Page 58 of Hunted By Fear

He yells, and everything blurs as pain radiates through my head as if I’d been physically hurt, though he can’t seem to touch me.

“Is he hurting you?” Rome’s question catches me off guard as I look up at him, where he once again stands over me, seething mad.

He can’t mean the guys; they’ve been doing nothing but trying to protect me.

“The only one who hurts me is y–you.” My voice quivers, but at least it comes out.

He rears back as if I smacked him, his eyes wide as they search mine. I’m not sure what he’s looking for, but his face falls, and he staggers back a step.

“That was never what I wanted. I only want you, Aerilyn. Forever. I love you.”

The image‌ blurs, but this time it isn’t from my tears. I get the feeling I’m waking up.

“You don’t love me, Rome. You love the idea of me, what you believe I would be, owning me.”

“No!” he yells, but unlike last time, he doesn’t sound angry.

Pain splits my head, and a scream is ripped from my throat, jerking me from sleep before I ever get to see what it is.

The castle is huge, which I expected, but I didn’t expect it to be so beautiful.

Dark, and a little haunted maybe, but still a sight to behold. Too bad I can’t seem to focus on more than putting one foot in front of the other all the way down to the library.

It doesn’t take long, but neither of us says a word, our thoughts still on the woman we just left behind.

Bast stops before a formidable dark wooden door that might even rival the entrance doors. Instead of using his powers, Bast physically pushes the door open, and I wonder if that’s a choice or if something prevents him from using his powers on the door.

“The library is protected by imp magic that ensures only those who would not use the information against Lucifer and the realm may enter,” he says over his shoulder as if reading my mind.

For all I know, he can. Like their physical forms, their powers changed when they fell.

Kai can enter others' minds, manipulating what they see and remember, doing more than just erasing the existence of our kind from mortals who see things they shouldn’t.

If not for the contract, I’m sure he could have erased Rome from Aeri’s mind with ease. Rome shouldn’t even have the ability to do what he is with Aeri, but he’s always found a way to get what he wants.

Kai also has another form now, though the others could as well. I have no idea, since only Kai was willing to speak to me.

I hesitate outside the door for a moment as Bast’s words wash over me, and I feel his eyes.

This is a test.

I don’t blame them, honestly. The fact that Lucifer brought me here is risky. Keeping demons from Heaven and angels from Hell is one of the few things Lucifer and Father have ever agreed upon. Though I get the feeling it was out of necessity, not because they wanted to.

The anarchy that would come from crossing back and forth…it would be enough to end the world, I’m sure.

I walk through the doors knowing I have nothing to hide. The only reason I’m here is because this is where Aeri is. If she were still on Earth, I never would have had a reason to be here, not to mention Lucifer is the one who came and brought me here, not the other way around.

Magic rolls over me, and I get the same feeling I had when we passed over the River, telling me it’s Lucifer’s, but nothing happens, and I follow Bast deeper into the library.

It’s quiet and dim and very much somewhere I can imagine Kai holed up in all day, though I’m a little surprised Bast isn’t as well.

If this were a human library, he probably would be, although maybe not with Aeri, his other choice. There isn’t much I would choose over her.

”How the fuck did you get here?” Kai’s biting tone pulls me from my musing, and despite myself, I smile.

Kai is an asshole, always. The one thing that has never changed once in my very long life.

“Aw, I missed you too.”