“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.