my face from breathing it in.
He sucks in a hissing breath, swigging the void down his throat. “You think it would be that easy? You’ve already lost. I’m stronger than you. I’ve always been stronger than you!” He writhes over my groin, running his hands down my chest. “If you’re good, if you beg, I’ll let you desecrate her one last time.”
I grip his hips, stopping his incessant dry humping. Summer’s body is heated, her nipples peaked, pressing against her tattered, burnt sweater. She’s wet with arousal, and I grit my teeth as it floods my nose, provoking memories from our nights together. I shove Adrial away, hating that I’m stirred, except he clenches his thighs, tightening his hold on me.
“What? You don’t want to have a last bit of fun? Don’t want to feel her once more? It could be so…delicious. She wants you, your little Summer. She’s begging for you to save her. She’s so wet.” Adrial grinds her sex into me hard. “Can’t you feel it? She hasn’t surrendered your name to me yet, but perhaps giving her your dick will do the deed. So, so wet, I can taste it in the air, drown in her desire.” He flicks his tongue, snapping it in and out of his lips. “So delectable when forced.”
Infuriated, I thrust Adrial down my legs. “You piece of demon shit.”
“Shit?” He licks his lips. “I could make Summer shit if that is what you prefer.”
Surging back on top of him, I wrap my hands around his neck. “Shut up.”
He rolls his hips, ramming them into mine, grinning. “Make me. Please, oh, please, hurt me.”
