Page 76 of Grave Devil
Nox bursts through the door, and my heart swells. I leap from the bed and almost pass out on my way to him. He swoops me up in his arms and carries me back. “I missed you too, my love. Come, let’s get you tucked back in. We don’t want youripping out your stitches.” He glares over at Sonny, who returns his ire.
“Have you made up my room yet?” Sonny snickers.
The veins in Bones’s neck bulge. “Enough with the jokes. We have serious shit to take care of. We have to close the veil before more things like you come through.”
Nox nods. “Draven says he saw a few of them along the tree line last night. After his nightmare father made an appearance. He had aninterestingconversation with him.”
What the fuck?“It seems I missed a lot. What are you talking about?” The last thing we discussed was capturing Sonny so we could figure out what the devil was really up to. But I think he knows about as much as we do.
Sonny’s eyes harden like steel. “He wants Mia. That’s what I was tasked to do. To bring her back through the tree.”
Nox and Bones instinctively stand in front of me, blocking him from my view.
“For fuck’s sake, I’m not going to,” he hisses. “Relax.”
I push Bones and Nox apart so I can see Sonny again. “Is it because of my ancestor Willa Harker? Because she rejected him.”
Sonny nods. “His pride is unlike any other’s. He’s been stewing for centuries, his rage building year after year. That is why he took me, and it is why he intends to take you.”
“That’s not going to fucking happen,” Bones growls just as Nox’s tail snakes protectively around my waist.
So the devil’s grudge knows no end… That’s concerning. Especially for me and Sonny. “How do we close the veil?”
Draven and Aries shuffle in. They both look worse for wear. A stabbing twinge of guilt and shame festers in my belly. I put them through this long and fucked-up night. It’s my fault they look so defeated.
“Hey, Trouble. Glad you’re awake.” Even his tone is despondent.
But what really bothers me is how Aries is standing with his shoulders pressed forward. His eyes are red, and his hair is a mess.
He still manages a grin though. “You had that little pyro thing going on again last night, baby girl. It was sexy as fuck but hence the restraints.”
Sonny tilts his head, confused. “Little pyro?”
Draven taps his cigarette against his hand. “Last year, she set the poison fields on fire to get a rise out of me. Almost burned this whole house down in the process.”
“It wasnotto get a rise out of you, Dray. You know good and well why I took a match to that fucking baneberry.” I cross my arms over my chest and pout.
Aries snorts. “A match? You emptied enough kerosene onto the ground to start Armageddon.” He laughs. “Fuck, you are adorable when you’re mad.”
Sonny smiles at me. “So youarethe most unhinged out of everyone here. I knew it.”
I huff out a dramatic sigh while trying not to laugh as well. I am pretty fucking ridiculous sometimes. “Okay, fine. Whatever. Now, can someone tell me how we undo all this shit? I know it’s my fault. This all started when I made a bargain for Nox. That’s when I first started hearing the Skelker—I mean Sonny—in my head.”
Draven nods as he takes a drag of his vanilla-soaked cigarette. “That’s when I started seeing my nightmare father’s shadow at Blackwell Manor.”
“Tell Mia what he told you, Draven.” Nox’s tail still grips my middle for dear life. I’m beginning to think it’s to make himself feel secure and not the other way around.
He cracks his neck from side to side. “It will take all of us. Well, all of the matriarchs. You, Lettie, my cousin Maureen, Aries’s sister, Libra, Bailey Bishop, and we have to find a Graves girl. And a Wickford. There’s a ritual with the raven’s blade that must be performed. If we succeed, it closes for good. No new nightmare men, no new Skelkers. But that also means no more oaths or bargains. Only the ones we’ve already made.”
“So, where does that leave me?” Sonny asks as he stands, letting everyone see his height and stature for the first time.
Aries lowers his head, his cheeks reddening.
My stomach twists into knots. “Please, someone tell me that we can save Sonny before we close the veil.”
Nox rests a hand on my shoulder. “We can, and we will, love,”
Bones’s eyes water. “We will make one last deal before we cut the devil off for good.”
