Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“And Toni?”
“He will stay alive. I don’t have ill intentions here. If anything, it’s selfish. I want to be freed. You are vulnerable right now and I’m using that to get you to help me.”
“Gee, really selling it.” I roll my eyes, hoping I’m keeping a poker face. Because this offer is tempting.
“I wouldn’t just ask anyone. You’re a witch,” she goes on. “A powerful one at that. Like I said, your blood alone was enough to open a portal to hell. You don’t think the Order chose you at random, do you?”
“I know they didn’t. Tell me the terms,” I rush out before I have a chance to think this through.
Her smirk grows. “Sign the contract. I will bring your brother back. You have until the next moon phase to free me. Do that, and I tear up your contract. Your soul is yours to keep. Your brother stays alive. I am free.”
“And if I don’t free you?”
Her eyes ink back over. “Then you’re mine.” She takes a slow breath. It’s forced and thought out. Demons, like vampires, don’t need air to breathe to stay alive. She’s doing it for show, and my mind is whirling. The Order having control over a demon is dangerous. It’s basically like giving them a genie in a magic lamp with unlimited wishes. Taking that power away from them is something that has to be done, regardless if it benefits me or not.
Freeing the demon isn’t the way I’d go about it, though. The demon needs to be killed, and killing it while it’s on a leash makes things exponentially easier.
And she knows that, hence why she’s making this specific offer. The fact that she’s not working anything into the contract about me not going after her once she’s free tells me all I need to know about how much power she’ll have once she’s free—and that alone should terrify me.
But thinking about going on without Antonio, about having to tell Leo and Gia that our oldest brother is dead…it’s not something I can do. Maybe I’m selfish too, because I don’t want to go home and leave my brother behind when I could have brought him back. The guilt would eat me alive every single day. Antonio was used by the Order to start the ritual which opened the portal. It’s not fucking fair he has to die by it, too.
“How do I even free you?” I ask. “What does the Order have on you?”
“That’s for you to figure out.”
“You don’t know,” I snap, raising my eyebrows. “And you need me to figure it out.”
Her eyes narrow slightly, not wanting to admit it. Maybe she’s not some all-powerful demon after all. “I’ve been bound by ancient magic. Break the sigil that binds me, and I’m free.”
“Let me guess: you have no idea where this sigil is?”
“It has been cloaked from me for centuries.”
“Of course, it has,” I say with a nod. The Order has several buildings that house valuable and dangerous objects. I’ve heard they’re kept under strict lock and key, protected like valuables in a museum. If there was some sort of physical sigil binding a demon in any way, my money would be it’s kept safe in one of those secure locations. “Moon cycle, not phase,” I tell her and then regret it. That only gives me a month, but it’s better than a few days.
“I can work with that.” The demon steps forward, dark eyes shimmering from the hellfire reflected in them.
In the back of my mind, I can hear Xavier’s voice calling my name. My heart swells in my chest and all the love I feel for him bubbles up. I shouldn’t be making a deal with a demon just like I shouldn’t have fallen in love with a vampire.
Yet, here I am.
“Do we have a deal?” the demon asks.
“Tell me your name. I need to know in order to find the right sigil.”
“Vaelric.” The demon extends a hand. “Do we have a deal?”
My heart hammers in my chest and I swallow down any fear and doubt I have. Slowly, I extend my hand, fingers sliding over the demon’s palm as I grab her hand.
“Deal.”
Chapter
Three
“Wren.” Xavier's cool, heavy hand lands on my shoulder, gently turning me around. His other hand is on my waist, keeping me from falling in case I pass out. Right. I’m drugged up. I blink several times, reacquainting myself to the physical realm. Everything is as it was just seconds ago.
Inhaling slowly, I grip Xavier’s arm and turn, lips parting as I suck in a breath.
“Toni,” I whisper and Xavier makes a move to hug me, comforting me because he was—just a moment ago—certain my brother was dead. Instead, he freezes, fingers pressing into the skin on my waist.
“What did you do?” he asks, voice a hoarse whisper.