Page 122 of Deliver us from Evil

Lower.

I recoil when I touch his ass. If I could lift my head, I’d be able to see better, but there’s a terrible lameness spreading through me.

The dizziness is back. It comes in waves, each higher than the last.

It would be so easy just to let one of those waves take me away. To let it consume me.

Because it promises no more pain. No more leaden terror.

Jess grabs onto the side of the bed. How did she get here so quickly? Or did I actually pass out for a second?

I reach down again, pushing away my disgust and horror at touching Nick’s dead skin.

He must have pushed his pants down to his fucking knees, because I can’t feel them. Even if he had anything useful in them, they’re too far out of reach.

Jess grabs my right hand, tugs. Despite the dead body lying on top of me, she still shifts my arm enough to send a spike of pain through me. I sob, my breath catching. I wriggle furiously, even hoping that her grip might pull me out from under Nick.

She’s grimacing at me, but her face is whiter than the walls. “F’kn ’tch,” she says through her teeth. “F’kn kill you.”

Metal drags over the fabric. She lifts Nick’s gun, aims it point-blank at my face.

I don’t even have time to close my eyes.

This bang isn’t as loud as the first, but maybe that’s because I’m already dying. I also expected this bullet to feel like the first. Like a blazing-hot punch, then a poker being shoved through my flesh.

But I just see red.

The side of my face is hot, then warm, then cold. And very wet.

I blink.

The world turns pink.

I blink again.

Jess slides to the floor.

Shapes move, too fast for me to make out. A weight is lifted. I hear voices, a yell.

Someone looms over me. My eyes are squeezed closed from the pain, so I don’t know who.

For some reason, I’m sure it’s Nick. That he’s somehow still alive, and he’s about to climb on me again. To finish what he started.

“No,” I manage, slurring the word. “No.”

Another wave of dizziness comes. The biggest yet. My face tingles furiously, my fingers ice-cold and numb.

I try to fight it, but I can’t. It’s too big, too powerful.

It lifts me up, so I’m flying, and then I come down the other side. But I just keep sinking and sinking.

And sinking.

Chapter Forty-Three

Cass

When I step inside the upstairs bedroom, my mind balks at what I see. So while I’m still pointing my gun, I don’t have a clue what I’m supposed to be shooting at.

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