Page 148 of A Taste of Torment
I wince. Everything aches. Everything throbs.
Then, I move my legs and a cry rips from my lips. Crap. I forgot about Mr. Vandozer’s demon ripping into my calf.
There’s a hiss from above me. Jarron’s demon growls, eyeing my leg. “I will kill him.” I guess that means Mr. Vandozer got away?
“Pretty sure you already promised that,” I say through my ragged breaths.
“Well, it will be slower than I’d intended before.”
The demon leans over and gently shifts his arms beneath my body and lifts.Oh, good, more demon cuddles.
God, I think I’m delirious.
His body is hard, with sharp edges, but he’s gentle as he carries me out of the hole they dug to get to us. He leaps over the fallen beams and piled stones from the ceiling of the arena.
His steps are slow but long, and he doesn’t stop once we escape the arena and enter the field outside. The moon is high in the sky. Wolves howl in the distance. Yeah, I guess stopping here would be a bad idea.
He marches into the school, still in his demon form, carrying me. He rushes up the stairs and then kicks open a wooden door. There’s commotion on the other side of the room. Gasps and then pattering of feet.
The demon gently places me on a cot with white sheets. I’m in the infirmary?
“Rest. The nurses will take care of you, and I will keep watch.”
“Wait!” I call before he walks away. “Mr. Vandozer. What happened to him?”
“He escaped into his jinn’s power, taking him out of reach. We will find him again, and he will die a very slow, very painful death.”
I blink. Fair enough. I relax into the cushions and allow the nurses to make a fuss over my shredded calf as the demon that haunted my dreams continues to protect me.
53
I Won’t Be a Second Choice
I must loseconsciousness at some point, because my eyes fly open to find the infirmary dark and quiet. “Jarron?” I whisper hoarsely.
My head throbs. My leg feels like they’re being ripped apart.
Footsteps approach. “It’s Trevor,” he says gently.
A shiver wracks through my body and I twist, pushing through the sharp pain and lift my gaze to look around. “Where is Jarron?” I ask, voice barely audible.
Trevor sits in the chair beside my cot. “He’s resting now.”
“Is he okay?” He brought me here but he was covered in dark blood. What happened after that?
“Yes. His heart will take a few days to heal, but otherwise he’s fine.”
“His heart?” My stomach sinks. Mr. Vandozer stabbed him in the heart? My eyes flutter closed for a moment, but I don’t allow my mind to succumb to bonedeep weariness.
“The blow grazed his heart, yes. It takes more than that to kill us, though.”
“He didn’t have his magic. How did he survive that?”
Trevor shrugs. “My guess is barely. Even without magic we’re more durable than humans. And the nurses said you gave him a potion to slow the bleeding? That may have saved his life.”
I was so close to losing him.
“Your parents are here too. They arrived a few hours ago and asked me to watch over you while he rested. I agreed because I wanted the chance to apologize for Bea’s part in all of it.”
