Page 77 of The Devil's Fire

I looked at him in pure shock.

“What kind of childhood is that?”

“I was busy surviving and learning how to kill.” He stated casually with a shrug of his shoulders.

A pang of sadness hit me as I pictured Damiano as a child, forced to live in a world in which he had no control over. A child robbed of his innocence, only to be taught how to be a cold-blooded murderer.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Damiano’s eyes softened.

My arms went around him with no hesitation, and I held him tight. I had to blink a few times to stop the tears from showing.

“I can’t give you your childhood back, but I can give you a great time in an amusement park.” I linked my arm through his with a smile. “And the best food is here. I don’t know why, but it’s like food in these places tastes a hundred times better.” I grinned at him. I caught a glimpse of adoration in his eyes, but it disappeared before I could be certain.

I didn’t give it much thought as I looked for our first activity, determined to give him a good time.

“Damiano, look! A horror house. We have to go!” I tugged on his arm, leading the way.

And that was where I made my mistake.

“Damiano, you can’t do that!” I gasped and quickly walked out of the horror house before any more people were hurt.

“He scared you.” Damiano scowled.

“They are supposed to scare you. That’s their job! Not the other way around.” I sighed.

A poor guy, dressed up as Michael Myers, showed up out of nowhere in front of me with a big-ass knife and scared the shit out of me. Damiano took it way too seriously and slammed the guy to the floor, threatening him to the point he took off running, screaming for his life.

“I think you traumatized the poor guy.” I looked back at the horror house, feeling guilty about it.

“Good.” Damiano’s reply had me burst out laughing.

“Try to loosen up a bit.” I took his hand in mine as I looked around for our next activity. My smile widened as I led him to a particular stand. “Perhaps this is more your area of expertise.” I bit my lip to hold back a snicker as I gestured to the target shooting game.

Damiano took a quick glance before meeting my eyes with a playful glint.

“You think you’re funny?” A smile tugged at his lips.

“Oh, I know I’m funny.” I winked and bought us a round. “Want to make it a competition?” I picked up the rifle confidently, staring at the shooting mark hanging on the wall.

“What’s the winning prize?” Damiano crossed his arms, leaning against the counter, still humored that I was challenging him.

“Whatever the winner wishes.”

“Whatever the winner wishes.” He repeated with a smirk. “By all means, go right ahead.”

I aimed at the small shooting mark, closed one eye to focus because that’s what I had seen in movies. Once having a clear sight of the mark, I fired all of my shots.

And not a single one made it inside a circle.

I wasn’t even close.

“Wow, that sucked.” I scowled at the target paper. “How am I supposed to hit that little red dot when it’s so far away?” I complained to no one in particular as I continued to scowl.

“Looks like we’ve found a loser.” Damiano taunted, making me scoff at him.

“Don’t be so sure. It’s harder than what it looks like.”

“We’ll see.” He winked, and I squinted my eyes, watching him pick up his rifle. He stood casually as he aimed and fired his shots. My eyes slowly widened when I saw him hit every single shot in the middle of the red dot.

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