Page 22 of Endless Terrors
Collith held his head, dark hair spilling between his fingers. “No,” he moaned. “No.”
It was the same way Oliver had moved last night. Like something was tearing him apart from the inside. I knelt beside Collith while Laurie raised his phone, calling a witch, no doubt. Only magic could help Collith right now. I stayed within touching distance, my hands clenched into helpless fists. I was so consumed by what was happening to Collith that I didn’t hear Finn’s arrival.
“Fortuna,” he said, drawing my focus to him. His golden eyes were overly bright, and his nostrils flared. “I know that scent.”
Finn had been possessed by a demon recently. My stomach dropped as I grasped what this meant. Lucifer was here all right, and he was using Collith as a host for his grand entrance. Oliver had tried to warn me, and I’d wasted too much goddamn time. Once again, I’d put people I loved at risk.
“I want all of you to leave, now,” I said sharply. I sought Finn with my gaze. “Get Gil and run.”
The werewolf tensed, about to turn and do exactly that, but then Collith went still. His hands fell away from his skull, and he pushed himself off the frozen pavement. We all watched in wary, startled silence as he straightened his coat and tugged at the ends of his sleeves.
“That won’t be necessary,” he said in a voice that didn’t sound like his. “I’ve come to offer a deal, Fortuna Sworn.”
Then Collith smiled. In that instant, I knew my fear had come to pass. It was obvious whose words were coming out of his mouth. Guess the cat’s out of the bag, I thought dimly.
Lucifer knew Collith was a Nightmare.
“How?” I said. My voice was flat. Finn had been branded, which allowed the demon in, somehow. It was the same for Jacob Goldmann. Collith bore no such scars on his body. At least, he hadn’t the last time I’d seen him unclothed. But months had passed since then and I’d run without telling Collith about the potential danger.
“The mark is on his soul, Lady Sworn,” Lucifer said, raising his eyebrows. He must’ve seen my guilt, and I didn’t like that he could read me so easily. “Did you really think the Unseelie King could spend ninety years in my domain, undetected? The son of one of my most infamous residents? It isn’t surprising that he doesn’t remember—resurrection is a tricky business.”
Doesn’t remember? I echoed silently, disbelieving. Collith might not have retained the memory of getting branded, but he remembered plenty. My mind flashed back to those long months after I’d brought Collith back from Hell. I recalled his pain, his nightmares. He had been so destroyed by his years in captivity that he’d worried just one encounter with Lucifer might have broken me. Icy rage wrapped its fingers around my heart. I looked the devil in the eye and asked, “Are you the one that tortured him?”
He gazed back at me without a glimmer of remorse. “Not personally, no.”
“It was the human, wasn’t it.” I still spoke tonelessly. “The night I killed Logan Boon. That’s how you found me.”
I supposed it didn’t really matter anymore, but Lucifer still answered. “Actually, no. I learned of your whereabouts as soon as Collith did. I knew it would only be a matter of time until he found you again, so I’ve been making preparations since. Don’t worry, I’ll return your lover. I’m merely borrowing him for a few minutes.”
Hearing this, my lungs loosened, and I could breathe again. So Lucifer didn’t intend to use Collith as a host, then. Or at least not a permanent one. I traced his noble features with my eyes, trying to reconcile that it wasn’t Collith anymore. The sooner we ended this conversation, the sooner we could get him back. “If you’re hoping to use my body like you used Jacob’s, there’s no deal you could offer I’d ever accept,” I told Lucifer.
The devil frowned. “I never wanted to possess you, my lady.”
The sincerity in his voice caught me by surprise. I quickly remembered the list of reasons why Lucifer was my enemy. There were many. “The brand on my back would say otherwise,” I said with cold loathing.
Laurie shifted, as if physically restraining himself. Until now, he’d been quiet during this encounter. I kept my focus on Lucifer, and I saw his mouth tighten after I’d spoken. Something about what I said had bothered him. “The brand is a mark created by Olorel. It simply makes passage between dimensions easier. That is why it is often used for possession,” the devil said.
“You’re lying. Want to know how I know?” I leaned closer and dropped my voice to a whisper. “Your lips are moving.”
Lucifer just looked at me. I stepped back, answering the intensity in his gaze with a dull-eyed look of my own as I continued, “Otherwise why come to the house wearing Jacob? Why go through so much trouble to find me, make me a Nightmare again?”
“I wanted to meet you, and I couldn’t reach you in your dreams, as there was someone preventing me from fully making contact,” Lucifer countered. Ollie, I thought. As if the devil sensed something amiss, or my expression had given something away, he paused. His eyes flicked between mine. Then he murmured, “In hindsight, I see how the intentions behind my visit could’ve been misinterpreted.”
If the devil had been in his true form, I might have been influenced by his beauty, his power. But it was Collith’s body he wore, and I wanted this fucker out. “I don’t think I misinterpreted anything,” I said.
“As for the torment you endured at Belanor’s hands,” he went on, “please understand that he acted on his own. Belanor has always been overzealous in his devotion to me.”
“Overzealous?” I repeated in disbelief. Echoes of my own screams drifted through my memory.
“Aren’t you at all curious about my deal?” Lucifer questioned. I recognized the smooth attempt to change the subject. He still wanted something, and reminding me of what his number one fan had done wouldn’t exactly help his case.
I didn’t need to think about it. “No.”
“Come to my dimension,” Lucifer said, ignoring my response. “Do this, and I will give you the spell that will wake your brother. I had hoped to extend a less … complicated invitation, but then you beheaded my host.”
I was so preoccupied by the first part of what he’d said, by the invitation to Hell, that it took me an extra moment to comprehend the rest of it.
“Wait, what do you mean, wake my—” My phone started vibrating. I pulled it out and glanced at the number calling me. My breathing went shallow again. I touched the screen and raised it to my ear. “Emma?”
