Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
He’s still wearing his executioner’s hood. His eyes flick down to Elodie, passed out in my arms. “She shouldn’t be here.”
I don’t argue with him. I knew I was breaking the rules before I forced her to watch our most secret ritual.
“The Devil will find out.”
“Will you tell him, brother?” I ask and walk past him without waiting for an answer.
He’s only telling me what I already know. Tonight was the beginning of the end. When the Devil finds out what I’ve done, he’ll pass judgment. I might be a dead man walking, depending on what he decides.
One way or another, the countdown has begun.
Elodie
When I come awake in bed, morning light is streaming under the door, and I’m alone. I vaguely remember Jaeger getting up early, kissing my hair, and telling me he’d be back.
My hair is damp from a shower. Jaeger must have cleaned me before tucking us into bed. I frown at my bare feet, remembering how I’d run from him over the cold stone. How I’d panicked in that dark, evil place, the horror growing in my belly until it had come clawing out and consumed me. My sex is raw, and my back is bruised from how hard he fucked me against the mausoleum wall.
More memories from last night come flooding in, and I sort through the shadowy fragments. The church that is not a church, the ritual that resulted in a man’s murder, and a woman like me covered in blood. The demons in skull masks, the flames licking up the black walls like hellfire
It feels like a nightmare come to haunt me. Maybe I’ll be lucky, and it’ll all turn out to be a dream.
I don’t think I’m that lucky.
My limbs feel like lead as I propel myself off the bed. My ankle isn’t fully healed, but I’m able to limp to the bathroom and face the mirror.
There’s still a ribbon around my neck, but it’s not white. It’s black.
Last night wasn’t a dream.
What did I get myself into? I wish Jaeger was here so he could hold me and tell me it’s all right. So I can cry and smack him until he pins me down and calls me bunny. He makes things make sense.
He’s part of the darkness, but he’s still my safe place.
I’m buttoning up my jeans, almost dressed and ready for the day, when the front door slams.
Jaeger must be back.
I limp out of the bedroom only to stop short. The man in the foyer is in ripped jeans and a black T-shirt, with long golden hair tied back from his face. He looks like Jaeger, but he’s not.
It’s Kaiser, prowling into the penthouse like he owns it.
I freeze like a rabbit sighted by the wolf.
He stops to sneer at the ferns and throw pillows but quickly transfers all his disgust into a glare directed at me.
I want to tell him to fuck off, but I don’t want to die today. My only hope is that Jaeger comes back and throws him out.
Kaiser seems content to glare at me in silence. Maybe he’s not here to kill me. Jaeger said Kaiser had an apartment nearby, right? So he’s our neighbor. Maybe he’s here to borrow an egg.
To break the awkwardness, I ask, “Can I help you?”
His glower turns darker, but finally, he speaks. “Do you know where my brother is right now?”
Jaeger
This morning, I woke up to a text consisting of only one word: Inferno. It was sent by Damien, who is listed in my phone only as the number one. Damien has always had enemies, and as Fraternitas grows in power and wealth, he’s only made more. That’s why he encourages the mystique surrounding the figure called “the Devil.” The less he seems human and real, the safer he is.
Before he claimed his elita, he didn't care about his own safety. But now, he has more to live for.
I understand his way of thinking now that I have Elodie. I have more to worry about, more reason to care for my own life.
I can only hope Damien will forgive me for what I’ve done.
I left Elodie in our bed, still sleeping, worn out from our night together.
I’m lucky Damien called to meet him at Inferno rather than the underground. Those who are invited to the Abyss by the Devil do not return.
I find Damien in Lucy’s office with her, their heads close together. The door is open, but they stop talking when I approach and rap the door frame out of courtesy.
Lucy looks me up and down and scoffs. “I’ll talk to you later,” she tells Damien and rolls her wheelchair out from behind her desk.
“Good to see you, Lucy,” I tell her, and she waves her hand at me. She likes me, and being rude is her favorite way to show it.