Page 94 of Run Like the Devil

“Let her go,” Hale snapped a moment before he buried his fork in the top of the table, the threat far from subtle.Of course, Hale had never really done subtle.

Cain didn’t look away from me, paying Hale no mind. “You come here with three Lords and an angel. I can taste Hubis on you, know that his powers touched you recently. What are you?”

“Right now? Mostly annoyed. Let go of me before this gets ugly.”

He didn’t smile, all that nice friendliness having drifted away. Now he only seemed intense, as if he’d locked in on something he refused to let go of. “I have spent longer than you have existed here, studying, learning, trying to discover the secrets of the Path, of how to get to the Plains. I had nearly given up hope of ever achieving my goal, had thought perhaps I was cursed to never leave this place. You, however, will buy my admission into the Plains.”

“What does that mean?” Or that was what I’d intended to say. My lips tripped over the syllables as if I’d drank a bottle of whiskey. My tongue lay thick and clumsy in my mouth, incapable of the finesse required to speak.

I yanked away from Cain, my chair tipping backward. I grabbed the table to keep myself upright when the room spun around me, when coordinating my feet became a challenge in itself.

A crash to the left showed Gorrin on the ground, and across the table I could no longer spot Hale.

I turned toward Cain, who had pushed his chair out so he could watch me as I stumbled. He must have read the question on my face, because he answered without me needing to ask. “Your glasses were laced with a powerful drug. It won’t harm you long term—will simply make it easier to deal with you. I dislike violence when it can be avoided.”

Yazmor made a sound that chilled me, something angry and feral. Near the end of the table he stood, though he wavered. He bared his teeth at the others around him, his violet eyes locking on me.

He took one step after another, and when one of the people got in his way, he swiped one of his long arms, knocking the person away so hard, they sailed against the wall.

“Impressive.” Despite Cain’s praise, he didn’t seem all that impressed. Perhaps he just didn’t feel anything anymore, as if this place had chilled him down to his core, had killed anything inside of him. “I have never seen a remnant here, have never seen the effects of this drug on one.”

Two others tried to grab Yazmor, but he wrapped a hand around the throat of one, snapping their neck without ever looking at them. He reached for the other but stumbled, allowing the other to dodge it.

“He has made a good effort. You must matter greatly to him if he can fight the effects for this long. Perhaps that can be some form of reassurance for you.”

Yazmor tripped and fell, the ground shaking slightly beneath his weight. Even still, he didn’t stop. He dragged himself forward, reaching for me, as if desperate to get to me.

My body refused to obey me, and I had no doubt I’d lose the battle quickly. I turned away from Cain.

“You plan to run? I welcome you to try. You will be unconscious before you reach the door.”

Fuck running. Instead, when I took the two steps I managed before I collapsed, I headed for Yazmor. I stretched my arm out, toward him, my eyes locked on that familiar violet.

“You are such a strange little creature,” Cain said, his voice coming from closer, telling me he’d left his chair and likely crouched beside me. “You have the power of a Lord, yet you cling to these men. Even when you know something is hopeless, you do not relent. You reach for something you know you will never touch.”

My fingers nearly reached Yazmor, a breath between us, but I never made contact.

Instead, Cain grasped my arm and hauled me from the ground, pulling me away from Yazmor, all the strength in my body gone.

“Do not worry, Loch. No matter how much pain you feel now, you will not have to suffer it long.”

My eyes closed, the drugs overcoming me, with his words ringing in my ears.

Chapter Twenty-One

My arms refused to budge. Fuck, even my eyes wouldn’t open. No matter how much I screamed in my head for me to JUST FUCKING MOVE, my body wouldn’t obey.

I hadn’t passed out, not exactly. Instead, it was as if the drug had locked me inside my own body, had disconnected my brain from all my senses, from everything.

I’d felt trapped inside myself, unable to hear or see or feel anything. It was like I’d gotten lost in a dark ocean, and I had no idea what way was up.

“Are you finally waking up?” Cain’s voice floated through that darkness, and I latched on to it.

Not because I liked it, but because hatred was one hell of a motivator.

Finally, I managed to get my eyelids to obey my signals, because the dim light of the Path made me squint.

I was on the ground, staring up at Cain, who stood beside me. He stared down at me, an almost peaceful smile on his face.

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