Page 72 of Bad Demon

“Relic?” I scanned the forest, but there was no sign of him.

Someone moved in the undergrowth.

“Relic?”

They stepped out of the trees.

“Hello, Essie.”

Grady.

I stumbled back. He’d followed us.

“Relic!” I screamed.

* * *

RELIC

One moment, I was standing beside Fern, and the next, I was in Hell with Rome and Fender.

“Fucking hate when he does this,” Rome growled out.

Lucifer had summoned us. He’d fucking called us back here without warning.

“Fern,” I snarled. “I abandoned her in Oldwood Forest.”

Fender bit out a curse.

Snatching out my phone, I tried to call her. Nothing. No answer. No messages or missed calls. I shoved it back into the pocket of my leather vest and yanked it off. Then, with a roar, I exploded into my hound form, scooped the vest up in my jaw, and tore off, running as fast as I could through the caverns. My brothers’ roars echoed behind me as they shifted as well, following me.

Lucifer had dumped us on the other side of the fire pits because this was where he obviously wanted us, but I needed him to fucking send me back to Fern. It was going to take too fucking long to get to his quarters, even with us running as hard as we could.

Fuck.She’d think I’d abandoned her. Left her all alone. She’d be so fucking scared.

I wanted to tear everything around me to pieces and throw the fuck up at the same time.

Time moved differently down here; in Hell, minutes translated to hours on Earth, hours to days, and she hadn’t called or texted since I’d left her in that forest. Not once.

Something was seriously wrong. My mind was instantly filled with horrific things, so many awful fucking things.

Only Lucifer could send me back to the same time, back to the moment I’d been dragged away from her.

“They experimented on me, poisoned me … they hurt me.”

I’d heard it all before I was torn away.

Whoever had done that shit to her, enough time had passed on Earth, they could’ve already found her. They could be hurting her now.

I roared again, the sound bouncing off the stone walls. Rome and Fender howled behind me, letting me know they had my back, but the only thing that could help was getting to Fern. I was close to madness by the time we reached Lucifer’s quarters.

Shifting back, I pounded hard on his door, and I kept pounding so fucking hard that the hinges started to loosen.

It swung open, and Roxy stood there, frowning, her long blade in her hand. The frown dropped, and her eyes widened. “Relic? What’s the matter?”

“I need to see Lucifer. He needs to send me back,” I snarled and strode in, searching the room. “Where the fuck is he?”

“Lucifer?” Rox asked.

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