Page 76 of Lust

I freeze as we step out of the elevator. Inside it, we only had to press a button to go back up to safety. Here, I may as well borrow Orlin’s bell and announce myself as demon dinner.

Dade puts his arm around my waist and gently guides me forward. “This way.”

I heave out a breath as we take the corridor that runs in the opposite direction to where the demons hang out. Beside me, Dade is limping and I hear his breath catch on every other step. This is utter madness.

“You still haven't told me who's after me,” I complain as we turn into another corridor.

Nor why you came to save me after making it clear how much you hate me.I leave the last part unsaid.

“Who do you think?”

We turn again. It seems to be the exact same layout as the demon floor in purgatory, so I have a vague idea of where we are going. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be asking.” I come to a stop, forcing him to stop too.

He turns to me. “You are in danger. We're all in danger, but you especially.”

I remember his words in the Earthery when he thought I was Candice. He warned her about the company she kept. “Is this something to do with Felix and Remy?”

“I don’t know.”

I’d damn him to Hell if we weren’t already here.

He turns to walk, but I hold steadfast. “What do you mean you don’t know? You can’t just bring me down here in the dead of night and then tell me you don’t know.”

He lets out an impatient sigh. “Last night wasn’t the first time I’ve been down here, Valentine.” The way he uses my surname infuriates me. “I hear things,” he adds. “The demons talk.”

“You mean when they are not trying to eat you?” I scoff. I’m beyond mad. I’m livid at his lack of explanation and vague answers.

“They don’t always attack,” he says quietly. He sounds sure, but I catch him giving a brief check over my shoulder just in case there’s one behind me. He leans in and I finally see it. The fear he’s hiding is there. He’s just good at masking it. I suppress a shudder.

“I’ve heard that someone wants you dead, but I don’t know who. I only know it’s one of the Inferno Games contestants. Probably one that came through with us from Purgatory, seeing as they were sending you those letters back there.”

That narrows it down to like thirty people. “It could be anyone.”

“I don’t trust Bradford or Barclay as far as I can throw them.” So that’s what this is. Jealousy. Dade Angelis is jealous that I’m with Remy… was with Remy. If I wasn’t so damned scared, I’d feel smug.

“So you don’t know it’s them?” I question. “Felix was badly hurt when the Earthery fell. You saw his face. I doubt he’d do anything to mess up that pretty face of his.”

“I don’t know, no,” he admits. “It doesn’t matter who it is if we get out of here. Hold this.” He thrusts a pen into my hands.

“What’s this for?” I ask, confused.

“You’ll see. Just keep hold of it.”

He begins limping up the corridor and this time I follow him. We walk for what feels like hours, twisting and turning from one corridor to the next. Every time we turn a corner, my stomach twists in fear, but, despite the limp, Dade walks on assuredly as though he’s going for a Sunday stroll in the park and not sneaking down tunnels in a demon infested circle of Hell.

Finally, he comes to a stop. “This is as far as I’ve been before,” he says, pointing to the T-junction at the end of the corridor. “Every time I tried to get any further, I was caught. There are usually demons blocking both ways, left and right, but tonight I’m hoping that they’ll all be preoccupied with rebuilding the Earthery.”

“You’ve tried to escape before?”Without me?

“Nope. I’ve scoped out this place before. I was waiting until it was safe enough to bring you.”

I shouldn’t care. I have no business being so excited that he always planned to bring me. I gawk at him as he pulls off his shirt and once again, I’m taken by how gorgeous he is and how the lines of his tattoos compliment the curves and angles of his body

“I don’t think this is the time or place for a quickie,” I deadpan as heat flushes through me.

“Give me the pen,” he instructs.

Confusion holds me as I hand him back the pen he gave me earlier. He takes the pen from my hand and jabs it on his right shoulder. “This is where we are,” he says, looking over his shoulder and drawing a crude X.

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