Page 168 of Devil Inside

“Take me,” I said on the dance floor. When she asked where, her voice in my head, I answered—Home. Where we both belong.

Together.

It’s bound to be after midnight. The city slips off to sleep, streets quiet, but there’s adrenaline still coursing through my veins. I can feel my heart racing, outpacing my pulse.

“Are you hurt?” Lilith asks. She’s inside Cara again, a familiar face, a familiar body. Lilith brought her along to the house party, and now she’s holding me up, our bodies pressed against each other, running through the streets, racing through Richmond.

Already I feel the distance between us. The gulf between our bodies. It’s so cold without her here. I need to get her back. “I felt you,” I say. “You were inside me. You were everywhere.”

“I’m here. I’m with you.”

We make it to my place. I couldn’t have gotten back to my own apartment without Lilith leading the way. My body feels broken, absolutely shattered from the dance floor.

All those people. My friends. Their demons. I lured them in. Let them loose upon that party.

I did that. That was all me. How is that even possible?

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you... I thought I’d lost you.”

“I’m right here.”

“I need you,” I say.Inside me.

We’re taking the stairs two, three at a time, the hollow clop of our shoes echoing through the empty stairwell. We’re panting, both of us, rushing. We’re not talking anymore. Just running. There are no words. Only instinct. The need to be in each other’s arms.

“I can’t lose you again,” I say. “I don’t ever want to let you go.”

I close the door to my apartment. Lilith takes off her shoes, tossing them. She’s not wasting any time. The anticipation—the electricity—has been building, and now we need to finish.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” she asks.

“Yes.” God, yes. I’ve never wanted something more in my life. Or whatever came after. I’ve been so dead inside. The only time I’ve felt alive in the last year is with her.

With Lilith. Inside me.

Her kiss goes deep along with the momentum from Cara’s body, forcing me back. Impact pushes me against the door. The chain lock rattles at my ear. Her lips, soft and warm, pull back and I feel her teeth pressing against my mouth.

There is an obsidian glint to her eyes now. A shark’s nictating membrane sliding over its eyes as it shifts into attack mode, completely frenzied, sensing blood in the water.

How far can we ease into each other? Her mouth only opens wider, ready to swallow me. She wants to devour everything in front of her.

I push back, exerting enough force to press off the door, but Lilith is stronger, digging in her heels and pushing back even harder. I’m right back against the door.

She halts. Hesitates. The two of us take each other in, panting.

We each freeze. Lungs lock.

Neither of us breathe. Our chests hold onto the air between us, suspended in silence. We’re staring each other down, waiting for one of us to make the first move.

Whoever inhales first, whoever relents, loses. It’s a game. A battle. A standoff.

I breathe before she does.

Something about that inhale, gasping for air first, sends Lilith charging. She chases after the oxygen, hoping to catch it, closing in on me so fast, I can’t close my mouth.

Her kiss is frantic. Frenzied.

I pull her away. It takes all the strength I have, grabbing her by both arms and pushing back. Our lips separate, and it takes a moment for clarity to come back to her eyes.