Page 101 of Infernal

“You aren’t going there to kill him at all, are you?” he charged, his tone sharp and accusing. “You’re going there to sacrifice yourself.”

I gnashed my teeth together, refusing to answer as my hand covertly drifted to the back of my jeans.

“Answer me truthfully!” he ordered in his stupid, pain-in-my-ass, will-stealing voice. “Are you going there to kill Lucifer or not?”

“Not,” I answered honestly, because well, I had no other choice in the matter.

“I knew it,” he said, his teeth clamped down so tightly that I’d barely seen his lips move.

“This is the only way I know of to save them both, Dominic. You know it’s true, and you can’t stop me.”

“Watch me.” He grabbed my jaw roughly, primed to compel my decision away from me, but it was far too little and far too late.

I had already pulled my stake from behind my back and plowed it into his heart before he had a chance to get the first word out.

His eyes widened with shock before turning cold as the life slowly disappeared from his face. He crumbled to the street in my arms, his once luminous skin now a sickly shade of ash.

It’s only temporary, I told myself as my heart seized in my chest at the sight of his lifeless body. As soon as this nightmare was over, the stake would be removed, and he too could return to the life he had before I came here.

All of them would.

“What are you guys doing back…?” Ben’s question died at the back of his throat upon spotting me on the ground with Dominic in my arms, and a stake protruding from his chest. “Jesus, Jem. What the fuck did you do?!”

“What is it?” asked Caleb, the sound of his sneakers smacking against the pavement as he rounded the corner. “Holy shit, Blackburn.” His mouth hung open, gaping at me like I was the starring freak of the carnival sideshow.

“I think she lost it, man,” said Ben, his panicked tone hushed, but still loud enough for me to hear.

“I didn’t lose it.” I glared up at them as a lone fat tear slipped down my cheek. “I did what I had to do.”

This wasn’t the way I wanted to end things with Dominic. It wasn’t the way I wanted my last memory of him to play out, but I had no choice.

“Help me get him back in the car,” I choked out, working hard to keep more tears from spilling out.

Neither Caleb nor Ben made a single move. At this point, they weren’t even blinking.

I snapped my head up and fixed each of them a look. “Help me, dammit!”

Ben was the first to break out of his stupor. He knelt down on the ground before me, his nervous eyes examining my face, as though looking for signs of full-blown mania. He thought I was crazy.

I wasn’t crazy.

“He was going to compel me from going.” I needed him to understand me. To know that I wasn’t some deranged lunatic for doing this to Dominic ten minutes after Iaccostedhim in the back seat.

“Why would he do that, Jem?” he asked delicately, speaking to me in the same tone you’d use if you were speaking to a frightened child. Or a crazy person. “He was here to help us.”

“Because I’m not going to All Saints to kill Lucifer, Ben. I’m going there to make a deal with him.”

“What deal?” asked Caleb. Even though he was still keeping his distance from me, I could tell his eyes had gone all small and squinty like I was speaking some foreign language.

“What are you talking about, Jem? What deal?” echoed Ben.

“Me in exchange for Taylor and Trace.”

“What?” Caleb practically hissed the word out.

“Woah wait a minute,” said Ben, shaking his head. “You’re planning on sacrificing yourself…to the devil?” Ben flinched back at his own words. “You can’t be serious.”

“Does this sound like something I would joke about?”

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