Page 13 of Beneath My Skin

“I don’t understand,” I gasped.

A frightened voice in my head told me to run. But my legs had turned to lead.

Dax stood in the showroom watching us. His eyes were hooded, glowing, hard with an unspoken emotion. A fierce anger rose to war with the terror I felt. He’d played me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention.

Slowly, Jacqueline held out her hand. “Shall we do this the easy way or the hard way? I’ll be honest. I prefer the hard way. It brings with it a certain excitement.”

I looked at her, sick at heart. I really must be cursed. This was what the end looked like. I struggled to control my breathing before I became lightheaded. But inside I was screaming and begging and pleading for someone to tell me what was going on. To save me when I couldn’t save myself.

Unable to move, I waited for the stillness to break.

Jacqueline was done waiting for an answer by then. Her outstretched hand became a fist and she slammed it into my face.

I went down too fast. “What the hell?” I spoke through a rush of blood dripping out of my nose.

“Answer me,” Jacqueline demanded.

“I don’t know what you want me to say!”

She dusted off the front of her suit. Before I had a chance to speak again, she kicked me in the gut. The breath left me in a whoosh. My ears rang.

“Do you think I enjoy this, Miss Revely?” she wanted to know.

“…Yes?”

Another kick. This one had me seeing stars.

“Do what she says,” Dax said emotionlessly. I couldn’t see him anymore, but I could hear him. Close. Why the hell wasn’t he doing anything to help me?

“What will it be?” Jacqueline pushed.

A demon or a prison sentence—which one did I prefer? Or were they both the same? My mind fractured while I tried to put together a plan. My hands rose to protect my head, wanting to hold it together against the fear and the pain. Jacqueline kicked me again, this time sending the tip of her alligator-leather pump straight into my already bruised nose.

This is what happens when I go outside, I thought dimly. What happens when I simply go to the store and try to act normal. How could I trust myself to recognize safety anymore? There was no one out there to help me.

A sharp burning different from the rest of the pain had my attention drifting to my right forearm. It was too late to hide the message. They knew about me.

A small sound escaped when I saw the words.

Let me in.

“No. You’ll take over completely and I’ll be gone.” I shivered and shook my head. There would be nothing left.

Swelling panic gripped me and I tried to focus. Tried to drown the emotions out before they dragged me down into a sea of confusion. Desperately, I clung to the hope that if I could just have a little time to figure this out, I’d make a dazzling escape and somehow make sense of this chaos.

“Mariella, I’m waiting for an answer.” Jacqueline tapped her foot impatiently. “If you keep groaning, I’ll think you want the hard way after all.”

Wait a minute… This was the easy way?

“Screw you,” I yelled up to her.

Pain flashed clear and bright. Jacqueline kicked me the instant more words and curses pressed against my skin in large, looping demon script.

Let me in!

Darkness swirled in front of my face and my heart was heavy. What choice did I have? I was out of options at the moment. I’d die anyway, with or without her. There was no fight in me. No strength left. If I was going to do this, I had to do it now.

My teeth chattered against the effort of staying conscious. All right. “Cer, I let you in.”

I cringed in terror at what I’d just done.

My words, spoken in a whisper, echoed in the room. Disturbed only by the muffled hum of the people standing in a half circle around me. I stared wordlessly up at them. Jacqueline had her lips pursed. Dax…he looked disappointed.

Finally.

The last word I didn’t feel in my blood. I heard it in my ears. In the open air around my body. My vision blurred and the world swam through a zigzag-like heat wave. The last thing I felt was my insides physically rising.

“Wait a minute! What did she say? What did she do?” Jacqueline was asking. Hazy and distant.

My head jerked back on a gasp, and with Cer’s maniacal laughter echoing, the world went white.

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