Page 105 of The Girl Who Inherits the Dead

Her fingers tighten, and there’s a blast, something rocking the bubble from outside, but beyond a quick blink towards the wall, the demon doesn’t react. There’s blood, viciously black, still seeping from her gut, but she pays it no attention.

Another jerk of the leash.

“Do you want to be controlled by that for forever?” Delina bluffs, and the demon’s eyes light up. “I can take it off, I can figure out how.”

“They’ve trapped me in this,” the demon breathes, almost too quiet for Delina to hear. “I’m trapped and I can’t switch out.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Delina says, shifting the death in her palm, her heart pounding. “You saw those two other people out there? They can help.”

A side eye outside of the bubble, so at least the demon can see out. “It’s an alchemist and a dud.”

“The alchemist is powerful,” Delina says, completely unsure if she’s actually telling the truth or not, but not willing to stop the conversation, not when she might talk her way out of it. “The dud is brilliant, he has the most knowledge of all of us, he’ll know exactly what to do. And the Half Demon—”

“He’s just half?” the demon interrupts, her brow furrowing in horror. “He’s not trapped, he’s just half?”

“He could help,” Delina replies desperately, tugging at her collar, but the demon keeps it in her grasp, tight. “Help me and we’ll get you free.”

She doesn’t know if she can, but the bluff is enough.

“How did you find us?”

The demon breathes, as if weighing her options. “He had me track the demon,” she says, throwing a nod outside of the bubble. “He threw up a flare, I tracked him down, he’s glimmering with demon power.”

Delina swallows, then nods. “Does anyone else know we’re here?”

There’s a moment, then the demon grins, baring her teeth. “No.” For a blink, there’s no red in the demon’s eyes, revealing startlingly normal brown eyes, before the leash jerks back and another flash of gold blasts through Delina.

Her legs go out, and the fist around her collar is the only thing keeping her upright.

“He’s making me,” the demon whispers, half choked from the leash. “I can’t stop him.”

The death’s still in Delina’s hand, and without any finesse or real plan, Delina swings her arm and smashes the cord of power against the demon’s face.

The demon shrieks, a high pitched, shrill sound, dropping Delina in a heap on the floor, the bubble collapsing around them, splinters clattering to the sticky tile.

Delina gasps, air fire down her throat, and all other noise slams into her.

Someone’s screaming, the neon lights are back on, flickering, and there’s a gash across Maison’s face, a bright line of pain, but he drops his shoulder into the demon and they both drop to the floor.

Gurlien’s huddled over Chloe, there’s blood there too, and—

Korhonen hauls Delina upright, spinning her so she’s facing the room, pressing a hand against her neck.

Dimly, she knows it should hurt, but nothing does. It’s hot, so hot it should be painful, but nothing registers.

It’s the same as what he did to Chloe, the same move, everything.

“Frederick, stop,” Korhonen says, jerking Delina back.

Maison freezes, and the demon shoves him away from their scrabble, panting.

She’s still in pain.

“Get up,” Korhonen commands him then, as if to punctuate it, shakes Delina.

It should hurt.

It still doesn’t.

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