Page 86 of The Circus

“It’s time to come home, Eden,” he commands, extending his free hand to her, palm up, a snakelike smile on his thin lips.

“Her home is withme,” I seethe through clenched teeth. His eyes never waiver, never even flick in my direction. Eden’s shoulders tense, and she shakes her head at him.

“Why can’t she just leave me alone?—”

“It is not your mother’s choice, but God’s,” he breathes, fully playing up his reverent bullshit. Eden shakes her head more fervently, her voice thick with tears and high pitched in her stress. The voices seethe and wail and reach for her, punishing themselves brutally for ever thinking we could revel and delight in killing her. The thought had been tantalizing, watching her face go purple while her cunt rippled around my cock, but a life without Eden?

I would become a walking ghost, a body that harbors no soul.

“Fuck your god!” I yell. If only they could hear the voices in my head, all in unison, chanting the same sentiment. He would realize demons do exist, and the legion itself is contained within me.

His eyes flicker, but stay on Eden’s quivering form.

“You know what happens to disobedient followers, Eden,” he warns. Her spine stiffens, and my muscles lock in preparation to spring at this fucker and tear his throat out with my bare hands. He pushes his open hand forward, lowering the gun in a gesture of good faith, when we hear the passenger side door open.

A wisp of a woman appears, her hair pulled back in a tight bun, the strands black but woven through with white, her face bony and severe, her lips wrinkled as though she keeps thempursed in distaste constantly. Her body is wiry, thin but strong, and her icy, purplish eyes cut from Eden to me in a flash.

Her bitch of a mother.

Eden stumbles back a pace in terror, almost within arm’s reach now. My heart soars, blood rushing to my head and making it pound in ecstasy.

Hope. Hope is fire, right in the center of your chest, a clenching of muscles that are reserved for a life’s most important moments.

“Get away from that filth and back into the car, Eden Marie. You know your place. God does not want?—”

“I don’t want your fucking god!” Eden screeches, throwing her fists down at her sides and standing her ground. If there wasn’t a gun pointed at us, I’d find her fury insanely hot, but all I can focus on is Malachi, ensuring he doesn’t try anything stupid.

I’d gladly take a bullet for my little ghost. She’s undoubtedly fucking worth it.

She takes another step back, and I can’t help but reach for her, my fingers curling around the soft fabric of my hoodie that she stole. The moment I give her a gentle tug, intending to slowly push her behind me so as to not further escalate the situation, another set of squealing tires cuts through the sound of pummeling rain and drowns out the heavy beating of my heart.

I’m about to glance behind me, to shove Eden into Cash’s car, when that telltale silver glint catches my eye at the last moment.

Time slows to an impossible speed.

Eden’s mother raises her own gun, the barrel pointed directly at my heart.

“No, not him,please!” Eden screams. Both of my hands fly up to grasp her arm, but she’s somehow faster, pushing away from me—pushing me hard enough that I stumble and catch myself.

For the second time tonight, a gun fires. Eden twirls toward me like a ballerina, but the utter shock etched into her stone-like features has my heart stopping altogether. Her lips part slightly, painted a bright, luscious red. When she closes her mouth and pales another shade, blood seeps from between the lips I’ve kissed what feels a thousand times.

Her eyes flicker, roll back, and I dive to her, catching her limp form as she falls to the cold ground. In the darkness, my hands rove her body as her lungs rattle and struggle to draw in breath, my hunt for the bullet wound ending quickly.

A pool of blood gushes against my hands, pouring over me from her beautiful, kind, gentle heart.

“No, no, no,” I whisper hoarsely, holding her wavering gaze. She stares at me as though this is her first time opening her eyes in this life, with such awe and wonder and trust. A small smile graces her bloody lips. Her cold, still fingers somehow manage to brush against my cheek. Her body is beginning to stiffen, no matter how tightly I press my hands to her wound. I feel every fucking heartbeat, how they grow weaker, and weaker, and weaker still, all while her smile grows.

“I love…you…”

“Fucking stop it, Eden. This isn’t it, I’ve got you, just hold…hold on, for me…please,” I beg through my teeth.

She giggles, only to choke on her blood. Cash is screaming at me from somewhere, yanking against my body, but I cannot move.

“Save her!” I yell to Cash. “Fucking save her,please!”

I push rhythmically against her chest, keeping her heart beating but only speeding up the amount of blood oozing from her wound. Only killing her faster. My hands still, coated with her beautiful shade of crimson.

Her fingers slip from my cheek, and she swallows thickly, her eyes dimming further. This time, when they find mine, they aresober, and a sob racks my frame, my body hunched protectively over her.

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