Page 5 of The Demon's Vow
The candles suddenly flickered, stretching thin and igniting into larger flames as if kerosene was dumped on them.
The shadows between them twitched and twisted as the pages of the book began to turn on their own.
My heart hammered in my chest as my gaze darted from the book, its pages fluttering like wings, to my friends. Jess’s lips still moved, whispering that same eerie chant, but her voice had changed. It wasn’t just her anymore. Something else slithered beneath her words, a second layer of sound, guttural and wrong. Darcy stood rigid, his fingers twitching at his sides like he was dreaming awake, his pupils blown so wide his eyes looked black.
No. No, no, no.
I took a step toward them. “Jess? Darcy?” My voice came out thin, laced with fear and dread. “If this is some absurd, elaborate joke, you got me. I’m fucking scared. You win.”
A gust of wind slammed into me like a fist. The heavy cell door shut behind me with a crack, and the impact reverberated through my bones. I jumped forward, my grip tightening on the thorny branch.
“Fuck,” I hissed.
Pain.
White-hot and sharp. A thorn bit deep into my palm. Blood welled up instantly, dripping down between my fingers, spattering onto the outer rings of the summoning circle. Thedark crimson droplets sizzled against the chalk like oil on a hot skillet.
“Hey, guys? Hey! I think I fucked up…like really fucked up.” My voice trembled. Blood should not be bubbling like that on the ground.
The air snapped like a live wire.
One second, Darcy and Jess stood like statues—still, eyes unblinking, voices lost in that eerie chant—next, they gasped in unison, their bodies jerking like puppets who had their strings cut. Jess’s knees hit the ground just as the concrete beneath her cracked with a rush of air escaping in a violent hiss, followed by a deafening boom.
“Oh my god!” Jess screamed as the jagged lines spread out like cracks on a frozen lake. Darcy lunged, catching her wrist and yanking her back toward him as the floor where she’d knelt collapsed into nothing.
I didn’t think. I threw the cursed branch—fuck this, fuck all of this—and sprinted toward them. No way was I dying alone in this hellhole. We were now trapped in the corner of the cell.
The darkness wasn’t just spreading. It was pulsing, the candles long-extinguished.
Thick, dark, shadowy tendrils seeped from the widening fissure, curling like smoke but heavier, denser. The concrete crumbled at the edges, chunks breaking off and vanishing into the abyss without a sound. No echo. No impact. Just…gone.
I grabbed onto Darcy’s arm hard enough to bruise, my nails biting into his sleeve. Jess clutched his other side, her breath coming in sharp, panicked hitches. We stood frozen, three buffoons trapped in a nightmare of our own creation, watching as the void stretched wider.
I glanced towards our only exit. “Guys, we’ve got to get out. Now.”
Jess whirled on me, her eyes wide and filled with fear, her curly hair making her look wild. “How, Lukas?Look!” Her boot slammed into the metal door with a clang that vibrated through my teeth. It didn’t even budge. “That door is not just locked—it’s fuckingsealed.”
Sealed?
“Darcy!” My voice cracked. “Bud, what the fuck?—?”
His pale skin gleamed in the moonlight as he pressed both palms to his eyes.
“Airflow.” His voice sounded thin, panicky. “There’s—there’s got to be vents, right? Maintenance access—something.” He shook his head, his dark hair cascading over his forehead. A weak, hysterical laugh bubbled out of him. “No. This is a cell. I’m stupid. Okay, new plan….”
Yeah.
My best friend was just seconds away from completely losing his mind.
A drop of sweat slid down my temple. A powerful wet and earthy scent arose from the abyss and clung to the air in the room—along with something older, something that didn’t belong in this world.
Deep, rumbling breaths filled the air.
Not from the shadows...but from below.
A splintering crack echoed through the air. My head snapped toward the hole just as black talons erupted from the darkness, each claw thicker and longer than my fingers.
The concrete groaned as those hooked claws dug in, pulverizing it as if it were sand. Chunks of rubble rained down as the thing hauled itself upward, muscles rippling beneath the purplish, almost black skin. Every heave made the floor tremble under our feet. We tried to scramble backward in unison, our shoulders slamming into unyielding brick wall.Trapped.
