Page 131 of Conjure

“You all have one weakness in common.” An orange glow emanates from the cracks in his demon form, his red eyes burning brighter. He studies me intently, then lifts his nose and inhales a deep, satisfied breath. When he settles his gaze on me, I suppress a shiver. “Love.”

“Love is not a weakness,” I grit out before clenching my teeth when another stab of pain in my thigh radiates up my leg. I’m growing dizzy. The demon pats my cheek. “Don’t pass out on me now. I’m nowhere near done with you.”

I fix my heavy eyes on him, and he stands up. “Love is not a weakness? Are you sure?”

I don’t grace him with a response.

“Then you won’t mind if I kill your boyfriend.”

Fear stretches across my chest before I can stop it. “You won’t kill him.”

“No?” He rounds the table and drags the knife through the wood. “That’s a bold statement.”

“I’llhave nothing left to fight for if you kill the last person I care about. Nothing would be stopping me from ending it, like my mom. What are you going to do then, huh?”

“Do you think so little of your own life?”

“Without love, I have nothing.”

“What about your adoptive mother?”

Shit. I hoped he’d forgotten about her.

“Do you not love her? She’s not strong, like you, but I bet she’s pretty when begging for her life.”

I open my mouth to respond, when my eyes land on the gun on the floor. I must have dropped it when he whacked me in the head with the frying pan. “I’m not playing this game with you,” I tell him, pretending to sit straighter. “We both know you’ll kill her too. You’re a demon. You won’t stop until you’ve killed everyone I’ve ever cared about.” I inch closer to the weapon while he carves something on the table. I’m so close. It’s just within reach. My fingers graze the cold metal. I just need to stretch a little closer.

The demon looks up, so I snatch my hand back, forming a fist to stop the trembling from showing. I’ve never felt my heart pound this hard before. There’s no way in hell he can’t hear it.

I swallow thickly as he walks around the table toward me. When he’s in front of me, he holds his arm out and puts the blade to the corded muscle on the inside of his forearm. “Your boyfriend can still feel pain.” I gasp as he slowly drags the knife through the skin.

Not a flicker of emotion passes through his eyes, but I know in my heart that Dominic can feel every second of agony. I know he’s screaming. I know it because I feel it in my soul.

I can’t stop the tears from falling when he puts the knife inches away from the first cut and repeats the process. The skincleaves like butter, and blood pours down his arm. I can’t look anymore, so I force my eyes shut, but the insistent sound of blood dripping on the floor makes me sick to my stomach. I swallow down vomit.

He shifts and warm droplets of blood splatter against my bare legs. I recoil, hot pain exploding in my thigh at the sudden movement.

“Dominic would like you to have his heart.” He peels his shirt off, and it slides down his arm, before he pulls it off the rest of the way and discards it on the floor. I slam a hand against my mouth when I see the deep, ugly gash on his side. What the fuck happened to him? My stomach cramps again. I try to keep it down, but it’s useless. Vomit flies from my mouth as I shift onto my side, my stomach convulsing.

“Oh, that,” he says, inspecting the wound. “It’s not as deep as it looks.”

When I’m finally able to breathe normally again, the demon hovers over me, shirtless and covered in blood. He digs the blade’s sharp tip against the left pectoral, a bead of crimson rushing to the surface and trailing a slow path over his rippling muscles. “Dominic, please,” I plead, chest aching as I cry out with desperation. “I know you can hear me. You have to fight the demon. You have to force it out. I can defeat it.” I shift, wincing as my leg aches. “But not if it’s in you.”

“Defeat me?” The demon laughs a rich, dark sound. “How exactly do you plan on defeating me? You can’t even put weight on your leg.”

As if to prove his point, he puts his foot on my thigh, and a tortured scream claws my vocal cords.

“Now, let’s carve out your boyfriend’s heart while you watch. If you’re lucky, it might still beat for you.” He digs the blade deeper, and more blood rushes to the surface. Despite theblinding pain in my thigh, I launch myself at the gun, which slides forward, just out of reach.

The demon skates his eyes to the weapon and chuckles. “You think a gun can defeat me?”

I drag myself forward to grab the weapon, my fingers closing around the metal, and time slows as I roll over onto my back and aim the gun at his chest. “I’m sorry, Dominic.”

And then I pull the trigger.

THIRTY-NINE

CAMRYN