My head bobbles as my blood continues oozing out of me.
“You’re running out of time, Little Sinner. Make your choice. Die here, and I’ll take your soul to hell, or sign here,” he points to the bottom of the page. “And stay among the living and be mine.”
I push my fingertip into my bloody wound and smear a crimson signature across the page.
The man-creature chuckles, sending a chill down my spine. He slides the paper away from me with two fingers, rolls it, and throws it into the fire before turning to me. “Now, you belong to me, my Little Sinner.”
Chapter Three
Saved
My eyes roll back in my head. The strength in me is gone. The fight in me is gone.
I’m dying.
The sound of twisting metal grinds through my ears before a burning grip wraps around my body, and I fade into the darkness.
Sensing someone hovering over me, I force my eyes open. I’m no longer in the car, but beside it, and the man-creature is staring down at me. I gaze up at him as I cough and moan, the pain reminding me I’m still alive. His tongue extends from between his lips and snakes its way to my waistband. I stifle a cry as it slips beneath my leggings and into my underwear, where it flickers against my clit like a serpent, tasting me.
“Mmm,” the creature moans.
The roar of a motorcycle draws the creature’s attention away from me. His tongue slithers out of my pants and retreats back into his mouth. As the sound of the motorcycle grows near, he leans over me, his face in mine, and tightens his hand around my pussy. “Mine.” Flames rise in his eyes, and I scream as he backs away from me and vanishes into the fire. I toss my head back and cry out—screaming for my friend, screaming for Jayce’s betrayal, screaming for my life.
My head falls to the side, and the heat from the flames stings my face. It’s blurry now, the mangled car, the smoke and fire billowing around it.
Hands suddenly grab me, and the distance between me and the inferno that once was my car grows.
My back scrapes against the highway as someone leans over me, shuffling backward. I can’t see their face; it’s blurry along with everything else. My eyes are reduced to slits, barely able to stay open.
“Stay awake,” a man’s voice says as I close my eyes. “I’ve called 911. Help is coming.”
My leg shifts as the stranger tears the hole in my pants wide open. “I have to stop this bleeding.”
I sense his hesitation right before he says, “I’m sorry.”
A heavy pressure presses down on my leg, and I shriek, trying to reach for him to make him stop, but my arms won’t raise high enough; I’m too weak.
I writhe back and forth, barely moving, but it’s enough to ease some of the pain.
“Please, stop moving. I have to do this, or you’ll bleed to death.” The pressure returns, greater this time as he repeats, “I’m sorry.”
Blue and red lights flash around us and seconds later, two silhouettes appear above me. “I’ll take over,” one of them says. The pressure on my leg releases only to return with force. I cry out into the darkness that’s slowly taking over my vision. A hand brushes my hair off my cheek before cupping my head. “You’re going to be okay.” A face appears above me, shifting in and out of focus. I catch a quick glimpse of him and realize he’s young like me. My eyes drift past him to the sky, the moon a bright, beautiful circle drawing me to its light.
Everything turns black, and I feel myself letting go of this life. Voices shout, but they fade farther and farther away as I drift into the quiet darkness of death.
***
Beeping draws me from the dark into a blurry light. Every inch of me is on fire, not just from the flames that scorched my skin but from the pain penetrating every muscle and bone beneath it. A vice-like pressure squeezes my temples, crushing my head. My eyes widen as I try to breathe, but a tube blocks my airway. A figure appears over me, and a woman with a soft voice says, “Cough hard.”
I force out a cough, and the tube scrapes out of my mouth.
She turns away from me, and a man, wearing a white lab coat with a stethoscope around his neck, says, “There you go.” He leans over me with a flashlight, his brows furrowing as he raises each of my eyelids and shines it into my eyes. “You were lucky someone came by the accident when they did, or you wouldn’t be here.”
Someone? What about the something that was there before that person arrived? Was that just a dream?
“Did I die?” I rasp out in a scratchy voice, my throat burning and raw.
The doctor sighs heavily before saying, “Yes, but we got you back pretty fast, so there should be no lasting effects.” He shifts his focus to my leg wrapped in bandages. “I pulled out a three-inch piece of metal from your thigh, which did some damage, but I repaired it. There will be a scar, and the site will likely be tender for the rest of your life.”
