Page 94
Staring back at me from the opposite end of the room was Nicole Asher, my wife, her blue eyes lit up in surprise. My stomach plunged into freefall, my heart galloped, I couldn’t breathe.
Back from the dead... like an angel.
But then I noticed the details. Her blonde hair flowed around her like she was underwater, defying gravity.Not real... she’s not real.
Her blue eyes flickered crimson.
Not human.
My hope died with a sickening crash.
I looked around for Joy, our daughter, who would surely be with her mother.
But my daughter wasn’t there.
My daughter was dead, and so was my wife.
There was no one in the room but Lana.
No one but a demon.
Nicole began to change, morphing back into Lana. Seeing it happen, something tugged painfully at my heart.
Deep down, I felt hollow. Emptied of something essential.
“Never...” I rasped, my voice shaking, “never... never do that...” My fingers coiled into fists.
She swallowed, her eyes wide. “I didn’t do it to hurt you,” she whispered, backing up. She banged into the mirror behind her, its surface vibrating. “I wanted to see... I’m sorry.”
I was dying inside at the reminder of what I’d once had—a beautiful wife, a perfect daughter, a blissful family... oh God, I’d had it all—and it was stolen from me. And this demon, she was like rot in the wound, making my grief fester.
“Howdareyou wear her skin,” I said, my voice hoarse with anger. With pain.
My wife. Mywife. Lana wore her face like someone would a coat, and she used her black magic to do it, cursing someone else by doing so.
I prowled toward her, my chest rising and falling faster and faster, my breath escaping in furious hisses. I stepped into her space, my body towering over her.
“Howdareyou disgrace her memory, how dare you mock her, how dare you defile her,demon.”
Lana’s eyes welled with tears.
Letting a demon into your heart... it was like swallowing cyanide. I should kill her right here, right now, just as I would any other demon. But even now I couldn’t, much to my everlasting shame.
Instead, I spun and punched the wall, putting a hole in the rotting, termite-infested wood. The nearby photo fell, its flimsy frame breaking apart.
I stormed back to my room and slammed the door. All through the house, I heard frames thunk onto the floor.
The last thing I heard, before I roared in agony, was the quiet whimper Lana tried to suppress.
Lana
I collapsed againstthe wall, letting my body sink slowly down to the floor. A sad sob slipped out. I covered my mouth, afraid Grandmaddox would hear it.
ThatAsherwould hear it.
My tears rolled down my cheeks and onto my hand as my shoulders shook. I bowed my head, my hair lank and listless around me.
What had I been thinking? Wearing her face was torture enough. But then to get caught? And by Asher of all people? If only what I felt right now was simply embarrassment... It was so more than that. So much more.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94 (Reading here)
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156