Not going to answer? No matter. I’ll just have to rip you apart to see if your insides can tell me. I prefer it that way.
His black smoke burned its way across my skin, leaving agony, like my skin was boiling. I screamed as the pain dove deep until it felt like all of me was burning, my insides, my mind, the core of what made me, me.
Elinor lifted her head and glanced at my face.
“Abdiel, you naughty thing. We won’t be able to enjoy her if you burn her essence out.”
The black smoke stroked her face.Don’t worry. I’ll stop before she’s too broken.
My gaze drifted back to Liam and Brax. There was a faint tightening around Liam’s eyes, but his face remained expressionless. I felt hope leap in me. If he could move, we had a chance.
The demon turned its attention back to me. I don’t know how I knew, but some sense told me I was suddenly in his sight once again. It rushed me, latching onto me and trying to force open my mind. I resisted, throwing every piece of my will power behind my shields.
You’re a stubborn thing, aren’t you?
Pain consumed me, eating away at my vision. All, except my left eye and its view of magic. He drew harder on his link to Elinor. Power rushed from each person touched by the threads. One of the men at the window dropped, sucked dry by those same tentacles. The thread detached from the man, slithering back to its master.
The demon redoubled its efforts and another man dropped. The power sucked at me, making it impossible to draw a full breath. It felt like I was drowning and burning alive all at the same time.
The pressure abated leaving me gasping on the floor. In the midst of his attempt to crack me like a walnut, I’d collapsed, not even realizing I’d gone from standing to lying.
I rolled my head to look at Liam. If he was going to make a move, I’d prefer he get to it. I didn’t know if I could survive another attempt to crack my mental fortress.
Sweat dripped down my forehead, sliding into my hair.
Hope died at the blank expression on Liam’s face. Help wasn’t coming from that direction. Not until I got that tentacle attached to him off.
If I wanted a rescue, I’d have to rescue myself.
Her defenses are stronger than I thought. If we had more time, it would be a joy to chip away at them over months. I could make you my next contract,the demon’s voice offered.
Not in this lifetime.
He sighed, taking my silence as the refusal it was.A pity. I think the two of us could have accomplished some truly spectacular things. Alas, my time to fulfill this contract is quickly running out.
The mass was slowly turning into something more closely resembling a form. Not quite human, not quite beast, but something in between. It was still an indistinct shadow at this point, one that I knew I was going to have nightmares about for years.
He still flickered in and out of existence, as if a strobe light pulsed over him. There one moment and gone the next. Horns the size of my arm spiraled out in two tiers, the points sharp and deadly. His face was an indistinct blob, punctuated by a beast-like snout. He wasn’t wearing clothes, his pot belly hanging in folds and his phallus erect under it. His legs were that of an animal’s, the knee turning the wrong way to be human.
He stroked himself as he towered over me. I bit back my whimper. He fed off fear.
You must weaken her,he told Elinor.
“It’ll be so much more fun to keep her as a plaything,” Elinor pouted.
The demon drew her close, cradling her against its protruding stomach and rubbing his oversized appendage against her. She didn’t flinch or show signs of distaste. It made me suspect that she couldn’t see his actual appearance.
I agree, but you want power and the selection is tonight. Just think how much power she and the others will give you. We’ll have enough sacrifices to draw from to put you above all the others.
She snapped, “I don’t need power from some yearling not out of her first decade. Kill the alpha and the enforcer. The two of them should have plenty enough power between them to overthrow any challenger.”
She’s strong. I can feel it. Her power is just below the surface, waiting to be sucked down. Consider her my payment for my help over the last few years.
“You’ve already been paid in full, demon. There’s no renegotiating now.”
Ah, but you’re not the one who paid me. That means the terms remain open.
Elinor’s face turned ugly and she snarled, her face bestial in its rage.
