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I tried to dodge back out of range and get some space between us, but I suddenly felt as if lead was pumping through my veins, every limb unbearably heavy. I shoved Jeremiah away, stumbled, and clutched for my shoulder where he’d hit me. But it hadn’t just been a punch: my fingers encountered something small, something metal, sunk deep in my skin. And fuck, it wasburning.
“I always knew my father wasn’t using that thing the way he should have been.” Jeremiah laughed, watching me gasp as I tried to pull the wretched metal thing out of my flesh. My fingers kept slipping on my own blood. Whatever it was, it was sucking up my strength so fast that my vision was darkening at the edges. Fuck...fuck this was bad...what the hell had he done?
“Tell me, demon: did you happen to leave something behind on Halloween? A trinket, perhaps? Something you stole, something you buried before you killed my father?”
Something stolen...something buried...fuck. The amulet Kent had worn. I hadn’t even thought of it since then. I’d been so distracted — Juniper had buried it, and neither of us had thought to go back for it.
“Ahh, so it was you then,” Jeremiah said, acknowledging the stunned look on my face. I glared at him and swallowed hard, trying to muster up any strength I could to go after him again. But the effects of that damned little amulet were nauseating. I couldn’t even see straight.
“Boys, give him a few more.”
The gunfire rang in my ears, and this time the bullets hit my chest and one struck my face. Their aim was terrible and I wanted to tell them so, but the sarcastic remark died on my tongue. I lurched, coughed, and spat up blood.
Oh, this was bad. Very,verybad.
I wasn’t healing. I wasn’t fucking healing.
I tried to grasp the amulet again, but when I reached for it, I could only feel its edge. It had sunkdeeperinto my back — it was burrowing into my flesh like a fucking leech. The damn thing was made to sap the strength of supernatural beings, and it hungered for it like a starving animal.
Jeremiah seized my throat and dragged me. I clawed at his arm, leaving deep, jagged cuts in his flesh, but the gashes didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. He hauled me up, both fists knotted in my shirt, and pinned me against a tree.
“And here I’d been blaming the wrong demon all along,” he said. He chuckled as he watched me struggle, thick black goop staining his teeth as he grinned at me. “I thought Leon killed my father, but he’s too distracted doting on that little sacrificial lamb, isn’t he?” He slammed me back, so my shoulder struck the tree again and the amulet did too, pressing it in even deeper.
I blacked out for a moment. I felt like I was falling. When I dazedly returned to consciousness, Jeremiah was glaring at me with a look that was far too clever, far too shrewd. “Who do you serve?” he said softly. “Whose bargain are you fulfilling?”
I spat in his face, grinning as it hit his cheek. “Fuck you. You’re a pathetic boy hiding behind a pathetic God. You can’t even slow me down without some old witch’s trinket.”
He released his hold on me, and I fell to my knees. I didn’t hear him give the order this time — the bullets struck me without warning.
“Tell me your name,” he said calmly, as the gunfire finally stopped. “And who you serve.”
The influence of the God slammed against my brain, screaming to get in. But It couldn’t get my answers by force, not even as weakened as I was. Gods couldn’t invade a demonic mind like They could with humans. I just laughed as I shut It out.
“How long can you keep this up, Rot Boy?” I said. “Your body can’t take that parasitic God flexing so much strength forever.” His face twitched, fury warping him as he leaned close to me. “Go on and keep trying. Your body will break down before you manage to kill me.”
His expression turned cold. He tipped his head, squatted down, and reached out his hand to pluck at the tear his guards’ bullets had ripped through my shirt. He narrowed his eyes, staring at me hard, as if he could find the answers he sought written on my flesh.
I stiffened. Shit.Shit.
I grabbed his wrists but he pinned me again, wrestling me to the ground. My limbs were locking up, the burning pain growing worse the more I tried to fight. Jeremiah’s eyes fogged over, a thick mist clouding them as he shoved my arms down, and ripped my shirt open.
He laughed, and it was the most vile, unnatural sound I’d heard come out of a human. When a God laughed, you could hear the screams of all the souls They’d taken, crying out in such agony it made one sick just to hear it. Those screams were in Jeremiah’s laughter, too.
He traced his fingertips, blackened with rot, over my shoulder — over the scarred letters of Juniper’s name. “So she’s back after all,” he said softly. “Victoria was right. Dear Juniper has come back to Abelaum...and got herself a demon.”
“She’s not here,” I growled. “She’s not even in Abelaum. Why do you think she’d come anywhere near this place?”
“Why indeed?” He pulled back his fist, and his knuckles slammed against my face. I shook my head, dazed, and Jeremiah got off me, leaving me there on the ground. He paced around me, raising his voice. “Why indeed would Juniper Kynes come back to Abelaum? Could it be that she’s a vengeful little bitch who doesn’t know when she should justfucking lay down and die?” He screamed the last few words. He was staring into the trees, scanning the edges of the yard.
Fuck, Juniper had better be running. I knew she could see what was happening, and I could only hope she didn’t get any brave ideas.
“I don’t know what you’re rambling on about,” I said, shoving myself up to my knees. “You’re getting boring. Try smashing my face again to spice things up.”
But he didn’t care about me anymore. His fingers twitched bizarrely as he continued to stare into the darkness, his breathing growing heavier. “I can smell her out there. Oh, Juniper,Juniper.” He laughed. “I can fucking smell you.”
My body felt so heavy. So goddamn heavy and weak. I had to get to my feet and find a way to dig the amulet out.
“She’s out there,” Jeremiah said coldly. “Find her. Find her, and bring her to me.”
