Page 2 of Infernal

A thick, familiar fog passed over my legs as I sat up and glanced around at my surroundings. Crumbling headstones peeked out from the hallowed ground, letting me know in no uncertain terms that I was in a cemetery, but I had no idea how I had gotten there or what had happened to the car.

And where the heck were Dominic and Gabriel?

I parted my lips to call for them as a strange aftertaste of rain settled on my tongue. It felt sticky and wrong—unnatural in the way that it weighed down my voice. I pushed up from the dewy grass and straightened myself. Had I been thrown from the car? My eyes scanned the area looking for signs of a wreckage, but there was none to be found.

Something wasn’t right.

This scene wasn’t right.

A dark silhouette appeared in the distance, too far for me to make out any of its features but close enough to know I wasn’t alone.

“Dominic?” His name fermented on my lips as I waited for the shadowy figure to call back at me.

No response. Instead, it moved closer to me, its husky form becoming clearer as inky black hair and a pair of eyes as blue as the Caribbean Sea made an appearance through the mist. My breath hitched because I knew it was him.

My happily ever after.

“Trace!” My skin buzzed with electricity as he closed the gap between us.

“We need to talk, Jemma, and we don’t have much time.”

Dumfounded, I stared at him like an apparition from a past life. He wasn’t supposed to be here,couldn’tbe, and yet he was. The wind howled around me, ruffling my hair as it hissed its warnings to tread ever so carefully.

“Jemma—”

“No.” I shook my head. This wasn’t Trace. It couldn’t be. I watched Lucifer enter his body with my own eyes. This was a trick. A trap. I stumbled backwards, putting as much distance between us as I could.

He let me back away, as though he could hear the faint whispers of my suspicions. “Please don’t be afraid, Jemma. You’re fast asleep. It’s only a dream.” With a wave of his hand, the cemetery faded away, and suddenly, we were standing on my old street back in the Cape.

What the hell was going on?

Another trap?

A new game?

I took another step back.

Then again, Trace was the only one who knew about this place. We came here all those months ago when he took me to the past to visit my father. Could this really be him?

“We’redreamwalking, Jemma. It’s the only way I can see you now.” His head lowered as his broad shoulders slumped down. “He’s taken over. I can’t fight him off.”

“I’m…you’re…this…” Okay, so I couldn’t create an actual sentence anymore. I shook my head as I tried to dislodge all the cobwebs swirling around my brain. “This is a dream?”

“Yes. Well, sort of.” He took a cautious step towards me, intensifying the electricity zipping over my skin. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold on, Jemma. It’s so cold now,” he said as his teeth clattered together. “S-so dark.”

The defeated look on his face sent a bolt of panic through my abdomen.

“I needed to s-see you…one m-more time, in case—”

“Stop!” I couldn’t stomach hearing him finish that sentence. I’d sooner die than put that out into the world where the Angels of death could hear it and make it true. “You have to hold on, Trace! I’m going to find a way to get you back. Everything’s going to be fine,” I promised blindly and then moved in to touch him, but he took a step back from me—forever and always just out of my reach.

“I’ve never f-felt evil like this before, Jemma.” He shook his head as though conceding the war. “He’s too s-strong.”

“You’re stronger!”

“Jemma, I’m so sor—”

“No! Don’t you dare say it!” I quickly cut in. “It isn’t over yet! Do you hear me? I’m not giving up on you, Trace!”

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