Page 35 of Not Today, Satan
No souldiers wait for us, and the caves will provide cover. We have another ascent ahead of us, but once we complete that, we should be almost out of Lapis.
A sharp pain jabs into my back, and I gasp.
“Devicaaaaa…”
I freeze, the blood draining from my face. That voice. It’s the same one from the mirror.
“Nate.” I shove my hood down. “Do you hear that?”
He stops and listens. “Hear what?”
I wait a beat, but the voice is gone. “Nothing.” I wrap my arms around myself. Nate smooths my hair, but I shrink from his touch and give him a pointed look. “I don’t need consoling.”
“That wasn’t what I was—” His hand falls to his side. “You have glass in your hair. I probably shouldn’t have hit the mirror so close to you, but you freaked me out and I reacted.”
My cheeks heat.
I should be saving him, not the other way around.
I shake my head again, and shards of crystal chime against the stones at our feet, catching the light like a mosaic. “You did what you had to do. Besides, I heal quickly.”
We wind around the wall and enter a cave so deep it’s impossible to make out where it ends. Torches hang sporadically on the walls, providing brief patches of orange in a darkness that engulfs Nate when he strays from their light.
“Devicaaaaa…” The voice bounces off the walls, and my shoulders tense. But there’s no one else here.
Straightening my jaw, I resume my pace beside Nate.
“He’s a sinner. You know what you have to do.”
I shove my hands over my ears. “Leave me alone.”
“Devica?” Nate asks. “Who are you talking to?”
Removing my hands, I stop and hold my breath, listening for anything out of the ordinary. Only our footsteps echo back at me. The pain in my back crescendos hot, then diminishes.
“Nothing.” I move behind Nate as the passage narrows. “Thinking out loud.”
We continue through the cave, and I glance over my shoulder whenever we pass a patch of light. We’re trailed only by our own shadows, dancing together on the walls with each crack of the flames.
“Do it, Devicaaaa…”The voice pounds against my brain, louder than it was in Lot Eleven. Heat rips through my spine again, and I bite back a scream.“He must paaaaay…”
My mind snaps into awareness, like clouds parting after a storm.
What am I doing? He’s a sinner, I’m a demon. It’s my job to punish him. He tricked me into helping him the night he came into my room.
Clever little shadeling.
Nate’s only a foot in front of me. I draw my sword and raise it over my head, careful not to make a sound. He’s humming a song I don’t recognize.
“Devicaaaaa…” the voice thunders. “Teach him his lesson. End him.”
He won’t see the blow coming. I can be the hero who brought him back instead of the villain who freed him.
My body burns. Tears blur my vision, and I bite my tongue so hard that blood fills my mouth. My arm shakes as I struggle against the urge to swing. I won’t do this. I won’t hurt him.
The sword clatters to the ground. Pain rips through my body as though it’s tearing my flesh from the bone. I fall to my knees and rock forward and back, gritting my teeth, fighting every instinct to grab the sword again.
“Devica?” Nate drops to his knees in front of me and takes my hands. “Are you okay?”
