Page 92 of Coerced

“I was driving long before I got areallicense.” He leapt out of the car and came around to open my door. “I can get Travis to carry her.”

“No offense, but he’s a pretty puny boy and she’s no lightweight. I can do it.”

Then I shook my head at my own idiocy. This was going to hurt.

Stupid pride.

I started to get out, careful not to bump the girl’s head, and Kerry ran up to Gigi’s door and knocked.

“Found someone who needs help,” I heard him tell her.

She held the door open and her dark blue eyes took in the girl in my arms as I brought her in. I laid her on the bed closest to the door before I noticed John and Travis were in the room, too. The contents of everyone’s packs were spread on the other bed and floor, and I assumed they’d been reorganizing our remaining supplies.

“It’s on her back.” Kerry twirled his index finger. “Roll her over.”

“Youroll her over,” I gasped. “I’m done.”

I had to grab a pillow and bend over it to ease the spasms in my ribs. Gigi ended up being the one who rolled the girl over, then lifted her shirt. She sucked in a sharp breath, and I looked over to see noxious green marks running up the girl’s spine.

At first, I was so strung out from pain, I thought they were just tattoos and couldn’t understand Gigi’s expression. Then I realized the truth. Her devil had carved the same marks into her flesh over and over until they’d become scars.

“Son. Of. A. Whore.” Kerry had figured it out, too.

“What language is that?” John asked.

“Well, it’s not Angelic, Arabic, Japanese, or anything that uses Cyrillic.” Travis bent to examine the lettering more closely. “It’s not Braille or Morse code, either. That’s all the language systems I know.”

“It’s Infernal,” Kerry rumbled.

“Is it a word or just random sigils?” Travis looked up at him.

“It’s a word.” Kerry turned away from the girl’s back.

“And?” Gigi pressed him. “What’s it say?”

“Slave.”

#

Kerry

After a quick convo with Rome, I drew a circle of power around the bed and the Infernal outline of letters disappeared.

The scar didn’t.

Making myself go gently, I pulled out a black claw and watched as it dissolved into black-green goo. A little bead of blood rose up in her skin, and I broke the circle so Gigi could stick a bandage on it.

“You really did mean it had a claw in her.” Rome shook his head. “Freaking coercion.”

“Yeah.” I wiped my hand on my pant leg.

The girl rolled over, then came awake and aware all at once. She scrambled to sit up and her eyes darted everywhere.

I moved away and motioned the others back, thinking she might feel threatened with four guys around her. Gigi sat on the edge of the mattress and smiled.

“Hi. I’m Bridget Carnahan, but most everyone calls me Gigi. You’re safe now. The devil’s banished and your coercion broken. No one here will harm you.”

Gigi pointed to each of us and said our names, and the girl stared at us with a blank face.

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