Page 73 of Deal with the Devil

“We don’t have to do this,” Knox whispered in her ear.

“No, we need it. You said it yourself, it’s the key to killing Declan.” She swallowed over her tongue and tried to find her resolve. Amelia the sturdy, the unkillable, the unbreakable, now trembling in the face ofa fucking book.She clenched her fists and stormed across the room.

Inches away from the leather, she was slapped with the memory. Like the book forced her to replay the moment. Struggling, crying, screaming, hunched over a bigger kid in the hall of a hotel. Nose busted with blood seeping down her face. A record scratched and she was in the alley, knuckles throbbing and bone sticking out of her flesh. The driver laughed through it all as she swung. Blow for blow, snot rolling down from her nose, tears streaking through the blood and grime. Swing. Crunch. Swing. Crunch. He never stopped laughing. Record scratch, and she was a little girl again, screaming as she caved in the boy’s face. Swing. Crunch. Swing. Crunch. Red…everything was red as she shrieked into their broken face.

One last record scratch and she was over Kyle, book in her hands. His panicked eyes stared at her in the moment before Zavros blew out his arm. She heard his bone snap. Then she closed the book around his head and felt his skull disintegrate.

“Amelia?” Knox purred in her ear tenderly.

She didn’t realize she was crying till she inhaled sharply and snorted her own tears. It burned as she coughed uncontrollably. “Something’s very wrong about that book!”

“I know, it’s from the Nightmare Realm.” Knox rubbed a hand tenderly at the center of her back. “Come, let’s go, we can—”

“No,” she hissed, storming forward. Her fingers ached with how hard she snapped open the clasps on the suitcase. The book flung itself out of its prison and into her arms. Amelia thrashed,fighting to keep the book at arm’s length. It did not like it. Growling, its teeth wiggled in its infected gums. The fleshy cover was moist and left her gagging as her palms brushed against it. “No! You stop it!”

“Amelia!” Knox was at her side, but she couldn’t see it. All she could see were the flashes of red. Of her deepest angers, the bloodiest memories. Amelia in the ring, brushing her fist across the top of her busted lip. A tiny girl spitting out a baby tooth, then flinging herself back into the fray. Amelia tried not to flinch. It wanted to sink its teeth into her again.

In the woods, she was running. Chasing Kyle, punching ghouls as they sprang from the trees. Long fingers reached for her, but something buffeted them. Something called for her.Please, take me. Save me. Read me.

Amelia shoved the book back into the suitcase, sobbing and trembling as she latched it shut. She stumbled backward, drying her cheeks with the back of her hands. “What is that!”

Knox stood between her and the suitcase. Her mind felt like she’d tossed it in the blender with hallucinogenic drugs and an angry weasel. Round and round she went, unsure what was real and flayed alive by claws buried deep in her. Amelia stared at Knox, eyes wide as dinner plates.

He put up his hands, patting down the air. “Amelia, I need you to calm down.”

“I can’t—Knox, I can’t, not while I’m near it.” She took steady steps backward, arms wrapping around her torso.

“I did tell you we could try this later. I need you too…” he breathed, eyes darkening.Fuck.Amelia could see it…her fear drenched the room. Knox’s face twisted as it had in the forest. It wasn’t her Knox looming over her as she backed out of the room.He won’t hurt you, he can’t hurt you.But that didn’t stop her heart from rapidly beating against her ribs. Knox pinned her by the throat in the blink of an eye.

Funny thing about fear and attraction…it’s a hell of a drug.

The intoxicating fear pumping through her veins, Amelia snatched up the front of his vest. Knox snapped his body against hers, his lips crashing into her. His body was burning hot against hers as she clawed at his fabric.

“That’s better,” he groaned, sucking in the air deeply. “Good pet.”

Her stomach churned but it was knee buckling fear, it was desire. Heavy in the air, the need made it hard to breathe as she kissed him desperately. Her hands trembled as she tugged on his tie frantically. Their lips crashed, over and over, chaotically clashing. Teeth clinking, tongues brushing, biting and much worse, their kiss darkened to a nasty, needy thing. Amelia heard her underwear tear before she felt the sting of the fabric. His fingers brushed against her hurt flesh as the fabric fell off her. Tail sneaking up her inner thigh before it slipped between her tender lips.

Record scratch. She was in the forest, running from Knox and his goons with Penny at her side.

“No! No, don’t you dare let it take you. Come back to me, pet.” A slap of his whippy tail to her cunt brought her back forcefully. Amelia was there, present, snarling in his kiss as the tip of his tail dove back inside. “Give me your desire, don’t let it take your mind.”

It was a tug of war between Knox’s husky words and the eldritch pressure in her skull. He would kiss, bite, groan, and keep her grounded in reality. Then a pulse of eldritch horror would wash over her, and she was clawing her way out of a mosh pit that kept shoving her head above the surface. Or she was being dragged by the arms off a body. Bliss rolled over her.

Knox wrenched her from the room, pinning her to the hallway floor. The door to the office slammed shut behind them and she was able to breathe again.Well, not for long.As Knoximmediately buried his cock in her. Amelia clawed up his back, dragging him as close as she could.

“Did…did I…?” She blinked away the haze of magic and madness and mayhem and realized…she was drenched.

“You did so well, pet,” he groaned against her throat. His hips shuddered as he released.

“Did what so well? Get my brain fucked out or brain fucked with by a book?” she huffed, panting for air.

Knox laughed breathlessly, making her toes curl and stomach clench. He pushed up on his hand, hovering over her. His floppy black hair, no longer its usual slicked back style, fell around his face as he smiled down at her. “Both, my sweet bookworm.”

Amelia couldn’t help the smile back at him as she studied his face. Her Knox loomed over her, his purple cheeks dimpled and creased from his grin. It looked good on him.

“Sir, there you—oh, hello, Ms. Armstrong.”

Amelia flopped her head to the side to find Denver frozen halfway down the hall. Then she snapped her attention back to her fiend. “Are you done mentally scarring your staff?”

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