Page 114 of Black Hollow: Awakening

“Will.” He saw Blake’s blurry face above him. He felt his hand on his shoulder. “Stay with me, you hear me?” Panic laced Alden’s voice. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

He drifted away.

ABIGAIL

February 21 | Friday | Black Forest

The smell of wet fur hung in the air. Hardly surprising, since the wooden cabin they were in was one of the local werewolves’ many hangouts.

She let her gaze travel along the claw-marked walls, then focused on Blake. His nervousness was palpable; she knew how much this situation had affected him.

They heard footsteps, and a moment later, Liam and Norma entered the room. Liam was carrying the limp body of Christine Ellis on his shoulder. He dumped it on the floor unceremoniously

“Careful,” Blake chided him.

“For fuck’s sake, it’s a demon,” Norma reminded him, irritated.

“The demon is inside. You won’t hurt it by tossing the girl on the ground.”

Norma rolled her eyes. The seemingly dismissive gesture was merely a cover for her true emotions. She was frustrated and sad.

“Let’s get to the point, shall we?” she muttered, then sent a small jet of fire toward Christine.

It dissipated just before Christine’s face, but the demon immediately regained consciousness.

“Don’t you dare come near me, you filthy whore!” it hissed at Norma, scrambling back against the wall. “You don’t know what I’m capable of! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill all of you! I’ll wipe you from the face of the earth! Don’t mess with forces you know nothing about!”

“But you don’t have any power,” Norma stated contemptuously. “You want to know how I’m so sure?”

The demon only spat at her feet.

“Because you fought with everything you had, and I still caught you. You were so desperate because you knew this wouldn’t end well for you after what you did to our friend.”

“Friend? He’s a spy!” the demon snarled. “I was trying to help! I was trying to get rid of the spy! I spied on the spy to annoy him, but the spy doesn’t get annoyed! And he wouldn’t leave! It’s his fault!”

“What are you talking about?” Blake asked, approaching the creature.

“What difference does it make?” Norma huffed. “Let’s just be done with this nonsense.”

“Stop,” Blake cut her off. Norma shot him an irritated glare. “What spy are you talking about?”

Abigail was just as curious. She felt something was wrong—a feeling the creature trembling with fear seemed to share—but she couldn’t understand it.

“He spies,” the demon announced. “He watches and watches. He only closes his eye sometimes. That’s why I succeeded. I had to get rid of him while I had the chance.”

“Who’s spying, and on whom? Is this about Will?”

“About the spy! I don’t know who. I don’t know for whom. But I know the spy is a spy!”

“Satisfied?” Norma muttered coldly. Blake grimaced and took a step back, apparently concluding that further questioning was pointless. “In that case, let’s get on with it.”

“Don’t touch me, you bitch!” the demon screeched. “You don’t have enough power to cast me out! You think I don’t know?”

“Maybe,” Norma replied ruthlessly. “But I’m not the one who’s going to be doing it. My friend is. Abby?”

Abigail slowly approached the creature.

“No… I don’t want to go,” the demon said, cowering in the corner. “I have nowhere to go. I don’t have enough strength. I don’t want to go!”