Page 94 of Wicked Believer

Though I’m not certain I could have anyway.

The pressure inside my head is reaching an apex. Like what I imagine it would feel like to go diving, if you hadn’t been trained in how to do it the right way. Just as I’m about to tell Azmodeus that I want to turn back around, that I might not actually be able to go through with this, a veil is lifted, and the darkness of the staircase ends abruptly.

We’re standing in what appears to be an abandoned cellar, blue and green neon lights illuminating where two bouncers stand outside a door they’re guarding.

The sound of electronic club music thumps distantly.

“What is this place?” I turn back toward the stairs in search of Azmodeus, who’s been trailing behind me the whole time, but I can’t find him, yet when I face forward, he’s somehow in front of me, smirking.

“Welcome to In-Between, Charlotte.”

He nods to the bouncers, who open the doors, a wave of electric energy and sound rushing over us. The open cellar is packed with people, or whatappearto be people, anyway.

The fast-paced club music plays on a nonstop loop at such a loud decibel, I can hardly hear myself think. I smile.

Perfect.

I squint in awe at the writhing crowd, the lights that paint them and their half-naked bodies. One of their heads snaps toward me, their eyes flashing an otherworldly shade of green. I inhale a sharp breath.

Where the hell am I?

I take a tentative step back, some instinctive, still-human part of me wanting to flee, but Azmodeus catches me by the shoulders, leaning down to me.

He has to practically shout next to my ear for me to hear him over the music playing. “I promised I would pop your celestial cherry,” he yells. “You didn’t think I’d disappoint, did you?”

I laugh, opening my mouth to say thatthisis more of what I expected from him, but I’m silenced by the sight of a small star-shaped pill balanced on his finger in front of me.

“Do you trust me, Charlotte?” he asks again.

I give a quick nod. I’m not sure it’s true, but Azmodeus hasn’t done anything to hurt me, and even though I know it’s a risk, it’s one I choose.

The power in that is heady. Intoxicating even.

Suddenly, the feeling of wanting to let go, of wanting to jump off this cliff into immortality and my God-given purpose until I’m in freefall, is overwhelming.

Azmodeus must read my face, because before I can change my mind, he grips the back of my neck like he means to kiss me.

My heart pumps feverishly.

Drunk on the feeling his touch creates.

“Open your mouth, Charlotte.”

I stick out my tongue like I did when I was a child and I’d try to catch a falling snowflake, and Azmodeus drops the little star-shaped tablet onto it. It melts instantly, the taste like an odd mix of pomegranate and freshly bitten apple.

“Stardust,” he says. “It’s celestial ecstasy.”

Ecstasy is the right word.

Already I can feel the pleasure of it coursing through my system. The beat of the music. The feel of Azmodeus’s touch. The light shining down on me.

Within only a handful of moments, I come alive.

More electric, more relaxed, more ecstatic, and just ...freerthan I’ve been in weeks.

Every bit of the numbness I’ve been trying to shield myself with melts away from me.

I drop my head back, eyes closed, total and complete euphoria coming over me. I haven’t felt this way since, well ...