Page 88 of Demon's Desire

After that, I became aware of the ground beneath me. I was lying on my side. My hair had fallen out of my clip and was in front of my face. I moved my hands to the hard, dirty ground and started to sit up, opening my eyes. I looked around and saw the same room as before, but I was no longer in chains. Jackson came over and knelt beside me, grabbing my arm to help me up.

Tiernan was standing above Suldeargan, who was in my place, chained to the column in the center of the room. The tip of one of his horns was gone. He had dark purple spots on his body that I figured were bruises and burns, and there were fresh cuts on his chest. Tiernan’s blood was blue, like his skin, and Soul’s blood was the iridescent grayish-purple that matched his skin as well. It was almost beautiful, but it filled me with dread.

“What happened?” I demanded, stumbling as I stood up. Jackson held onto my arm, steadying me.

“You’re going home,” Soul said, looking over at me. “Go home to Kelly. Put some ice on your bruises… And live a normal life.”

“And you?” I glared. I started to take a step toward him, but Jackson held me back. My eyes started to sting, more from anger than anything else.

“I’m going to stay here and die,” Soul answered coldly. “You are going home so I at least don’t die for nothing.”

“Yeah, I tried that fucking trick,” I hissed. “It doesn’t work so well when the idiot you’re trying to protect is stubborn.”

“Go home, Mia!” Soul shouted. He was trying to give me a cold look. I knew why. He thought if he was an ass about this, it would somehow make it easier on me. But he couldn’t hide the warmth in his eyes, or the pain.

“I’m not leaving,” I said simply, my voice gentle.

“Yes, you are,” Jackson interjected. “I’m taking you home now.”

“Like hell you are,” I snapped at him, never taking my eyes off Soul. My brain rushed through a million ideas, a million arguments, anything I thought I could use to save him. There was only one thought that seemed remotely possible. “You aren’t dead yet. You’re still bound to me.”

His face fell as he realized what I was about to say. “Mia–”

“You have to do what I say!” I reminded him.

“Mia, go home–” he argued, but I ignored him.

“I order you to fight for your life, Soul!” I shouted.

Jackson grabbed me and started pulling me toward the door. “You’re leaving. Now.”

Soul looked down, trying to disobey the order. I knew he could do it if he tried hard enough. So I had to make it damn difficult. “Suldeargan, I order you to get up and fight like hell to save your fucking life!”

“Go away, Mia!” he screamed.

Jackson pulled me to the door and started to open it.

“Suldeargan!” I screamed. “I order you to stay alive!”

Suldeargan roared from where he stood against the column. There were three layers of chains wrapped around his body, holding him in place. I knew as well as he did that it wasn’t enough. He could break out of them.

“Soul–” I started again as Jackson pulled me. Before I could even finish, all the muscles in Soul’s arms and torso started to flex. He roared again and started to pull the chains off, grabbing the lowest layer and pulling them apart so that they broke. When he did that, the entire thing fell apart, and he stepped out of it.

Tiernan was standing a few feet away, but when he realized Soul was free, he ran in his direction, flames in hand. Soul was faster though, and he was running straight for me. He grabbed Jackson, pulled him off of me, picked him up, and slammed him onto the ground. “I’m going to make sure you can’t ever touch her again!”

Jackson glared up at him and reached for his belt. He pulled out a knife and swiped at Soul with it, but Soul pulled away in time. Tiernan was heading for him. I knew he’d have trouble fighting both of them off, so I had to do something.

I moved back into a corner full of junk and looked around for something good. I needed something heavy enough to hurt, but light enough that I could swing around. The closest thing to that was a crowbar. It was a bit lighter than I’d have preferred, but I didn’t have time to weigh everything around me, so I grabbed it and ran back toward Soul.

Tiernan had pulled Soul away from Jackson and pushed him back up against the column. Soul swiped at him again with his claws, making Tiernan stumble back. When he did, Jackson started to move toward Soul. Tiernan was closer to Soul, and since I knew I couldn’t seriously hurt him, I went for Jackson.

I got close enough and pulled back my crowbar to swing at him, but he saw me coming. He held the knife downward and swiped at me. I was able to shift my momentum and step back. It nicked the outside of my sweater sleeve and cut my arm, but it was short and shallow. Blood started to stain the white fabric of my sweater.

“You never should have gotten involved, Mia,” Jackson hissed, lunging at me again. I took a calculated gamble and swung the crowbar at his arm. I connected with it just in time. The crowbar slammed into his inner forearm, knocking the knife out of his hand. The knife flew across the room, leaving Jackson defenseless, so I moved in and swung with the crowbar again.

He raised his arm to block it. He was successful, but the crowbar still slammed into his arm, making him gasp from pain and step back.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, girl!” he hissed, running at me. I started to swing again, but this time he caught my wrist, grabbed the crowbar, and tossed it to the ground. He suddenly grabbed my hair and shoved me down, and I cried out as the back of my head hit the floor a second time, making the pain even worse. For a second, my vision went blurry. There was a solid chance I had a concussion. If I managed to survive this, I’d need to get to a hospital. That was a big ‘if’ though.

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