Page 47 of The Slayer Seduction

“Adam, look at me,” Iris says, pulling back and grabbing my face. “Someone gave your family this book, they must have promised them something. I’m going to find out who it is and I’m going to make them pay.”

“I don’t care about revenge,” I say.

“Well, you should. Sometimes, vengeance is the only thing that keeps us going. You’re still here, okay?”

“I can’t fucking sit in the backseat of my own body for the rest of my life.”

“We’ll figure it out. The Slayer wants to please me and he hasn’t been able to push you out yet. There has to be a reason for that.”

My head hurts as I rub the side of my temple. “I was free of them, you know. I mean, I don’t know if I’d call myself happy, but I was doing what I loved. Sure, no one was buying my paintings, but my photographs paid the bills. I had my own place. I never should have come back home.”

“Hey. You’re not to blame here. Honestly, the Slayer isn’t either.”

I give her a worried look, and she shakes her head. “He doesn’t ask to be sent back. He’s summoned. This falls on your family and whoever gave them this book. We’ll find them and we’ll make them pay. Don’t give up, not yet.”

“Why?” I ask her, feeling more hopeless than I’ve ever felt in my life.

But as she cups my face and stares at me with an intensity that’s never been geared toward me, I wonder if she could be my reason.

Fuck. I’m starting to sound as insane as the Slayer.

“Because you matter, and maybe, just maybe, you could have a semblance of a life. I’ll talk to the Slayer. He’s more reasonable than I realized so we’ll figure something out.”

I want to look away from her, but I can’t.

“I’ll be here alongside you the whole time. I’m not letting you fade away to nothing. Just hang on.”

I open my mouth to reply and I’m whisked away to the back of my mind as the Slayer takes over and I watch in horror, unable to do anything, as he stares at the book in the witch’s hands.

Chapter 24

Iris

It happens damn near in an instant. One moment I’m comforting Adam, trying to stop him from completely spiraling, and then the next I’m staring at pissed off, depthless eyes.

Instinctually, I take a step back, the book still in my hands as the Slayer glares down at the offensive book.

“Where…where did you get that?” he grates the words out, and it’s almost like he’s trying to hold himself together.

My wards don’t kick him out, and shockingly, I don’t feel afraid of him.

“I stole it from Adam’s family,” I say plainly.

“Why?” he questions.

Okay, Iris, what can I say to not piss the Slayer off? What will keep him in this fucking house?

“Because this book needed to be out of human hands.” I hope the answer is enough for him, but he raises an eyebrow at me.

“And you needed to speak to Adam, because?”

“It can’t be read by a supernatural being. I needed to know what it said. Adam had the right to know that his family didn’t have access to the book.”

The Slayer laughs, though it’s not with humor.

“You’re not a very believable liar, my Iris. What, did you think you could separate me from this vessel?” he asks, taking a step closer to me, invading my space, though he makes sure to not touch the book or me. “We are one now. The only way we will ever be separated is through the true death.”

He takes a deep breath.