Page 35 of Deliver us from Evil

Hallowed be thy—

“Look at me.”

—name. Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done, on earth as—

“Look at me!” he roars.

His fingers wrench my head to face him, but I keep my eyes squeezed closed. It’s stupid, it’s fucking juvenile, but it’s the only way I can defy him now.

I’m not going to lie here and take this.

“Trinity.” His voice is soft now, sinister. “Open your eyes.”

“Fuck you.”

A slap sends white spots dashing through the black behind my eyes.

“You like it, don’t you?” he rasps. “The fight. The struggle. Thepain.Got that from your whore mother.”

My eyes fly open. I stare up at him in shock. “How dare—”

He slaps me again. “Is this the only way you’ll let me in? Is this what it will take? Because I’ve done worse.” His voice catches. “I’ve done so much worse for so much less.”

My heart thunders in my chest. What the hell is he talking about? His shoulders move back, hand raised for another slap.

“No! Stop! Please!”

He pauses, but his hand stays up.

“I don’t know what you mean. Please…” A sob cuts in, I force it down best I can. “Just…just talk to me, Gabriel.”

Pathetic, trying to reason with a mad man. But my head aches, and my cheek’s on fire, and I can’t take anymore. I’m so close to surrender, I can already feel his hands on me.

His chest rises and falls, exaggerated. His hand drops, but barely an inch.

“Please. Just talk to me. Tell me…” I have to swallow hard before I speak again. “Tell me what you want.”

“What I want,” he repeats woodenly.

His hand falls to his side. His eyes move off me, staring at nothing. Or maybe only something he can see.

“Yeah,” I manage. My voice rebels, but I push out the words anyway. “Let’s talk, Gabe. Just you and me.”

His eyes slide back to mine.

I squirm under him before I can control myself because that blank face of his ratchets up my fear a thousand notches.

“So you can use me like he did?” he murmurs. Shakes his head. His voice drops to barely a whisper. “My fault. I let him use me. I let him control me…”

The hand he’d been about to hit me with curls into a fist. But instead of slamming into my face, he leans on it, putting his head close to mine.

He stares into my eyes from an inch away. I can feel his breath on my face, still a little too hard, too hot, from our struggle. My flesh writhes beneath my skin like I have a thousand worms burrowing through my body.

“It was his idea.” Gabriel laughs, sending a puff of warm breath over my lips. “But no one will ever believe me. Know why?”

His eyes skitter over mine, searching. I keep my face neutral. Try and keep my eyes locked on his.

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