I barely glanced at the amulet that I tossed into a shadowed corner and hadn’t looked at since. Still, I knew it was there. My weakening limbs were proof. I was more tired than I wanted but brushed it off, determined not to look affected.
“I can’t get into her head, you know,” Beelzebub said, shaking out his arms, uncoiling a whip from around his wrist. “Do you know what that means?”
I didn’t bother to answer. If Heven was somehow keeping Beelzebub out of her head, then more power to her.
“Word is you managed to get the scroll,” I said, wanting to turn the topic away from Heven. And hey, maybe I’d find something out.
Rage flared in his eyes. “Don’t play with me!” With a flick of his wrist he sent the whip smacking into the wall mere inches from my face.
Was that a yes or a no?
“You know full well I have that Map!”
Okay, a yes. “Good luck getting it open.”
He threw back his head and laughed. “Is that why you pretend? Why you try to deceive me? I don’t need luck, considering it was already open when it was delivered.”
My breath caught. How in the hell had he managed to get it open? His face turned mean again. “Now tell me where the rest of it is!”
Ahhh, that’s right. The bottom part of it was torn right before I was imprisoned here and right after Beelzebub took his fiery plunge. He had no idea he was getting an incomplete Map. What a shock that must have been… My lips curled with pleasure. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t play stupid with me!” He roared and the lit torches out in the hall actually waivered.
“You’ve had me trapped down here all this time and you think I’ll know the answers to your questions?”
“I know you talk to her! I know you know!” he screamed, spittle spraying from his mouth. “How am I supposed to torture you if she isn’t around to see? I want answers!”
He lashed out with the whip, but I was faster and I caught it, leaving the long end to curl around my arm. Still, it stung. Beelzebub roared and yanked, causing me to lose my footing, but I managed to keep upright. The whip returned to him, curling around his feet like a venomous snake.
My body tried to shift but couldn’t, and my insides screamed in frustration.
“Not so tough now, are we?” Beelzebub taunted. “Don’t you wonder how she’s managing to keep me away?”
Once again, I didn’t answer, just watched his movements carefully.
“Maybe she found someone else to occupy her bed,” Beelzebub mused. “I wonder what they’re doing right now?” He lashed out once more with the whip; this time it curled around my waist and he pulled, towing me closer, then it was gone. “I bet he’s touching her. Doing things to her body that you could only imagine.”
I snapped, my patience and restraint only lasting so long, and I launched myself at him, but the whip shot out and slapped me, curling over my shoulder and striking down my back. The pain was sharp and stinging. I felt my flesh split and warm blood ooze out.
I didn’t give him the satisfaction of screaming. And to his surprise, I kept coming. I knocked him off his feet and nailed him in the jaw before he recovered and got to his feet.
“But no matter! You have a link to her mind,” he yelled. “I’ve felt it. She might not be able to see what’s happening, but she’s going to feel it. I hope she feels your pain for all eternity!”
And then he whipped me. Savagely, insistently and with fire in his eyes.
When my body would have sunk to the floor, he used his power to suspend me in the air. The pain was so intense I could barely breathe. The whip would lash against my skin and then draw away, leaving a searing pain stronger than I’d ever known, only to come back and do it again. The blood that poured down my back was warm and it felt like water to an open cut.
Throughout my beating, he tried to get the location of the remaining half of the scroll out of me, and every time I said nothing, he lashed me again. Still, I refused to give him the pleasure of sound. I bit my tongue until it bled. I might have to take this beating, but he wasn’t going to get my pride or my pleading.
Beelzebub gave a frustrated cry and I was released, dropping to the floor, half unconscious. I prayed I would soon pass out. Kimber’s screams filled my ears and I prayed she would shut up so she didn’t draw attention to herself and have to endure his wrath too. Then I closed my eyes and had only one thought: Heven.
I prayed that she wasn’t feeling this, I prayed that she was sleeping so soundly and whatever she was doing to keep him out of her head would prevent her from feeling anything. I prayed that she was safe and took comfort in the fact that since Beelzebub was here with me, it meant that he wasn’t doing something heinous to her. I would do anything to keep something like this from happening to her.
Even die.
But dying would only deny me the satisfaction of exacting some revenge.
He crouched down, shoving his face close to mine. I opened my eyes and stared directly into his. “Lay there and bleed. Think about what you’ve suffered to protect her. You have the information I want. Give it to me and I’ll set you free.”
And by that he meant kill me. Then he would chain your soul to the floor of hell to feed on for all eternity… something whispered in the back of my mind. Freedom from him wasn’t really free.
I spit in his face.
Fury burned in his eyes, but he only stood and walked away, right through the force field, which was far worse than the beating I just took.
“I know where the page you want is.” A voice came from out in the hall. Beelzebub stopped and turned. Kimber was leaning against her cell door, her arms falling through the bars.
“You know where the piece of the map is?” he said quietly, deadly.
“Yes. I saw it all.”
“Really?” Beelzebub glanced at me once more. I gave no indication I saw. “Well, isn’t that interesting? What do you want in exchange for the information?”
“My freedom, of course. He might be willing to be a martyr, but I’m not.”
“Tell me where it is and I will set you free.”
“It was destroyed. Burned up right after you fell in that pit.”
“What!” he screamed, slapping the whip across the floor.
“Hecate destroyed it because she was angry at Heven for ripping it.”
“No! That stupid witch!” he wailed. “I need that paper! I need to know that name!”
So that’s why he wanted the scroll. He wasn’t interested in all the names. Just one. And apparently he knew it wasn’t on the piece of Map he had.
“I kept up my end of the bargain. Let me out,” Kimber said once he quieted.
Beelzebub laughed. “My end of the bargain, you say?” He wiggled his fingers and the door to her cell opened. Kimber rushed (as much as she could) to the door. Right before she stepped over the threshold, Beelzebub said, “A warning. The minute you step out of that cell, you will break the binding that holds your soul in there with you. It will be set free and you will be soulless and then you will die.”
I watched her weigh his words.
“Well go on; you’re free!” He spread his hands with flourish. “Just what you wanted, but your freedom will cost you your soul, and without it, you will die.”
He turned his back on her as she crumbled to the floor. I actually felt bad for her. She wasn’t a bad person… just selfish.
He came back toward my cell, stepping inside, and stood over my pain-wracked body. “She’s coming for you, isn’t she? Well, I say we give her something to find.”
Heven
Pain lanced through my body, causing me to arch up off the bed. It burned. It burned so bad. I opened my eyes in panic, but not because of the pain. Strangely, I was getting used to pain.
“Sam,” I called out, reaching for him, but he wasn’t there. It was like the link we both held so tightly to during the night had been ripped away. Tears streamed down my face. Something was terribly wrong. I made
a mistake waiting to go and get him.
Every muscle in my body ached and burned. Pain echoed through me and I struggled to push it away. Arms circled me from behind and pulled me back. “Easy,” he whispered.
I shuddered. “Something’s wrong. I can feel it. Sam…”
“I thought the Dream Walker couldn’t get in your head with me here.”
“He didn’t. He can’t. What if it made him mad and he’s taking it out on Sam?” I pushed back to look at Riley. Horror ripped through me and I shoved at him. “Leave. I have to go to sleep. Then he’ll stop whatever he’s doing.”
Riley’s mouth flattened. “No.”
“Yes!” I pushed against his chest, frantic to stop whatever was happening to Sam.
“Sam wouldn’t want you tortured. He can take whatever Beelzebub dishes out.”
“He could kill him!” I sobbed.
“Calm down. You’re going to wake up the house.”
“Don’t you tell me to calm down,” I growled, but it was in low tones.
“You don’t even know what’s happening.”
“Please, Riley, I have to make it stop.” Another tear slid down my face. Riley caught it with his thumb and I pulled away. “We have a Mindbond. Our feelings bleed to each other. Someone is hurting him. I can feel his pain. So much pain…”
“Have you tried to talk to him?”
My eyes widened. I was so frantic I didn’t even think of that. Sam. Sam what’s happening? Are you hurt?
He didn’t answer. “He’s not answering.”
My body was shaking violently and my head was pounding, but I hardly noticed. Sam. Please, Sam.
I’m okay. Calm down.
I gasped and gripped the front of Riley’s shirt. Sam? What is he doing to you?
Nothing. Please stop panicking.
I can feel your pain.
I can handle it. Don’t come here.
He’s mad at me, isn’t he? He can’t get in my head.
Whatever you’re doing to keep him out, don’t stop.
He’s hurting you.
I’d rather him hurt me than you.
No.
I’m just going to rest for a minute, okay, sweetheart? I could feel his pain and his exhaustion.
I was afraid to stop talking. I was afraid if I let go it might be for good.
I promise I’m not going anywhere and nothing will take away our Mindbond.
I glanced at Riley. He was watching me without any expression on his face. “I think he’s okay. But he’s hurt. He says he wants to rest.”
Sam, I love you.
I love you too. Oh and, Heven, Beelzebub does have the scroll and it’s open. He’s read it… His words faded as they came into my mind. I held back my shock because clearly there was something terribly wrong and he was fading.
Sam?
I’m just going to sleep. And then my mind was silent. I could still feel our connection, but Sam was far away. Fresh tears fell. I was here, in bed with Riley, and Sam was in hell being punished. This was a new low for me.
“We have to go now. To hell,” I said, jumping off the bed and searching for some clothes.
“I thought you had to go to the funeral home.”
I let out a frustrated sound. I did and there was no getting out of it. There was no way I could come up with a lie that would excuse me from planning my mother’s funeral. Except the truth, and Gran would probably try to commit me if I told her the truth. “Yeah, okay. I’ll go do that. Stay close because the minute I get home, we’re leaving. I’m done waiting.”
*
I spent some time on my appearance this morning because I felt that not looking like death warmed over while planning my mother’s funeral was something she deserved. But I also felt stupid for caring about my appearance at a time like this. I did my hair and makeup, taking extra care to conceal the scar on my face. I didn’t have the makeup I needed to make it disappear, but I was able to downplay its presence. As much as I hated to admit it, her final words bothered me. You were marked for evil.
I thought I put all that behind me, but I found the words haunted me still.
What if she was right?
Trying to put it out of my mind, I got dressed in black wide-leg pants and a snug black T-shirt. I grabbed a pair of oversized dark sunglasses and a dark-washed denim jacket and headed for the door to go downstairs with Gran.
Then everything went white.
*
Airis was standing before me when I opened my eyes. For once, she seemed different… Her eyes weren’t as soft as they usually were and there was something brittle about the way she stood. There was an air around her that seemed… repulsed.
I watched her warily. I knew why I was here and this conversation wasn’t going to go well.
“Hello, Airis.”
“You did not heed my warning.”
Something inside me shrank. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
“I told you that you were going down the wrong path. I told you to resist the devil and he would flee from you. But you didn’t.”
“I’m so sorry about the Map. I don’t know what happened.”
“You allowed yourself to be distracted. You allowed evil to influence you. You murdered someone.”
I sucked in a breath. “Beelzebub manipulated me. Colin attacked me.”
Airis held up her hand. “I told you to be careful of whom you trust. You chose not to listen.”
“I never meant for any of this to happen!” I protested.
“Your soul is compromised.”
“It’s not.”
“We thought you had the strength to resist the temptation calling you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Since your conception, you’ve been marked. Two sides of one coin, marked by heaven but also by hell. Both places vie for you, yet you never seemed to understand the importance of your role.”
“Please, help me understand.”
“At first, we thought your unique position would be a strength, but now we see it may be a weakness. You were gifted with abilities and I’ve been here to guide you, but, alas, it seems that the hold he has on you is much stronger than we realized.”
He who? Sam? Airis always knew how strongly I felt for Sam. She seemed to approve of that before; she seemed to think we were stronger together than apart. Had that changed in her eyes?
“This will be the last time you see me. I can help you no more.”
My heart sank. “But what about the scroll? I can get it back.” Knowing full well I couldn’t.
“The scroll has been compromised. Higher beings have already been dispatched to make sure the people on that list are safe and remain so. The scroll is no longer your responsibility.”
“All those people,” I said almost to myself. They were in danger because of me. I felt like my world was being ripped away. Her coldness hurt me more than I thought it would.
“I’ll give you one last warning. Heed me and all may not be lost.”
I straightened and prepared to dissect whatever riddle she spoke.
“You still have the strength within you to prove that you fall on the side of heaven and not of hell. But you are in more danger than ever before. He thinks his claim on you is singular. He does not know you are two-sided. He does not know you have a claim on him. His ignorance is your only protection now. Your saving grace is the missing piece of that scroll. It must remain lost forever.”
“Who is he?” At first I thought it was Sam, but it couldn’t be. Sam knew I had good inside me.
“You will not see me again, but that does not mean that God has turned from you. He believes in you. But you must prove that you believe in him. That you are loyal.” She lifted her hands as a ball of pure, white light formed.
“Airis, please! Wait, I have so many questions.”
I barely noticed the flash of white that sent me back to my bedroom. I found myself standing in the middle of the room, staring at the busted
lamp I used to protect myself from the demon. Then it dawned on me.
I knew who he was. What claim could I possibly have on him?
Chapter Twelve
Heven
It turns out it didn’t matter how much effort I put into my appearance. My meeting with Airis totally ruined whatever I had managed to accomplish. I looked like I’d been through the ringer and hung out to dry. Thankfully, my oversized black sunglasses hid the worst and everyone at the funeral home, including Gran, assumed it was only grief for my mother that made me look this way.
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