Page 204 of The Demon's Pet

It flew straight and true, and I heard the sickening wet, grating sound of a sword going through someone’s chest.

The next second, Gabe appeared around the sword, standing behind Sam, staggering and looking down at my blade in his chest.

His illusion quickly dissipated into smoke.

Gabe let out a gasp of pure shock, and his swords fell to the ground with a clang.

Sam whipped around to face him, then looked at me.

As Gabe stumbled back, I got a moment to study my sword at a distance. The blade was black and inlaid with swirling red runes. At uneven intervals, white shimmers of lightning moved over the blade.

Gabe stared at it, trying to move it, but his face was turning gray before our eyes.

He was dying, and I couldn’t bring myself to feel sad about it.

Not when I’d done what I had to in order to save Sam.

Sam looked at me, shock making his eyes wide and wild.

Gabe fell onto his back, holding the sword and staring vacantly at the sky. “An Evernight sword.” He looked over at Sam. “Your brother wasn’t killed with one. We don’t even have access to one, but the Morningstar does. Who knew?”

Then his eyes rolled back, and everything went still, and with one last gurgling moan, he died.

49

Sam and I stared at each other for a moment, and then relief washed through me, cutting through the agony like light streaming after a hurricane.

I ran into Sam’s arms, shocking him, and buried my face against his chest.

I couldn’t help it. My inner demon was just too glad to see him again.

Slowly, he put his arms down around me, looking awkward about it. He brushed back a lock of my hair, looking down into my face as if to see if I was okay.

“Hello? Can someone get me out of here?” Griffin yelled.

“Ugh,” Os said, slowly pushing to a sitting position, holding his head. “What just happened?”

“I ought to kill you!” Sam snarled, turning on Os and picking up his swords, which seemed to have fallen to the ground in the shock of him seeing Gabe die by my hand.

I grabbed Sam around the waist, stopping him. “He was brainwashed. I promise. He tried to fight Gabe at the end, when he realized he was evil.”

“She was your friend!” Sam yelled, still trying to get to Os. “How could you do this?”

Realizing I wasn’t going to let him fight Os, Sam turned away and pulled out of my arms, running his hands through his hair as he looked up at the sky. He let out an exhausted sigh, then turned back to face me. “I’m sorry, Cleo. I never should have left.” He looked around. “Where is Simon?” His face went ghostly pale. “Oh gods, are he and Mor okay?”

He spun and looked toward the back of the property.

“They’re fine,” Os said, pushing to his feet. “I’ll free them.”

“You imprisoned them?”

“Just my ice spell,” Os said. “No one will be hurt from it.”

“Cleo could have been hurt! Cleo could have been gone!” Sam’s eyes were wild. “I should kill you just for what could have happened.”

“I’m sorry,” Os said, coming forward and taking a knee and bowing before us, looking unsteady and holding his head. “I just… I thought she would destroy everything. When Gabe decided to take Griffin, I realized everything was a lie, but it was too late. But it’s hard to go against what you were taught as a child.” Os’s purple eyes were pleading. “I swear, Sam. I didn’t know he wanted to hurt her, though. I didn’t. I always feared and hated the Morningstar, but before we came here, I negotiated Cleo’s safety because I didn’t want her to be harmed. Gabe agreed.”

Sam raised his sword in the air.

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