There’s so much adrenaline rushing through my body that I lose footing and slide down the steps, pain ricocheting up my spine as an agonizing groan reverberates through my chest. Climbing to my feet, I sway into the wall. “I’m here, baby.”
“Dominic… Oh, thank god.” Her muffled voice comes from somewhere beneath me. I can barely see a thing. The sun has almost set, and the cloudy, small windows near the roof barely let any light in. I search for a switch or something. Anything.
I eventually find a pull string. A fluorescent flickering light floods the space to reveal a hoarder’s nest. There’s everything down here, from an old mannequin to a brown box TV, a box with knitting needles, and a baseball bat.
“Fuck,” I grunt when I accidentally kick something, which rolls across the floor—an old glass jar.
Despite the muggy summer heat outside, it’s cold, so I rub my arms and stomp on the floorboards. There must be a hatch somewhere. “Where are you, Camryn?”
“I’m down here,” her voice sounds to my left.
I walk over to where a rocking chair sits. “Creepy,” I mutter, pushing it away and kneeling to remove the old rug. Once it’s shoved aside, I see it—the latch.
“Dominic,” Lily calls out from the top of the stairs. “You really shouldn’t disturb the past.”
Jumping to my feet, I reach down to grab the latch. It’s stuck, or it’s being held down on purpose. Lily’s tinkling laughter drifts closer. I pull again, roaring with the effort. It still won’t budge. I’m panting now, heart galloping, and Camryn is banging on the floorboards. I glance behind me when Lily walks down the steps, a nefarious smile curling her lips as she comes into view. How is she still alive? Her bare legs are soaked with blood, and her lips have a blue tint. “Oh, Dominic. Pathetic little human. Still trying to save the girl even when all hope is lost.”
While she laughs, I pull on the latch. But no matter how much effort I put in, it stays locked.
Something hard strikes the floorboard from beneath, and Camryn screams with frustration. I peer at the demon through sweaty strands of my dark hair. It’s over. Camryn can’t leave the crawl space until the demon lets her. It’s really that simple. It has played with us all this time, from the moment we set foot in this town. Maybe even before.
“You brought her here,” I say, straightening up, lifting my shoulders in a defeated shrug. “Why?”
Lily drops her gaze to the floorboards, and the look on her face can only be described as ‘longing.’ It dawns on me, then. The demon has a weakness—desire. Maybe not of the sexual kind like us humans, but it still desires what it can’t have.
“You’re unable to possess her,” I say, watching the demon as it inches closer to the latch. “Oh, c’mon…” I throw my head back and laugh. “You’re supposed to be this powerful demon from Hell, but really, you’re just as weak as the rest of us.” My smile falls. “Pathetic!”
Those black eyes snap away from the floorboards, and Lily—the demon, or whatever the fuck it is—cocks her head to the side. “I like this game. Usually, they scream and cry, but you’re feisty.” She walks closer to me, and I back away.
“You hate it, don’t you?” I taunt. “You can’t see inside her like you can with other humans. You can’t see her desires or her worst fears.”
“What game is this, human?”
“It’s not a game.” I step over a rake. “You went through a lot of steps to get her here. You even went as far as to enter my father. Why?”
“You’re inquisitive.”
“I’ll tell you why,” I say, ignoring its observation of me. “You wanted to taste her, didn’t you? And since you couldn’t enter her mind, you invaded her body the only way you could—through my father.”
A delighted gleam enters her black eyes. “Are you jealous, Dominic?”
I swat away the cruel jab like an irritating mosquito, but it still hits home. “You possessed my father and fucked her. But it wasn’t enough to quench the desire to acquire what you can’t have, was it? You wouldn’t go to these lengths otherwise. That’salso why you possessed and killed her friends. Through us, you gain more of an insight, more of a taste, of Camryn. I’m curious. What is your plan now? If you kill her, you’ll never be able to possess her body and join with her the way you desire.”
“Even the strongest of minds eventually break.”
A loud bang sounds from the floorboards, and the demon looks away. It’s the opening I need to grab the baseball bat leaning up against the wall behind me. I swing it at her head, and she collapses to the floor with a hard thud.
Whatever hold she had on the latch must disappear, because it opens this time when I pull. Camryn’s grime-smeared face and matted hair come into view, and I help her out. We collapse on the floor in a heap of tears. I crash my lips to hers, stroking the dirty strands from her cheeks. It’s an all-consuming need to ensure she’s real.
Her fingers tremble on my scruff, and then she breaks away and looks down at the opening. “Bruno is down there.”
I kneel and duck my head into the hole. “Bruno, come here, boy.” I whistle, but there’s no sign of him. Camryn joins me. “Bruno?”
“There must be another way out.” I help her to her feet. “C’mon, we need to leave.”
Lily begins to stir on the floor as we rush to the staircase.
“The axe with the binding symbol is down there. I forgot to bring it,” Camryn says, out of breath.
