“Cornelius,” Jacob says softly, and Cornelius turns to look back at him. “She doesn’t know enough to be held responsible for this.”
Cornelius replies, “That may be so. But obviously things aren’t clicking fast enough for her, so maybe we'd best speed things up with a painful lesson.”
I’m only half-listening to what they’re saying as my thoughts go wild. “So, if he’s down there and alive, we can go get him?”
Jacob nods, but before he can say anything else, I continue, excitedly, “Good. Great. So maybe if I go down there and find him, I can just talk to Gemma. I can sit down with her and explai?—”
Pain explodes in my face, and I fall backwards onto my ass. Then I‘m staring up into the sky, completely thrown off by the sudden warmth trailing along my cheek. I raise my hand, touching my fingertips to my face, and when I pull them away, they’re bloody because that bastard punched me in the face.
I jump to my feet, rage burning as I snarl, “What the heck was that for?”
“Is that what you did?”
He’s coming for me again, and I back away, preparing to defend myself if needed. “Is what what I did?”
“Did you beg her? Did you plead with her?”
I stop moving and stutter. “Yeah—Yeah, I gue—guess so.”
“Guess it didn’t work then, huh?”
Offended by his tone, I sneer, “Well, what was I supposed to do?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Cornelius responds sarcastically. “But I suppose if nothing else, now you know what not to do.”
“I don’t fully understand what your problem is.”
He jumps at me again, and I manage to dodge his fist as it flies toward my face. Unfortunately, I go in the wrong direction and instead end up colliding with his other fist. I’m pretty sure my brain rattles in my skull as I fall down once again. Before I’m able to move, he kicks me, and the whole time, he’s shouting a laundry list of rules about devils and demons and other world bullshit I’ve never even heard of.
I roll away, stopping where I dropped my sword, and I roll one more time, gripping it in my hand as I swiftly roll to my feet. I step into him, arm extended, pointing the tip of my blade at his throat. “Hit me one more damn time.”
He stops short, not even an inch from the tip of my blade, and though he doesn’t look at all worried he cocks his head at me. “Or what?”
I ignore his question and instead focus on his previous rant. “I don’t know what all this devil-demon talk has to do with me, but I’m pretty sure you can take your rules and etiquette and shove them up your ass.”
Cornelius, who had been looking like he was going to make a play for me stops moving entirely. Then his fisted hands drop to his side as he asks, “You really don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“I don’t think she knows,” Jacob adds helpfully from behind Cornelius.
Cornelius starts muttering to himself, walking away from me a step and then circling back until eventually, he’s pacing back and forth, having an entirely incoherent conversation withhimself. It makes for a pretty funny picture, this large black man who, up until now, had appeared cordial and friendly, suddenly so grumpy. I lower my sword but don’t put it away as Jacob and I watch him finish his little tantrum. I wait for him to turn back to me, and then I say quietly, “Why don’t you just freaking explain it to me, then?”
He turns to me with a sigh and then says plainly, “Youarea devil.”
I laugh. I shake my head and laugh some more, waving a hand at his foolishness. “Try again, Cornelius. You don’t have to treat me like I’m stupid.”
He gapes at me and then glares at Jacob as he chuckles. Turning back to me, he takes a few steps closer. “It’s more than that, Vivian. Because you’re not just a devil. You’rethedevil. The end-all, be-all of devils.”
I stop laughing. I can tell from his demeanor and tone that he’s one hundred percent serious, but still, I frown. “But I can’t be a devil. Never mindthedevil.”
“And why not?” Jacob asks.
I turn my attention to him and reply, “Because I’m not evil.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“In order to be the devil, I would have to be evil.”
