Page 26 of An Illicit Seduction

“What happened?”

“Apparently, he was hit by a bus in front of your office building.”

Seraph twisted in her seat to stare at her friend, mouth gaped open in horror. “What?!”

Sierra nodded, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. “Yeah. It was on the news. Someone in the building saw it happen from a fourth-floor window. Said he walked right off of the sidewalk and was immediately struck by a Metro going forty miles per hour. The bus didn’t even have a chance to brake or swerve.”

“Oh, my God!” Bringing her hands to her mouth, she swung her gaze to the windshield, staring blankly at the pavement as she thought about the ritual she had completed not even twelve hours ago.

“Do you—” she paused when Sierra’s eyes quickly flickered over to her before returning to the road. “Do you think this has something to do with the binding?”

Sierra pursed her lips. “Absolutely.”

Although Seraph was expecting that answer, it didn’t make the heavy feeling in her chest go away. She was at a loss for words and they rode the rest of the way in silence. When they arrived at the hospital, they ran into the relatively empty emergency room where Seraph instantly spotted her mother and her Uncle Louis standing at the reception desk.

“Mama!”

Joyce spun around at the sound of her name and burst into tears when she saw Seraph. Seraph ran toward her and wrapped her in a tight hug.

“It’s Damon,” Joyce sputtered through her tears, her voice muffled by Seraph’s shoulder.

Seeing her mother in tears sparked her own, and Seraph began crying as well. A heavy hand fell to her shoulder and she turned as her father’s brother pulled her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. “Is he okay? Tell me that he’s okay.”

Her uncle released a shuddering breath and stood back. “We don’t know yet. I’m up here looking for answers right now.” He gestured at the desk and the nurse who sat behind it with a sympathetic moue.

Joyce touched her arm. “They told us that he died at the scene.”

Seraph gasped, her hands flying to her face, a fresh round of tears spilling from her eyes. That heavy feeling in her chest settled even deeper and her breaths became short.

This was her fault.

“But the paramedics resuscitated him,” Joyce continued. “He was life-flighted over here, and now we’re waiting to hear from the doctors.” Her words were like a summons because as soon as she finished speaking, there was a high-pitched buzz followed by a door swinging open on their right.

A man wearing blue scrubs walked out. Both Louis and Joyce rushed toward him with Seraph and Sierra following closely behind. The older pair began shooting off rapid-fire questions, barely giving the man a chance to speak. He was apparently used to it because he stayed calm and expertly maneuvered into the conversation, providing answers that made Seraph’s head spin and gut clench.

Severe swelling in the brain. Coma.

Seraph instantly recalled the words Mama Sari had spoken after explaining the ritual to her.

“Prepare yourself, friend. The host must die for the incubus to be cast out.”

She’d heard the words, loud and clear, had processed them, and understood what they meant. But standing in the waiting area of the emergency room was a shock to her senses. Shaking her head in disbelief, she walked away from her family and slumped into a chair. “This is all my fault.”

“No, it’s not,” Sierra immediately countered, having followed her over to the sitting area. “I’m not going to let you beat yourself up about this. Yes, you performed a ritual to bind and cast out the incubus, but you had to do that to protect yourself. All of this,” she waved her hand around the waiting room of the hospital, “is the fault of whoever gave that thing entry to Damon’s body. I know you probably don’t want to hear this right now, but it’s more than likely Damon’s fault.”

Eyes narrowed, Seraph looked at her friend in disbelief. “What?!”

“Girl, listen. We’ve been telling you that Damon liked your ass, and then suddenly, he is possessed by a demon that wants to fuck you night and day? That is some kind of coincidence.”

Seraph sat in silence, her mind once again going a mile a minute. She couldn’t deny that there was something to what Sierra was saying. Even Mama Sari had been confused by Damon focusing only on her. Had he let this happen on purpose?

Getting an answer that day wasn’t in the cards, and she soon found out that Damon had been put in a medically induced coma while his body temperature was dropped in an effort to reduce the swelling in his brain. The doctors said he could have visitors, but Seraph refused to go in. She told her mother and uncle to take all the time they needed because they had a stronger relationship with him, but the truth was that she was scared.

She was completely terrified that she would walk in that room and the man in the bed would be the one she thought she’d gotten rid of. What if she had gone through all of this just for none of it to work? What then?

Her refusal to see Damon was an afterthought as his mother finally arrived from Dallas, along with her husband and their young children. Seraph was forgotten as her uncle and mother spent the time bringing the new arrivals up to date with Damon’s condition. She took that as her opportunity to slip out unnoticed, riding with Sierra back to her house where she gathered her things and drove herself home to her apartment.

Damon was in a coma for three days following the accident, and on the third day, Joyce declared herself sick of Seraph’s excuses and personally picked her up from her apartment and drove her to the hospital.