Page 96 of Capturing Sin

“Yeah, your sainthood is in the post, I’m sure,” I drawled and made a sweeping gesture to the side of the building. “Beast before beauty.”

The demon snorted, scooping Arsen under one arm like a rolled yoga mat. I shot him a pointed look, but it didn’t seem like he was willing to retract his spines to throw him over a shoulder.

I followed Sin’s spiked back down the dim alley, the opposite direction that Leo had fled. The fighting was over, for now, yet adrenaline sizzled through my veins as we circled the pub to where we’d parked the car further along the quiet street.

I kept my eyes peeled, but nobody was around to witness the crime I was an unwilling accessory to. Unlocking the vehicle, I slid into the driver’s seat, watching in the rear-view mirror as Sin slung Arsen into the car boot and slammed it closed. He climbed in beside me, comically big for the space, despite it being a generous-sized SUV.

Stewing in tense silence, I drove towards the house Sin had claimed. Every second that passed was one less in Arsen’s life, and guilt squirmed through me.

Maybe I should crash the car.

Would I be able to slam the passenger side into a lamp-post or tree hard enough to injure Sin without killing myself too? I could run out and grab Arsen, the pair of us fleeing, before the demon recovered enough to hunt us down.

“What are you scheming, poison?” Sin’s voice was laced with mocking. His hand came to rest just above my knee, searing like a brand through my borrowed jeans. “Your pretty features betray you.”

I pulled a sour face, still watching the road, even as a dumb, girly part of me instantly latched onto the word pretty. Did the demon find me attractive?

And why did I care?

This had to stop.

I needed to get away from him before things got any more complicated.

Drawing a deep breath, I let everything quiet inside me. I’d made my decision.

I yanked the wheel aside.

The car slammed into a lamp-post with a squeal of metal on metal and the crunch of shattered glass. The airbags exploded, bouncing off my head in a dizzying slam. Something slapped my chest, halting my momentum.

“Liliana!” Sin roared, oddly muffled over the ringing in my ears. “Poison, are you okay? What the fuck just happened?”

My chest heaved. Sin’s tail had caught me before I could impale myself on his shoulder spines. I’d almost got more than a little headache.

Any fledgling hope was crushed like the passenger side door. Sin seemed wholly unhurt, cuts from the broken glass of his window already closing over before my eyes.

I’d failed.

And now Arsen and I were both going to die under Sin’s claws.

“Whoops.” I straightened, an unhinged laugh spilling out. My heart pounded in time with the dull throb in my thick skull. “There was a squirrel in the road. The red ones are super rare now.”

The demon pursed his lips, eyes narrowing dangerously. “You’re hurting my feelings, poison. Here I thought we were both just pretending to be captives for each other. Apparently I’ll have to try harder for you to choose me too.”

I looked away, heart pounding for a different reason now.

Had he chosen me? In what way?

I shoved aside the hope trying to creep in at the edges like a monster in the dark. It didn’t matter what he thought of me. I escaped, or I died. Either way, we’d never see each other again.

To my dismay, the car worked perfectly fine as I restarted the engine, finishing the final few minutes’ drive with an odd shrieking rattle coming from the SUV.

Not only had we made ourselves at home in a stranger’s house, but now I’d wrecked their car too.

I screeched us onto the driveway, quickly escaping the confined space and slamming the car door hard enough to rock the already damaged vehicle.

Sin punched the warped passenger door clean off its hinges, his reinforced spiked knuckles apparently tougher than steel.

He climbed out opposite me, a knowing smirk playing on his pouty lips.

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