It flooded in like insanity. She needed to lie down.
Purge it.
Hilary made a point to keep from glancing into the rooms as she passed lest she see something else that would trigger thoughts of demons hiding on the second floor. The
In the end, she drifted into an uneasy slumber in the steam shower.
***
The writing desk drawer hung open. Empty this time, an antique liner paper curling at the joints. Underneath though, instead of a wood grain, Hilary spotted a curve of letters. She pinched the scrolling paper, tugging it away, revealing the sentence slowly.
Let…
the…
devil…
fuck you…
HILARY.
The room shook as she staggered away from the desk, flattening against the wall, panting, eyes darting to the opening to the hall, horrified that the fanatical mother, the one that was her would walk in and begin to make her terrible threats.
Stilling her breathing as much as she could, she tried to listen for noise in the hall. The slightest scuffle. Someone hiding. Waiting.
Hilary edged across the room, tiptoeing as she reached the arch. She steeled herself for what she was about to witness and lurched out, eyes clinched shut at first and then peeking into…
Nothing.
The white hall was clinically empty. Sterile.
“ Jesus,” she exhaled. “What a freak. Pull yourself together.”
She made her way to the courtyard only to stop dead at the sight of the balustrade. A blisteringly bright light jutted into the night sky, a searchlight, an announcement. Something was coming. A great scrabbling squelch arose and this time it was clear. Claws were raking on the stair. Something…
The devil.
… was crawling out of hell. Clawing its way up out of the pit and into the cage, its door open and clanging as the floor rumbled beneath her.
Hilary’s eyes skittered to the four corners of the courtyard, scanning the balconies. She had to tell someone. She had to warn them. But when she looked back at the balustrade a dark figure split the bright column of light in two.
The silhouette was familiar.
At first she mistook it for Ludovic, his strange exotic features seemed fitting subterfuge for a demonic presence, but as the man approached. It was clear that she knew him more intimately.
Jack.
He walked toward her, eyes sleepy and nearly closed. Relief flooded in and she rushed to throw herself into his arms. He wrapped her in a comforting embrace, whispering warmly into her scalp. Something.
She couldn’t quite understand it.
And then she could.
“This is the wrong meat.”
Hilary pushed away, staring at his placid expression, his jagged teeth.
His bright red eyes.
She screamed then.
9
Jack didn’t want to hear it. Her stories of demons, of contracts. He started in before she’d even finished the story. Hilary slumped forward, elbows on her knees, forehead in her palms and brain bulging out of her skull.
“ It's not going to help anything to get upset,” he said.
“ Okay, for starters, Jack. You could back me up, for once, instead of the other way around.”
“ Oh come on, don't you think you're overreacting just a bit?”
She jerked to her feet. “Seriously? If you can't admit that we've stumbled into something that's completely fucked up then we have definitely gone off the rails with this relationship.”
“ We're having sex and its fun again, what the fuck is wrong with that?”
“ I don't even know how to respond to that, Jack. These people are insane. Even if my dreams are complete bullshit. All of them are nuts. Did you walk through that fingerbang gauntlet? Who does that?”
“ What's wrong with that? No what? Really? It's exactly what we need to turn things around. We've been so…I don't know, same, for so long. This is definitely not same. This is...it's—”
“ Potentially dangerous?”
“ Fucking awesome is what I was going to say.”
“ Oh. Great!”
Jack was definitely losing his grip on reality. Or she was. The dreams were truly making her unstable. She
Purge it.
Hilary made a point to keep from glancing into the rooms as she passed lest she see something else that would trigger thoughts of demons hiding on the second floor. The
In the end, she drifted into an uneasy slumber in the steam shower.
***
The writing desk drawer hung open. Empty this time, an antique liner paper curling at the joints. Underneath though, instead of a wood grain, Hilary spotted a curve of letters. She pinched the scrolling paper, tugging it away, revealing the sentence slowly.
Let…
the…
devil…
fuck you…
HILARY.
The room shook as she staggered away from the desk, flattening against the wall, panting, eyes darting to the opening to the hall, horrified that the fanatical mother, the one that was her would walk in and begin to make her terrible threats.
Stilling her breathing as much as she could, she tried to listen for noise in the hall. The slightest scuffle. Someone hiding. Waiting.
Hilary edged across the room, tiptoeing as she reached the arch. She steeled herself for what she was about to witness and lurched out, eyes clinched shut at first and then peeking into…
Nothing.
The white hall was clinically empty. Sterile.
“ Jesus,” she exhaled. “What a freak. Pull yourself together.”
She made her way to the courtyard only to stop dead at the sight of the balustrade. A blisteringly bright light jutted into the night sky, a searchlight, an announcement. Something was coming. A great scrabbling squelch arose and this time it was clear. Claws were raking on the stair. Something…
The devil.
… was crawling out of hell. Clawing its way up out of the pit and into the cage, its door open and clanging as the floor rumbled beneath her.
Hilary’s eyes skittered to the four corners of the courtyard, scanning the balconies. She had to tell someone. She had to warn them. But when she looked back at the balustrade a dark figure split the bright column of light in two.
The silhouette was familiar.
At first she mistook it for Ludovic, his strange exotic features seemed fitting subterfuge for a demonic presence, but as the man approached. It was clear that she knew him more intimately.
Jack.
He walked toward her, eyes sleepy and nearly closed. Relief flooded in and she rushed to throw herself into his arms. He wrapped her in a comforting embrace, whispering warmly into her scalp. Something.
She couldn’t quite understand it.
And then she could.
“This is the wrong meat.”
Hilary pushed away, staring at his placid expression, his jagged teeth.
His bright red eyes.
She screamed then.
9
Jack didn’t want to hear it. Her stories of demons, of contracts. He started in before she’d even finished the story. Hilary slumped forward, elbows on her knees, forehead in her palms and brain bulging out of her skull.
“ It's not going to help anything to get upset,” he said.
“ Okay, for starters, Jack. You could back me up, for once, instead of the other way around.”
“ Oh come on, don't you think you're overreacting just a bit?”
She jerked to her feet. “Seriously? If you can't admit that we've stumbled into something that's completely fucked up then we have definitely gone off the rails with this relationship.”
“ We're having sex and its fun again, what the fuck is wrong with that?”
“ I don't even know how to respond to that, Jack. These people are insane. Even if my dreams are complete bullshit. All of them are nuts. Did you walk through that fingerbang gauntlet? Who does that?”
“ What's wrong with that? No what? Really? It's exactly what we need to turn things around. We've been so…I don't know, same, for so long. This is definitely not same. This is...it's—”
“ Potentially dangerous?”
“ Fucking awesome is what I was going to say.”
“ Oh. Great!”
Jack was definitely losing his grip on reality. Or she was. The dreams were truly making her unstable. She
Similar Books
