“Need I remind you that you are bound to do my bidding?”
Anger and rage swirled inside Riley. He was tired of doing his bidding. Before he was even born, his grandfather bargained away his life for a woman.
“Maybe you need a reminder of my power? A vision of what could befall you?”
Riley yawned.
He heard a struggle behind him and he turned. Casey was being brought across the dock, two demons practically dragging him as he fought. He could see the sweat upon his forehead and the tremor in his muscles. He looked at Riley, confusion clear in his eyes. He couldn’t change and didn’t know why. His body was weakened by a force he couldn’t see and he was scared.
Part of Riley felt bad for him, but the other part was already detaching from the unfolding scene.
“Riley,” Casey called, relief in his voice. Until he looked past me at Beelzebub.
“Agree to my terms,” Beelzebub said, spreading his hands wide like he was offering me a deal.
“No.”
Just like that, Casey was tossed into the sea. Riley saw the fins circling, stalking. Then he heard his screams as the sharks began to bite. Before they could make him their dinner, Casey’s body was lifted out of the water, his blood dripping, drop by drop, and mixing with the blood moon’s rays.
He looked at Riley, half unconscious, and mouthed the words “help me.”
He looked away.
Then out of the sea, a swarm of flies rose, like a swarming army of death, and they covered Casey’s body, every single inch of him until Riley could no longer see his stare.
He screamed.
And screamed.
And screamed.
Then the flies carried him into the ocean, where the water once again buried the secret of his death.
“Get me that scroll, or this awaits you, only your death will linger…”
Riley stared at Beelzebub, Lord of Flies, Prince of Demons, and knew true hate. He wasn’t really sure if he hated him or himself. Beelzebub’s eyes narrowed and his lips curved, and Riley turned away.
“If you get me the scroll, I will release you from the curse.”
Riley turned back.
He smiled a toothy smile of perfectly straight, white teeth. “No more visits like this, no more chores, no more killing, no more bidding. You will be free.”
Riley knew he shouldn’t make a deal with him. It’s how his grandfather died; it’s how he was born cursed. But even just the thought of freedom…
He made the deal.
I felt my body slam up against the wall and my head snapped back. My eyes struggled to focus and I looked up at blazing silver.
“What the hell did you just do to me?”
“It was you.” I gasped. “You took the scroll.”
“Were you in my head?” Riley asked, his voice low and mean.
“I trusted you.”
“What did you see?”
Images of flies and sharks swam before my eyes. “I saw Casey.”
Riley’s eyes actually lost some heat at the mention of his dead roommate. Maybe he felt bad about that, after all. But then I remembered how he just looked away when Casey asked for help.
“How?” I asked, straightening from the wall. “How did you get the scroll?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does,” I said, determined, and stepped toward him with my hand out. He slapped it away like it was a live wire.
“Don’t touch me.”
“What else are you hiding?”
“Deep, dark secrets,” he intoned.
“Tell me right now, you bastard.”
“Ooohhh, now she’s really getting angry.”
I caught him off guard when I slapped him across the face. He was shocked I would dare try to touch him so soon after he told me not to. I was pleased to see a red handprint blossom across his cheek. He growled and lifted his clenched fist like he might strike me, but then he stopped.
“It was that day… the day I killed Colin, wasn’t it? Everything in my bag spilled and you took it when I passed out.”
“Bravo.”
“You took advantage of me.”
“I cleaned up your mess. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be in jail.”
That didn’t make what he did okay. “How did you get it open? How?”
He smirked. “You wore that stupid key around your neck.” He shook his head at my stupidity. “While you were sprawled on the ground, with Colin’s blood soaking your clothes, I wrapped your hand around the key and inserted it in the top of the scroll. And just like that, it opened.”
He hadn’t touched me, yet I felt like I had been slapped in the face. How stupid and silly I had been. I knew wearing that key was a bad idea. Sam told me again and again not to keep the scroll and the key together. And I hadn’t. But then Sam was trapped and I wanted a piece of him with me. He gave me that key. It was supposed to be a symbol of his love for me. Had Airis been right? Had I been so blind to everything around me that I saw nothing at all?
“Do you realize what you’ve done? Do you realize what you cost me, everyone that I love and every single name on that list?”
Riley shrugged.
“I trusted you. I liked you. Everyone told me not to and I stood up for you. My mother is dead because I no longer have something that Beelzebub wanted. He dragged her soul to hell—she’ll never know peace. Sam was beaten—whipped—because of that scroll, and you stand there and shrug?!”
“I told you not to trust me.”
I laughed. I laughed so hard. And then I doubled over in agony and cried out. The beast inside me liked all my rage and pain. I was too worked up and now it wanted to play. It wanted out. I felt the fresh searing pain of a claw mark on my back and another on the back of my arm. I cried out, reaching out to steady myself against the wall. The beast surged forward and I fell onto my knees, gagging, trying not to throw up. I tasted something metallic in the back of my throat and gagged some more. Riley knelt beside me and reached out a hand.
“Don’t you dare touch me.”
“Calm down,” he said, his voice actually holding a hint of concern.
I laughed. It was a bubbly sound, and then I coughed, blood coming out onto my hand. “What do you care? You got what you wanted.”
Riley said nothing.
I looked up. “But you didn’t, did you?” He looked away and I knew I was right. “Beelzebub told you he would break the curse and when you delivered the scroll to him, he laughed, didn’t he? You’re still bound to him.”
Anger lit his eyes… but there was also pain.
“How does it feel, Riley? You betrayed me, someone who actually cared about you, for nothing.” I coughed again and more blood splattered my hand.
“Come on.” Riley put his arm around my waist and lifted me off the ground. I stifled the cry of pain as another claw mark seared my insides.
The door opened and Logan came running into the room behind us. “Heven? What’s he doing here? What’s wrong?”
He caught sight of the blood on my hands and cheek and he launched himself at Riley, leaping on his back and punching him in the head. “Logan! No!” I cried.
He was so fragile. One strong hit from Riley would break him… and he might never recover.
Riley’s eyes flared silver as he reached around to pull Logan off his back. I went forward, inserting myself between them as Riley pushed out to shove Logan away. Thankfully, Logan landed on the bed.
I hit the wall and slid to the floor.
It was that moment that Sam came through the window.
I was on the ground, against the wall, with blood on my hands and cheek and Logan was on the bed while Riley stood, heaving, in the center of the room with eyes of pure silver.
Sam flew across the room and grabbed Riley by the throat and dragged him to the window, tossing him out into the night. Then he leaped out after him.
The angry sounds of snarling and snapping teeth filled my ears. I looked at Logan
. Logan looked at me.
Gran drove up the driveway as two very large, black hellhounds disappeared into the night.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sam
I found it ironic that I had been out trying to make up for a death and now here I was about to kill someone.
Vivid pictures of Heven lying on the floor with blood on her skin and Logan’s frail body lying across the bed while Riley stood there, his eyes sparking with silver flame, enraged me further and further. He was worse than I thought.
I didn’t have to be told that he stole that scroll from Heven. I didn’t need to be reminded of the curse that made him act inhuman, because it was no excuse. I let this guy go before; I settled for running him out of town once.
No. More.
He charged at me and I threw him off again, this time sending him flying out of my sight. I knew he was still in the orchard because I heard the tree break so I followed the sound. He was still lying on the ground, changed into his human form. Blood was on his face, but that gave me no satisfaction; it only served to anger me more.
I reached down and grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him up, about to deliver yet another blow when his words stopped me.
“She still has something he wants.”
“What?” I twisted the hand that was in his hair. I hoped it hurt.
“He wants the name. He thinks she knows it.”
“What name?” I was interested now because I had heard Beelzebub demand a name from Heven. I pulled Riley up to his feet, but kept hold of his arm. He wasn’t running off. If he had info, I was getting it. Now.
“A piece of the scroll was missing. He wants the name of the Soul Reaper. He thinks she knows it.” I didn’t want to believe him—but I had to. Snippets of the conversation I heard between Beelzebub and Hecate came back to me. Hecate telling him that “the girl” looked at it before it was destroyed. Then I remembered Beelzebub demanding a name from Heven, a name she couldn’t give him… It was the reason he put that damn beast inside of her.
“What’s a Soul Reaper?”
“I don’t know.”
“If you think this information will buy you your life…”
Riley laughed. “Kill me, go ahead. I welcome death—the freedom. Any death you give me will be far easier than what he gives me.”
I pushed him away, sickened.
“What’s the matter? Don’t want to kill me now because I want you to? Did I take away your fun?”
“You stayed around,” I said, measuring him. “After you took the Map, you stayed around. Why?”
“Because I promised Heven I would get you out of hell.”
“You had the scroll before I was set free?”
He nodded.
“It was you I heard talking with Beelzebub that day. He threatened you.”
“That was one of his nicer threats,” Riley said and smirked.
“So why stick around? Why go to hell with Heven?”
“Because I told her I would.”
I scrutinized him for long moments. I knew this guy was a good liar, but hell if I didn’t believe what he was saying. “You like Heven.”
Riley said nothing; he gave no reaction at all.
That was answer enough for me. “What I just saw back there…”
“Was what it looked like. I was attacked. I was defending myself.”
I punched him in the face.
“If you ever touch her again, I will kill you.”
I walked away, every muscle in my body screaming for me to go back and hit him just one more time.
“He won’t stop until he gets a name!” Riley yelled behind me.
Once again, I believed him.
Heven
I was getting very good at looking like everything was normal when in actuality, everything around me was in chaos. Logan was good at pretending he hadn’t just watched his brother throw Riley out the window and then rush off into the night. I cleaned the blood off my face and hands and changed into some loose pajamas that covered all the claw marks on my skin. When Gran came up the stairs, we were sitting in his room, watching a movie. She went back downstairs for some chamomile tea and cookies, and we both let out a collective breath.
“Do you think Sam is okay?” Logan asked, looking at his window.
“I really do. He’ll be back in a few minutes, I’m sure.”
“He’s been through a lot.”
“Yeah, he has. He’s a strong person.”
“I want to be like him.”
I smiled. “You’re on your way. I think you’re a lot like Sam.”
He widened his eyes, but then he looked away.
“Is something bothering you, Logan? I mean, besides the fact Sam and Riley are out there probably fighting?” I glanced at the window and hoped Sam would return soon. I wasn’t worried about him getting hurt. Riley was strong and mean, but he was no match for Sam—especially as angry as Sam probably was right now. Inside I cringed because it really hadn’t been what it looked like—Riley wasn’t trying to hurt us, physically anyway. I still couldn’t believe he took the scroll. That he used me like that. I had trusted him. The betrayal had a heavy sting.
“I have to tell you something,” Logan whispered
“Sure.”
Logan took a deep breath. “I’m the one who hit your mother. I’m the reason she went to the hospital. I’m the reason she’s dead.” He hunched his shoulders, shame and sorrow radiating off him.
“You… I thought you found her after she hit her head?” My head was spinning.
Logan shook his head and swiped at his face, looking up. “The demon in me took over. He made me do it… When I came to, I was standing over her body with the pitcher in my hands.” His face fell with his admission.
“Oh.” I sat there for a second and then I reached out and took Logan’s hand. “You know it really wasn’t you. It was the demon inside you.”
“But it was using my body, using me, and now your mother is dead. Maybe if I had been stronger I wouldn’t have done what it wanted.”
“I don’t think you’re the reason my mother is dead, Logan. You did hit her, send her to the hospital, but all the doctors thought she would wake up. It wasn’t an injury that should have caused her to die. You weren’t responsible for her death. Beelzebub was.”
“What do you mean?”
I told him about the letter and how Beelzebub probably manipulated her.
“I hate him!” Logan said when I finished.
“I pretty much feel the same way.” I half smiled. “I wish you would’ve come to me sooner with this. You’ve been feeling guilty all this time for no reason. I don’t blame you.”
“But I hit her.”
I grabbed his wrists and he looked up. “And I forgive you. We all do things we don’t mean.”
I was shocked when Logan hugged me. It was a tight, quick hug, but it was real. I hugged him back, grimacing at how thin he was and at the pain of being hugged where there were fresh claw marks.
“How about some of those cookies Gran went downstairs for? I’m starving.”
He glanced back at the window. “What about Sam?”
“He’s probably starving too. We can make a plate for him.”
Logan laughed. “Okay.” He got up from the bed and we made our way into the hall.
When we passed my bedroom, the door opened a crack and Sam’s eye peaked out. Logan was already on the stairs and I called down to him, “I’ll be right there. I’m going to grab a sweater.”
I hurried into my room and closed the door. “Sam, are you okay? That wasn’t what it looked like.”
“Are you okay?” He demanded, his breathing fast as his eyes swept over me, looking for blood and injury.
“I’m fine. I promise.”
Sam was still pretty keyed up and he paced back and forth by the window. “Riley took the scroll, Hev.” He pushed a hand through his hair.
“I know.” Sam paused to look at me. “I passed out after
… after I killed Colin. That’s when he took it.”
Sam shook his head. “He was after that scroll back when China was looking for it.”
“That long?” I gasped. “Why did he even leave town, then?”
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