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“ Nikki,” he says when we finally pull out of our embrace, but not so much that we completely break contact. If I had my way, I’d never stop touching him again. “Oh, god, Nikki, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” I whisper. I’m kneeling on the bathroom floor, my palm stroking his cheek, my fingers tracing a pattern on his arm, as if any break in contact will start the nightmare all over again. “But I don’t—I don’t think I fully understand. Was it really Vivien? Was she inside me?”

“She was. Her essence, anyway.” I see him shudder. “And Basil was, too. But only a tiny bit of him. She was protecting you. She saved you.”

I shake my head. “ You saved me. Or maybe you both did. But I saw you fighting. I could see that you were fighting the demon inside you.”

I close my eyes, wishing I could block the memory. But at the same time I want to know. To understand. “Do you know what happened? How it happened? How we won?”

He lifts our joined hands and kisses my palm. “I know,” he says. “I know, because it was still me. Somewhere inside, it was me.” He cups my cheek, his face like a mask of pain. “I wanted to hurt you.” His voice cracks, and I tighten my hands around his. “God, Nikki. Even as I tried to protect you, I wanted to hurt you.”

The anguish in his voice squeezes my heart, and I brush a whisper-soft kiss over his lips. “No. Not you. The demon inside. And you fought it, Damien. You fought, and you won.” I smile, just the tiniest tug at the corner of my mouth.

“I know,” he says. “But if we hadn’t won—baby, it would have been me who killed you.”

Hot tears stream down my cheeks as I squeeze his hand. Hard. “No. Never. We both know you could never hurt me. And today you saved me.”

He brushes a tear away with his fingertip, his touch so gentle I think I might start crying in earnest.

“We saved each other,” he says. A hint of a smile touches his lips. “You had the strength to destroy the bracelet.”

I glance at my now-bare wrist. “You understand all of it, don’t you? About the bracelet. About Basil. You know because it was in you.”

His throat moves as he swallows. “Yes.” It’s barely a whisper, yet the word is full of pain.

“Tell me.”

It’s clear he doesn’t want to talk about it. But at the same time, I can see that he understands that I have to know. I watch as his shoulders sag, but he lifts his chin and meets my eyes, and I know he will tell me everything.

“The bracelet is ancient,” he begins. “It was found centuries ago, and kept mostly in museums. The demon was already tied to it, and it manipulated those who came in contact with it, finally getting it in an auction and pushing Carlton to buy it for Vivien.”

“Why her? Why them?”

“Carlton wanted power. Vivien had it—there’s power that comes in being a star. But he was almost invisible next to her.”

“He turned to the occult?”

Damien nods. “He brought forth the demon. Released it from the bracelet. He had no idea what kind of door he was opening. No idea that the demon would slide into the house as well. That it would manipulate him. Torment Vivien.”

“A door to hell,” I whisper, then shudder. “And Vivien’s soul stayed on to fight it.”

He nods as I blink back tears. “That’s enough,” I say. “I don’t need to hear the rest. It’s too sad, and I—”

“Aaaaaeeeeeeeiiiiiiiii”

I almost jump out of my skin at the loud, guttural cry. Damien leaps in front of me at the same time that Franklin fills the bathroom doorway, his arms out-stretched, palms on either side of the doorway. His clothes are covered with shards of glass, and I realize he must have been standing outside when the window blew out. His eyes burn blood-red, and his body is bloated like a caricature balloon filled to almost bursting.

His lip curls as his eyes meet Damien’s. “You fool,” he sneers in a low, grating voice that is barely recognizable as Franklin’s. “You had the power inside you, and instead of embracing it, you fought it. Forced it out.”

“Don’t do this, Franklin,” Damien says, his voice tight with control. “Fight it. We can help you.”

“ Fool. Don’t you see that this was what I wanted all along?”

I grab Damien’s hand and feel his grip tighten around mine.

“You weren’t worthy to host the demon,” Franklin continues, his grotesque form pulsating with the power of the evil inside him. “I am worthy.”

“The hell you are,” Damien says. “You’re weak. You’re a weak man looking for power, and you have no idea what that means.”

“Oh, but I do. I planned for this. Manipulated it. And now I will become.”

I watch, horrified, as he throws his head back, his body contorting as he cries out in a mix of pain and jubilation. Electricity—power—seems to skitter over his skin, leaving the scent of burning flesh as his clothes burn away. As his form contorts, stretching, growing, elongating.

I feel bile rise in my throat as I realize what’s happening. “He’s becoming the serpent.” My words are barely a whisper, but from the way Damien squeezes my hand and shifts to put himself between me and the creature that was Franklin, I know he understands.

I also know that we’re trapped. Franklin’s growing, writhing form now fills the doorway, the acrid scent of burning flesh—of hell— fills the room. He snarls, showing fangs dripping with slime. “You will die slowly.” The eyes, now slits, narrow even more as the body sways, the head turning to look at us in turn. “You will be the first meal in honor of my new life. My new power.”

A forked tongue bursts from his mouth, darting across the small room to scrape my cheek. I scream and fall backward, only to slam the back of my head against the cabinetry.

“You’re afraid. That’s good. I feed on fear and blood.” He’s fully Basil now, a basilisk. A demon. And when I look into his eyes, I see only death.

No. The word screams through my head. No. This can’t be happening. We’ve been through so much. Survived so much. We expelled the demon from the house. From Damien. From the bracelet.

As if he’s read my mind, Damien lurches across the small space, his hand closing over the dust that is the remnant of the bracelet. He snatches up the crucifix I’d dropped. And then, as the serpent slithers forward—as its jaw unhinges to reveal a dark, hellish maw—as I scream Damien’s name, he thrusts his hand forward and shoves the crucifix down the beast’s throat.

The serpent shrieks and the air fills with the stench of sulfur as the putrid flesh burns away to reveal Franklin’s body, convulsing and screaming as he shivers and writhes as the demon fades. And then, with one final, piercing shriek, Franklin’s body goes limp. His skin returns to a human color, and all that is left is the lifeless shell of a man who craved power, and lost himself to its dark, twisty depths.

“ Nikki. ”

In one fluid movement, Damien pulls me into his arms, holding me tight as I sob, all of my fear pouring out of me. I’m alive. I’m safe.

I’m with Damien.

For an eternity, we simply hold each other. Then he kisses me, long and deep, as if in proof that we’re both still alive and safe and us.

An hour later, I stand in the doorway as the police and the ambulance leave. As it turns out, there had been reports over the last few years about Franklin’s unusual behavior and his fascination with the serpent bracelet. Because of that, the police didn’t question our story that he’d asked to buy it, and after we refused, he broke in and attacked me, destroying the bracelet in the process. No one other than Damien and I know what really happened, and already it’s beginning to feel like a dream. Part of me is relieved. There are some memories that are better forgotten. But at the same time, part of me doesn’t want to forget. It was our love that saved us, that kept us from truly becoming what Franklin had tried to make us.

Our love , I think, when Damien takes my hand. And for the billionth time I wonder how I ever got so lucky to have a man like Damien.

“This wasn’t what I intended when I bought you Vivien Lorainne’s house as a present,” he says once the departing sirens have faded.

I laugh. “No? I wasn’t sure. After all, you do like to make a splash, Mr. Stark.”

He chuckles, but when he turns to me, his expression is serious. “We’ll put it on the market today.”

I draw a breath as I meet his eyes. Despite the chaos and destruction that surrounds us, I’ve never felt more loved. More lucky. More alive.

“No,” I say. “We’ll keep it.”

“Keep it?”

I nod as I take both his hands, then squeeze them.

Even as I do, I feel the details of the last few days slipping away, and I somehow know that soon we will both have forgotten. Anything we might recall will seem like nothing more than a bad dream.

I’m glad of that. And yet….

I draw in a breath and shake my head. “It’s a reminder of who we are,” I tell him. “Of how strong we are. Even if we forget all of this tomorrow, the house will still be standing. Proof that together, we can survive anything.”

I watch his face as the doubt slowly fades, replaced by that deliciously sexy smile.

“We’re forever, you and I.” His voice curls through me. “In this life, and in whatever comes after, you’re mine.”

“Yes,” I whisper, my heart full to bursting. “For always.”

THE END