Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“The demon will turn on you the second you release it. It’s not going to give you power or work with you. Demons lie. You taught me that.”
“We taught you a lot,” Marco says. “And you have no idea what it was like having to include you. Pretend you weren’t worthless witch scum.”
“I don’t believe that,” I say calmly, refusing to take the bait. “There were times you cared. Times you loved me. Times we were a family.” I take another step forward. “We can still be that. Even without me.” I take another tentative step forward. “You can have your family back. I can make sure everyone goes home. Just give me the key.”
“Liar,” Vivian spits, her gaze locking onto mine with pure hatred. “I can’t have my family back. They’re not all here anymore.”
“She’s not lying,” Antonio says. He steps through the burned-out opening where the garage doors once stood. Vivian gasps, looking at Antonio with awe. The sun is setting, and it’s getting dark in here. Still, without the cloak of darkness, a newly turned vampire couldn’t be standing there right now.
Vivian’s grip tightens on the key. Then she looks at him. For a fleeting moment, I think this might work.
“This is for the family,” she says.
“How?” Antonio demands, shaking his head. “This isn’t for the family. This is for you.” His voice breaks. “Mom… don’t do this. I died once. You lost me. Don’t lose me again.”
Vivian’s shoulders slump and her lips part. Her fingers go a little slack around the key and she looks at Marco. My heart jumps. She’s not going to do it! She can’t. She won’t…she wouldn’t risk Antonio again.
Then Marco gives her a small nod and my breath catches in my chest. Is it over? Are we getting the key? We can still fix this. I have enough days left before the contract is up. We can come up with something to stop the demon and free my soul.
There’s still time.
But then Vivian extends her hand, tearing her eyes away from Antonio. Marco steps to her and pulls the vial of my blood from his pocket. He uncaps it and pours it onto the sigil.
Chapter
Forty
Eyes wide, I freeze, watching. Waiting. And absolutely nothing happens.
“No!” Vivian screams, shaking the little metal pendant in her hand, coating it in blood.
“It’s not going to work,” I say. “My family was very specific with that spell.”
“We need it straight from the source,” Marco says and lunges forward. Antonio catches him, shoving him back.
“Stand down,” Marco tells him, voice thick with vitriol.
“You are not touching her,” Antonio says back, squaring his shoulders as he stares right into his father’s eyes. Marco doesn’t back down but instead goes to reach for his pistol. With one quick flick of my wrist, I send it flying and it skids across the ashy cement floor, clattering down into the crack in the cement.
“You’re picking her over us?” Marco tries, but it does nothing.
“You picked a demon over your own family,” Antonio replies, tone void of emotion. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“We did what we had to do,” Vivian says.
“No,” Antonio counters. “You didn’t. You did what you wanted to do.”
Deciding to be safe rather than sorry, I telekinetically pull the dagger and the throwing stars from Marco’s holster as well, tossing them far away. Vivian’s eyes go wide in horror. That’s right. They didn’t know I could use telekinetic powers like this.
Or maybe they did and they suppressed them. Who the hell knows? They’re capable of way worse things than we ever could have imagined. Antonio makes one desperate attempt to snatch the key out of Vivian’s hand.
Marco pulls a knife I didn't know he had and puts it to Antonio’s throat, tip dangerously pressing into his skin.
“Don’t make me do something we both regret,” Marco says and I know Antonio is paralyzed right now, unable to act. He has to push the emotion aside in order to act, and I don’t know if he can right now. They’re standing just feet away from where he died, and the dark stain of his blood can still be seen beneath the pile ashes.
“Freeing a demon thinking it’ll do your own personal bidding is the thing you will regret,” Antonio says through gritted teeth. “Mom, please. Don’t do this. Give me the key.”
Marco lunges first, shoving Antonio back. His foot catches on something and he stumbles. I don’t even think, just react. I feel a rush of power surge through me, intense yet controlled. I throw my right hand out, channeling all my energy into a blast of magic. It hits Marco in the chest and I pull back the magic at the last second, sending Marco flying back instead of exploding into him. He hits the floor hard enough to knock the wind out of him, and the knife clatters free from his grasp.