Page 28 of An Unexpected Ascension
Slapping it away, I growl, “Briar Fenton.”
“Fenton.” The demon plays with my name along his tongue, tasting it, testing it.
“And yours is Hermes, right?” I spit his name like a sour taste on my tongue.
“Why? Do you plan on screaming it later when you beg me to let you come?”
Scoffing, I climb to my feet, repressing that ache until I can no longer feel it. He follows, and I try to ignore the way his muscles shift again beneath his black leather jacket when he adjusts his stance.
He’s large compared to me and it’s alarming the way he uses his size to intimidate me.
“Fenton,” he tries again, my surname a flint used to spark a fire. “Fenton... as in Fentonelli?”
My mouth opens to object, but I soon realize that he’s right. After the fourth generation of our family being picked off one by one by the devil’s luck, my great grandfather had changed his last name in hopes of changing his future.
The hesitation on my face gives me away before I have the chance to protest.
“Well, isn’t it my lucky day?”
The cave fills with his dark chuckle, drowning me in its mordacity. Naturally, my feet retreat, but he doesn’t allow me to get very far.
Cold, rough fingers wrap around my neck, tightening with a fierce grip. The touch so polar opposite to the one moments ago, and I can’t say I like it any more than the last.
“W-what are you doing?” Panic strikes, rendering my mouth as dry as a desert.
My fingernails claw at his wrists as he continues to squeeze. Slowly, I feel my feet drag along the floor of the cave as he forces me closer to the cliff. Mist from the violent water clings to my hair and skin as those endlessly dark eyes promise nothing but sin.
A fractured squeal betrays any bravery I was trying to muster as my left foot nearly slips past the edge. My fingers tighten their grip on the demon, desperate to gain purchase against the ground.
“An angel, thought to be so pure while stained so thoroughly with sin. I think I changed my mind. Hell would suit you well.”
“I-I didn’t do anything! I still have time to repent!”
“Oh, I can’t wait to play with you.”
“Stop! Hang on.”
His nostrils flare as I snap my fingers and, in my hands, appears the rule book. Ignoring the way he rolls his eyes, I frantically search for anything to do with damnation. Can he really do this? Can he drag me to Hell without so much as a justified reason?
Before I can even flip to the right section, he’s tearing the book from my hands and whips it past the edge of the cave. I watch in horror as it plummets down into the pool below.
“You can’t do this.” I seethe. “I don’t deserve it.”
A sardonic laugh ripples across the walls of the cave, slithering and taunting my insides.
“No, you deserve so much worse.”
“Wait—”
In slow motion, his fingers unravel from around my neck, releasing me with enough force to push me past the edge. His face twists into another smirk as I plummet between the wall of water and rock.
Time catches up to me in a matter of seconds, my back slapping against the flat surface of the pool like crashing into glass. I expect a searing pain to lance through me, but I feel nothing, even as I tumble below the water underneath the fall, the pressure like boulders in an avalanche.
By the time I find my way to the grassy shore, he’s gone.
Chapter 10
The Demon
