Page 80 of Cold Curses

Dante had decided to change the score.

My fangs descended and my eyes silvered. Pain ebbed as it was replaced by an all-consuming thirst.

“Theo,” I managed weakly, “you have to get out.”

The miasma was thick enough that I couldn’t see him or anything else now.

Outside,monster said.Get outside.

Part of me knew that was the right thing to do. But that part was only a whisper, and it was drowned out by need, which made my stomach ache with pain. I’d always been careful to eat and drink when necessary, so I wouldn’t become irrationally hungry. This hunger was beyond thought and morality. And Dante had sent me there with one bit of magic.

“Theo,” I said again, this time my tone all sweet and enticing, “I need you.”

I remained perfectly, predatorily still, and I could hear his hesitation, his uncertainty.

And the strong, quick beat of his heart.

“I’m here,” I called out, another wave of hunger threatening to send me back to the floor. But I ignored it, then climbed to my feet and found myself steady.

And so thirsty.

“Elisa?”

His voice was unsure, and the “me” that had been shoved down by demon magic hated that I had made him sound that way. And yet…

“Theo,” I called again, “over here!”

I sniffed the air, searching for humans, and felt him draw nearer.

Wake up.That was monster again. And unlike the last time we’d been inundated with demon magic, monster was urging me to fight back against it.

I pushed with the energy I had, but I still hadn’t recovered from being tossed like a rag doll across the lobby. And the possibility began to creep into my mind that I might never be strong enough to fight this demon.

I ignored that, tried to break through the haze of magic. But with each step, I felt that hunger sync deeply into the real me, until it was me. Until there was no more me.

Just an aching desperation.

“Theo?” I said, voice plaintive and helpless, and knew from the echoing footsteps that he was close. I threw out a hand and touched his arm. He jerked beneath my grasp—prey aware the trap had been sprung—and tried to pull free.

But even injured, I was stronger than a human.

No,monster said, trying to keep me hungry.

“Elisa.”

Theo’s face came into view through the mist. His wide pupils. His beating pulse at the base of his throat. It raced, his heart, and I knew the taste would be electric and tinged with adrenaline.

“No,” Theo said, voice hard. Coplike. “This isn’t you. Stop this.”

Stop,monster echoed.Not you.

But I didn’t hear them—not really. His heart was a timpani drum, and he was my salvation. The relief was so close now, and I put my free hand on his shoulder as he tried to pull away. I drew him toward me, fangs bared.

But something inside me pushed, shifted, stretched.

Monster, using its consciousness to fight me from the inside, metaphysically punched me.

I shoved Theo away and fell to my knees, screaming; it felt like my body was being pummeled from the inside.