Page 50 of Deal with the Devil

“I wanted you to watch me devour you, seemed only fitting as you’ve been watching me.” He raised a singular brow.

Buttons stammered, mouth flapping open and shut. “Sir, I never meant to hurt you.”

“I scraped you off Declan’s floor. I put salve on your wounds and fed you, put a roof over your head, let you work whatever you wanted to…and this is how my generosity is thanked?”

Buttons blinked her eyes for the first time in an eternity. Climbing to her feet, legs and hands trembling. “Generous? You think any of this was generous? You think yourself so much better than him, that you’re doing me a favor?”

Knox stepped forward, encroaching on her. “I am better than him.”

“You’re a monster.” Buttons reached up toward her eyes. Knox batted her hands away, knocking her back to the ground. She sank against the leaves, seething with her teeth bared. “Go ahead, eat me like you do everything that gets in your way. But he’s coming for you, and when he gets everything you robbed from him back, he’ll feast on your flesh. I hope he keeps you alive long enough to feel it.”

Well…isn’t…this…interesting.

Knox crouched down, grabbing Buttons by the throat. “I’d like to see him try.”

And Knox devoured his waitress.

Chapter Twenty:

Amelia

TW: horror play and dubious consent in this chapter

She stood, paralyzed asshe watched him change. Like he was pulled from the core, turning into a ghoul much like the woman in the portal. His limbs turned into endless vines that snaked around Buttons. Her head tossed back in terror as the waitress tried to escape. His jaw unhinged and turned into an endless, churning whirlpool of teeth and magic. Amelia heard screams but she wasn’t sure if they were coming from within him or from the woman being dragged…inch…by bloody inch into his mouth. Buttons left tracks in the earth as she was sliced up and dragged to the depths of the oblivion within Knox.

And just as soon as it happened, it was over. Amelia stared at him with wide eyes. His cane clutched to her chest, ankles wobbling in her best wedges, wearing his collar.

What did she agree to…why did she let herself say yes?

Her mouth ran dry as Knox stood up from the spot, only a single drop of blood on the forest floor. However, as he stepped away from it, the drop sizzled into the beyond.

“Bu-bu-but what about Gael, don’t we need to know where she is? What about why she did it? Why didn’t you ask her questions?” Amelia stammered, stumbling back from Knox. He crept closer as she stepped away from him. Her heart raced in her chest. Knuckles turned white, she heard the familiar crack of something breaking in her grasp.

“I don’t need to ask; I know everything Buttons knew. When I devour a soul, I swallow it whole, memories and all.” His voice was deep in his chest, rumbling out into the air.

Amelia toppled backwards into a tree as he closed the space between them. His cane snapped in her hands and crumbled to the forest floor. Knox glanced down to the crumbled bits by his shoes. When he looked back up, Amelia took her chance. She ripped away from the tree, seconds before he could pin her to it and booked it.

Too bad he grabbed her by the collar. Amelia yelped as she was tossed back into the tree. This time, she was pinned to it. “Pet, I thought I warned you not to misbehave.”

“You can’t just expect someone to be okay after watching you do that to someone else!” she cried out, her throat already raw from the vicious throwing up earlier. It had been one bad idea after the next. First, she asked for the truth, then she asked for an explanation, then she ate a rotten pastry, andthenhad the audacity to demand she stay by his side.

This was her devil. The man she made a deal with…all of him. Her eyes were open finally. Fully.

“You know running only makes me chase you,” he snarled. His nose scrunched and eyes darkened.

Amelia glanced back at the spot where Buttons was ripped apart before returning her attention to him. “But you won’t do that to me.”

“No. You know I won’t.” Knox grabbed ahold of her chin, pinching it between his thumb and two fingers. “Do you regret your deal now?”

Despite the fear pumping through her veins and the panic turning her feet to bricks, she knew the answer was no. Amelia Armstrong didn’t regret it. Not one bit. “The only thing I regret is fighting to come with you out here. I should have gone home when you said.”

His lips curled as he slithered backward. “Oh, what is that? The stubborn Amelia Armstrong backing down? Admitting she was wrong.”

Amelia scowled. Her attention kept darting to the spot Buttons died and the man looming over her like a storm cloud. She was no longer pinned to the tree, but he held onto her chin. Amelia croaked, “I was wrong.”

“Run.”

“What?” she squawked, stumbling away from the tree as he all but shoved her away from him. Her shoes disappeared with a puff of purple smoke.Plus, a very specific piece of fabric she’d been wearing.Amelia groped herself, finding her panties clearly gone. She spun around in search of them only to find both stolen items dangling from his fingertips.

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