Page 16 of Infernal

“Kindly remove your hands from my person.” Dominic shoved him back a step. “Compel her to do what, exactly?”

Trace’s jaw tightened. “I don’t know what you’re up to but you’re not going to get away with this, deadboy!”

My eyes bounced between the two of them, along with doing other crazy things that looked a lot like twitching. “Get away with what? What are you talking about?”

“Listen to me, Jemma,” pleaded Trace. His eyes were fixed on me as he approached me with caution. “Whatever he’s telling you, it’s not real, okay? He’s compelling you again.”

“The hell I am.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I watched you take in Lucifer with my own eyes.”

“Take in Lucifer? Jemma, come on. Are you hearing yourself? This is crazy.” He picked up my hand and gently guided me towards him, and I let him because I wanted so badly to believe him—to touch him. “It’s me, Jemma. Look at me. He’s making you see things that aren’t there.”

Dominic scoffed. “He’s lying, angel. It’s what the old snake does best.”

“You have to fight him, Jemma. It isn’t real.”

Panic descended on me as the fragile walls around my sanity began to quake. “I was there. I saw it happen.”

“Where, Jemma? I was at work every night this week. Ask my father!” he said and motioned over his shoulder to Peter, who was still watching us like a train wreck just happened outside his office.

“It’s true,” confirmed Peter, looking at me as though I’d just escaped the loony bin.

No. Nope. My knees knocked against each other as I fought the urge to crumble to the floor. “You were there.”

“I swear I was here all night. Come on, Jemma. Think! He’s compelling you. I told you you couldn’t trust him.”

But I saw him.

I saw it happen with my own eyes…

Didn’t I?

Shit! What if Trace was telling the truth? What if the whole thing was nothing more than a hallucination brought on by Dominic? It wouldn’t be the first time he’d played mind games with me.

I thought we were passed all that, but what if I was wrong?

“Angel, please tell me you’re not actually buying this cheap load of crap, are you?”

“I…I…” I had no idea what was going on or who to believe. My mind was spiraling out of control, and I was afraid I was going to lose it all over again. Oh, my God, this isn’t happening.

This isn’t happening.

THIS ISN’T HAPPENING.

“That’s it. We’re leaving,” said Dominic as he tried to reach for my hand, but Trace quickly spun me around, putting his back to Dominic and keeping him just out of my reach.

“Not today, Revenant,” said Trace with a smile I didn’t recognize. A smile that made my insides tremble. My body temperature dropped abruptly as the room began to melt away from us.

This just went from bad to worst.

And just like that, we were gone.

6. THE MARK OF THE BEAST

The Macarthur cabin up north materialized around us as my body temperature slowly began its climb back to normal. The moment the room solidified around us, I yanked my hands free and took several giant steps backwards. Trace’s lips twisted into a smile as he watched me scurry away from him like a petrified mouse. Honestly, it seemed to amuse him.

“Alone, at last.”

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