Page 128 of Conjure

“There’s no time.” I pull Camryn in front of me at the bottom of the stairs. “Hurry, I’ll be right behind you.”

She follows my line of sight. “What, no. Are you crazy? I’m not leaving you here.”

Lily is rising to her feet now. She presses a hand to her forehead and grimaces in pain. We’re running out of time.

“Now, Camryn,” I bark, and she clenches her jaw.

“But the axe. We need it?—”

“I’ll get the axe, okay? Just go!”

She wants to argue, but then she turns and runs upstairs.

Good girl.

Once the door is shut, I grab a claw hammer off the workbench and turn to face Lily. “Let’s finish this.”

Those black eyes flick back up to my face, and its forked tongue darts out to taste the air like a snake. With a hiss, she walks closer.

I stumble against the workbench out of instinct. The hard edge digs into my back as she cocks her head to the side in a quick move. “You think you can defeat me, human? Think you can outsmart me? Even now, you reek of fear.” She breathes in the air and then focuses her attention on me again. Her smile chills me to the bone. “No one defeats me.”

When her black eyes slide past me to the workbench, I follow her line of sight. A handsaw lies amongst the scattered content of an emptied toolbox. “I wonder,” she muses, “if you would pass out before you saw yourself in half.”

I snap my head back to her, and she raises an eyebrow. “Shall we test that theory?”

Something strange happens—my hand moves, and I watch in horror as I drop the hammer and pick up the handsaw. I’m powerless to stop it. I’m nothing more than an observer, the hacksaw trembling in my hand, a sweat breaking out on my forehead. I’m fighting against some invisible force. I can sense the demon. It’s inside me, but it’s inside of Lily. It’s in us both, powerful enough to spread its energy.

“Yes…” she whispers, staring at me intently when I place the serrated blade against my side. “I like this game.”

Sweat trails down my temple. I’m panting, pushing against the pressure on my hand. But my brain is not in control. I release a roar.

“Are you having fun yet,Dominicus?”

“Fuck you!” I sneer.

She smiles slowly and whispers,“Dominicus Domini.”

I buckle to my knees, the serrated blade dragging through my T-shirt and flesh in a long sawing motion before pulling back and sawing deeper. I think I scream, but the pain is blinding. Through the layers of fear and agony, I’m vaguely aware of the demon walking closer, bare feet wading through the pool of blood spreading out around me.“Dominicus Domini,”she hisses again, and white, obliterating pain sears my side.

THIRTY-EIGHT

CAMRYN

“Well,well, what do we have here?” Aron says when I exit the basement. I turn around and gasp. He leans up against the doorframe with his ankles and arms crossed. Two slasher wounds bleed profusely at his side, but he doesn’t look to be in pain. He doesn’t even seem to be aware. I stare at the deep lacerations as he pushes off and walks closer.

“You’re hurt, Aron.”

He walks around the table, dragging his fingers over the worn surface. His lips pull to the side. “Heading somewhere?”

My mouth opens and closes. I peer behind me when I hear muffled voices downstairs. What’s Dominic doing? Why isn’t he coming? We need to run. Aron crosses the small space and drags his hand through the utensils attached to the wall, causing them to clatter loudly.

“You need to put pressure on that,” I say, hurrying past him and pulling open cupboards until I locate a kitchen towel. I toss it at him before spinning around in search of a weapon or something to use. We need to get out of here. I shouldn’t have left Dominic.

Yanking open a drawer, I feel around. Fuck, it’s not there. Mom must have moved it. I pull out the remaining drawers and empty the contents on the floor before crouching.

There it is. Mom taped the gun to the underside of the counter. I pull it out and check its chambers—one bullet, which isn’t enough but will have to do until we figure out what to do with the axe. I go to put it in my back pocket, when something hard whacks me in the head, and I collapse to the floor.

Pain explodes behind my eyeballs. I groan as the room spins, trying to gain my bearings. What the hell happened? A deep ache spreads through my throbbing skull.