Page 24 of Contract Marked (Interdimensional Beings #1)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Erin

I don’t know how many hours went by or how many climaxes racked my body, but Dez didn’t lie. He truly could go on for as long as he wanted, but I couldn’t. Sleep and pure physical exhaustion pulled at me. I was close to breaking, telling him the truth, and dealing with the fallout later. I just wanted to sleep and chug a whole gallon of water.

“Tired? Tell me the magic words, and I’ll even tuck you into bed.” Dez had just finished inside me, rolling me onto my stomach before preparing to enter me again from behind.

“I …” A thought struck me, not because of any stroke of genius, but because I suddenly remembered the woman whose mouth had bobbed against Dez’s shaft. The only position we hadn’t done tonight, and I wonder if that was because it was special to only Dez and Angelica. I snorted, surprised by the flare of jealousy. Even after everything, I was feeling jealous. Maybe I was suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Yes, that was it.

It wasn’t the best decision; it would reveal what I knew and was risky, but I was ready to risk it all at this point. I didn’t think my body could take much more. “Was Angelica murdered?”

Silence.

“Dez?” I turned, but Dez had gone deadly still as if I had flicked an off switch on him somewhere. I expected his anger, sadness, any emotion, really, to give me a break from this sexual marathon, but I hadn’t guessed it would be this … uncanny stillness.

Something cracked. Over his shoulder, splinters in the glass branched out like lightning in the sky—right before all the windows in the room shattered.

I screamed and ducked as glass shards rained inside the room. A light fixture fell over, and the bed rattled against the wall. Dez remained frozen, his eyes lost in time as the room spiraled out of control. It was exactly like Rowan described it when Dez last lost it.

“Dez! Dez, stop it!” I yelled, shaking his shoulders as I dodged flying glass. I just got done healing; I really didn’t want to get all cut up again.

Dez didn’t move and I had no choice but to try and leave. He didn’t stop me as I crawled onto the floor, using the side of the bed to protect me from flying debris. My knees bit into glass, and I hissed in pain as I continued to shuffle toward the door, using my hand as a shield for my eyes. My arms and legs stung from where shards pelted me. I ducked, narrowly avoiding the armchair that had lifted and shot across the room. I yanked open the door and slammed it behind me.

I ran. I ran as if my life depended on it, ignoring the burning between my thighs where Dez had his way with me and the soreness in my whole body. I had to find Lucy and get to the room with the red door before Dez caught me again.

“Erin?” I ran into Saya, who was curled up, reading a book, when her eyes bulged. “What happened? You’re hurt!”

“Lucy, where’s Lucy?”

“Do you need clothes and bandages? We can go to my room—”

“I need to find Lucy. Now. ”

Saya opened and closed her mouth, then nodded. “She should still be in her room.”

I threw a thank you over my shoulder as I sprinted. Lucy’s room was on the third floor and, thankfully, was still in the spot it last was before the party. The door was locked, and I pounded on it.

A wild-haired Lucy appeared, looking as if she’d been sleeping. “Good gracious, where are your clothes!” She pointed. “And you’re bleeding!”

I shoved past her into the dark room. It was still nighttime, which made me wonder why Saya hadn’t been asleep, too. Not long after that thought, Saya turned up in the door frame, out of breath.

“Where’s the coin?” It didn’t matter if Saya overheard; I was running out of time.

Lucy averted her eyes. “What coin?”

It felt like a blow to my stomach. “Lucy, please. Where is the coin?”

She bit her lip, her fingers fumbling with the edges of her pink nightdress. In the faint light spilling from the hallway, I noticed her nose was straighter, her lips fuller, and her cheekbones were like Henrietta’s, Jas’s, and Tatianna’s. Her face held an almost unnatural beauty. She’d been using the coin on herself, which meant it was on or close to her person.

I rummaged through her drawers, ripping off the pillows of her bed and shaking them.

“Stop it, what are you doing?” Lucy shouted.

Saya wrapped her arms around me, trying to stop me despite being naked and bleeding. I shoved her away, and she fell back on the floor. I marched to the vanity next, ripping out drawers and emptying containers.

Lucy started crying. “You’re acting insane!”

“Give me my damn coin!” I was shaking. Not out of anger but fear. This was the only way, the only way I could free myself from Cal’s contract and see Megan. I didn’t want to hurt Lucy and Saya, but I needed that coin.

Saya stood up and put her arms out between me and Lucy, as if I would attack her. I was offended, but it did look that way.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I saved your life, Lucy, now please, save mine. This is the only way I can save myself.”

Tears streamed down her too-perfect face as she reached into the pocket of her dress and revealed the quarter-sized silver coin.

I reached for it when she pulled it back, as if she was fighting with herself to let it go. “I … I just wanted to be beautiful.”

My face softened. “You already are. Please, Lucy.”

She sniffed and reluctantly dropped the silver coin in my hand while Saya silently watched the whole exchange. Relief flooded through me.

“I guess it’s time to put some clothes on,” I half-heartedly joked, hiding my sudden embarrassment behind a forced laugh.

Using the coin, I manifested a black tank top, a pair of yoga pants with zipped pockets to keep the silver coin safely in place, and sneakers.

From here on out, I’ll be on the run from Dez.

I didn’t tell the girls the whole plan but told them Dez had lost control and that they needed to find a place to hide if they could. Things were about to get messy. Lucy looked skeptical, but Saya’s face blanched. As Saya had done to me, I met her gaze and told her to protect Lucy and watch out for herself. If something happened to the girls, I’d never forgive myself.

Lucy had a floor-length mirror I stood in front of as I envisioned a red door. Saya gasped as the mirror shimmered. Lucy didn’t bother to hide her envy. I gave them one last smile, trying not to cry as a thought crossed my mind. This could be the last time I saw them.

Without looking back, I stepped into the portal.

The room was as I left it: dusty boxes of photos and love letters, a window showcasing a pebbled city street stuck in a cycle of perpetual rain. I held a matchbox in one hand and gasoline in the other. I drenched the room, from the polished wood floor to the flowered wallpaper, soaking the pages of love letters and photo albums until the smell was overwhelming. I held up the matchbox and let it rip.

Smoke and fire hit my nose as I tossed the first lit match at the pile of love letters, ignoring the guilt that clawed at my stomach. I focused on my anger and embarrassment as Dez had tied me up, touched me without permission, and fucked me over and over again. He led me on, made me believe he could be trusted, and then showed me his true colors. He only looked out for his own interests.

And I would look out for mine.

As the flames ate away the last bits of Dez’s ex-lover, I flew out the door and ran. I didn’t have a destination in mind, aiming to get as far away from the scene of the crime as I could. However, after tonight, between my question that sent Dez into a spiral and the secrecy around my contract with Cal, Dez will know it was me. He will know it was me who erased all traces of his dead lover.

Dez was going to kill me at best. At worst, I was going to suffer for a long time if I didn’t figure out a way to get back to Earth with Megan.

A fate worse than death awaits you, wrapped up in a pretty package.

Was this the beginning of the end for me?

Not long after the smell of gasoline and fire left my nose, the house—no, the land itself—started to deteriorate. Walls crumbled, the roof caved, the marble floors cracked, and furniture splintered apart. The floating glass stairs had finally obeyed gravity and fell with an ear-shattering crash to the foyer floor below, my only way out of the falling estate.

Saya and Lucy. What if they’re stuck inside?

I hesitated in the hallway but didn’t have the luxury of time. I jumped out of the way just as a glass chandelier landed where I’d been standing. Even if I wanted to go back, I couldn’t. Not with everything falling apart. I just had to hope they made it to a safe spot.

I dodged broken walls and part of the roof that had collapsed. I didn’t have a choice; I was going to have to jump.

Pulling out the coin, I ran full speed at one of the already broken windows. My feet hit the air, with the ground fast approaching me. I smacked into a pile of pillows that had appeared last minute, the silver coin tightly clenched in my fist.

Sweat dripped down my back as I climbed out of the mass of feathers, ignoring the stinging in my limbs and the soreness radiating throughout my muscles. The estate had already collapsed in several sections, the manicured lawn fractured where the ground had torn apart, and was still being torn apart. I shot for the entrance to the estate that was still intact. I didn’t care what dangers lurked in those woods; I’d take it over being crushed or falling to my death as the ground opened up beneath me.

“Erin!”

Someone screamed, and I jerked to Lucy, waving her hands, with Saya collapsed at her feet in the middle of the lawn. I changed course, my sneakers hitting the ground, kicking up dirt.

“Shit!” The lawn crumbled in front of me, separating me from the girls. I veered right, following the fraction line until there was a smaller gap between the pieces of land. I jumped.

My hands and knees slammed into the ground, the gap larger than I thought. I focused on Lucy’s tear-stricken face and got up and barreled toward her.

“She fainted!” Lucy screeched, her breathing heavy. “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, I don’t know what to do. The house, everything just started—”

“Help me get her on my back!” I pocketed the coin and pulled at Saya, but she was deadweight. Even if she were more petite than me, I wouldn’t be able to do this alone.

Lucy tugged at Saya’s other arm. Sweat now poured past my brows, stinging my eyes despite the cold autumn air. We managed to get her on my back and I gritted my teeth against the weight, glad Megan roped me into doing deadlifts at the gym.

We ran around the parts where the ground had cracked until we reached the entrance leading onto the estate grounds. I set Saya down as gently as I could outside the stone and glass gate right before they completely disintegrated. Heavy breaths racked my chest, my lungs screaming.

“What happened to Saya?” I wheezed.

Lucy wiped her face, her blonde curls wrapped up in a bun. Her pink slip was damp, the sides ripped and smudged with dirt. “We hid as soon as you left, but we knew we had to get out when everything started to collapse.” She wrung her hands in the dirty fabric of her gown. “We … we ran into Master. You were right, he had completely lost it, demanding where you were. We said we didn’t know, and then he … he …” She shook her head as if in shock. “He changed . Saya started screaming and gripped my arm so tight I thought she’d break it, and we ran for our lives. When we made it to the lawn, we thought we were safe, but then the ground started to fall apart, and that’s when Saya collapsed.”

I swallowed. That didn’t sound good.

Where the hell was Cal?

The coin was out of my pocket and ready in my hand when a roar erupted, the force of it blowing me and Lucy’s hair back.

“ Errrriiiinnnn! ”

The estate that had stood so tall and beautiful when I first arrived crumbled to dust. A man—no, a beast —emerged from the ashes. It could’ve been Dez that grew a couple more feet, but the being I knew was completely gone, eclipsed by blue and silver scales that climbed up his legs and arms. Talons had replaced his hands and feet, a thick tail extended out behind him with the tip branching out into thorns. Two silver horns spiraled from his temples, bordering his now silver-white hair that hung past his hip, the ends forming blades that looked sharp enough to slice someone open.

I felt the blood drain from my face.

Lucy was shaking my shoulders, her eyes wide with terror. “The coin!” she screamed. “Get us out of here!”

I clenched my eyes shut, thinking of Cal’s bedroom, the cozy fireplace, and the quilts piled on top of the bed.

“ Errrriiiinnnn! ” the beastly Dez roared my name again.

My eyes flung open as the ground beneath us started to ripple, showing Cal’s room on the other side. My hands sank through the dead grass and Lucy gathered Saya in her arms. She shot me a thankful look as she held her breath, not hesitating to dive into the water-like ground with Saya in tow. I waited until they were safely through before I dove in after her.

A root wrapped around my upper thigh, yanking me out of the portal.

“ No! ” I screeched, my leg ripped backward as the animated root dragged me away from my only escape and straight toward the beast.

My arms and legs slid across the dirt, scrambling for purchase. The coin was still clenched in my hand as I materialized a knife that would cut through anything. I cut off the root, staggering to my feet. I needed space; I needed time!

A protective bubble expanded around me as more roots slammed into the transparent field. Beast Dez continued to stalk toward me, his tail slamming the ground on either side of him, shaking the very land.

Cal’s room came to mind again, and I desperately prayed for the portal to open faster as Dez now stood at the edge of my barrier. The ground began to shudder once more, my feet sinking painfully, slowly into a new portal. Beast Dez smiled, revealing a row of sharp teeth, as he extended a single talon and tapped the barrier.

It shattered into pieces.

Claws wrapped around my throat, suspending me in the air before I could blink, and the coin fell from my hand, lost to the cracked land below me as I yanked at the sharpened talons. A lightheadedness crept into my skull, my legs kicking at the empty space between us. My eyes were drawn to his, like a moth to a flame. They were the clearest blue as if all the springs of the world had been poured directly into his irises, his pupils no longer islands but black slits like a reptile’s.

“Can’t … hurt … me,” I gargled, struggling to breathe.

He pulled me closer to his unnaturally beautiful face with the same high cheekbones, prominent nose, and full lips, except the scales that climbed up his throat and the sides of his face blending into the horns that I sincerely prayed he wouldn’t skewer me on.

“Oh, I’ll do more than just hurt you, sweetheart .” It was a half growl, his sharp fangs inches from my face. “When your meeting with the Council ends, I’ll be there. When you think you’re free to return to Earth and continue your meaningless life, I’ll be there. When you crawl into bed at night, believing you’re finally safe, I’ll be there. I’ll be there to rip all that away from you and drag you to the deepest, darkest pits of despair. You’ll be mine, Erin, for the rest of eternity, begging for the sweet release of death that won’t come.”

A fate worse than death awaits you, wrapped up in a pretty package.

Even after everything, I couldn’t avoid my own fate.

Tears burned my eyes. My vision blurred, and I couldn’t draw in enough air; my ears rang. A gust of wind brushed against my cheek as another horned figure approached us. His eyes, like liquid metal, landed on mine right before I passed out.