Page 109 of In Love with the Devil

I open my eyes to meet his gaze, confused. Julian turns the knife around so that I can take it from his palm by the handle.

“You pick, pretty bird. You can kill me, you can kill him, or you can kill both of us. Either way, today, you’ll kill somebody. It’s the only way you can get the key to get out of here. The only path to your true freedom,” he whispers.

I shake my head, and he nods back. “Julian–”

“It’s the only way I can truly set you free, pretty bird. I can’t go through this again, living away from you only to have to catch you again and losing control, almost killing you. So do it.”

“Julian, please…”

“I love you, so set yourself free by killing me." He nods. "It's okay.”

I search for it, the fear in him. There is none. The ony thing I see is sadness.

Chapter fifty-one

My Soulmate My Equal

Julian

When children are betrayed by the adults who are supposed to love them, they grow to crave the destruction of mankind. It is a rage that never leaves, one that can leak out at any time, but we keep it inside and it eats us alive. We don't get to live our lives like the rest, we die inside everyday, unless we are hurting someone, unless we feed on someone's pain. That someone turned out to be Astoria for me. But she has it too, I know it. So I'm going to give her the gift of killing the worst men in her life, him and I, so that she can unleash her rage and not die if only for just one day.

My pretty bird stands before me, begging me not to force her do this with those big, dark eyes. Even now, after all these years, they still carry an innocence that lures me, one I can't resist. There’s a part of me that will always crave her in the worst ways anyone could imagine, much more terrible than what you’ve read, but there’s also a part of me that saw those eyes cry oceans over the baby she lost, the baby she’d carried because of a rape.That part loves her more than I thought I could love anyone. It knows I could never be good for her and she should kill me so she can finally be safe.

Astoria takes the knife from my hand and swallows hard. Just the sound of her trembling breath, and the feel of her clammy hand already has my cock throbbing hard.

Yeah. I'll never stop. I'll always want her. She needs to kill me.

Her eyes slide to the left, looking behind me at him. The light from outside the room brightens half of her face. She looks up at me again, her pulse racing, and bites her delicious, bottom lip. I sigh, wanting to suck and bite that same lip, but my pretty bird has a big decision to make and I don’t want to distract her.Her gaze pleads for love and safety.

Soon, pretty bird.“Go ahead, Tory. Do what you need to do.”

If she kills me, then I’ll know she doesn’t love me. But I won’t have to suffer the truth, and she’ll be free. If she only kills him, I’ll know she’s truly my soulmate–my equal in every way and I'll worship her like a fucking goddess for the rest of my days, do whatever she says.

Chapter fifty-two

Taking Care of Her

Julian

She lowers the knife and walks around me. For too long, I’m frozen, unable to believe she hasn’t stabbed me, yet. I turn around, dip my palms into the back pockets of my jeans, but stay put. I watch her step quicken as she gets closer to him, like a beautiful black panther who just saw her prey.

"What are you doing? Don't let him convince you to do this. Astoria, don't. I'm sor–"

She raises the knife and stabs his neck, not giving him the chance to beg.

"I told you not to apologize!"

His blood sprays out with the first stab. Then with the second, it gushes. She pulls it out. It’s a mess. His hand tries to cover the wound while he chokes, gurgling blood. Slowly, she steps back,still holding the knife in the air. I wonder if she realizes what she has done.He takes a step toward her and she screams but instead of cowering away out of fear, she stabs him again in the chest. He falls back from the force she uses.

At the site of him finally falling, she screams for the longest time, as if she’s releasing all her demons. It ends in puffs of sobbing. She's in shock. I walk up behind her, slowly and place my hands on her shoulders. She’s trembling. I caress from her shoulders to her forearms, then to her hands, and gently pry the knife from her. There’s no resistance.

“Come, Tory.”

“What have I done?”she asks then turns to me.

To comfort her I hold her gaze. “You saved the lives of children. That’s what you did. Look at me.” I wait for her to meet my gaze again. “I’m proud of you, pretty bird. Here, why don’t you sit down while I clean this up?”

She sits at the edge of the bed, looking at nothing, her face and chest coated with her father’s blood. I gather the body and clean away the blood as fast as I can so I can focus on taking care of her.

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