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Paxton and Remy were focused on me now, and I knew they needed to hear something to distract them from their pain. Paxton’s bandage on his chest looked clean enough, so at least it must be beginning to heal. His face gave no sign of how much pain he must be in. But that didn’t mean he could hide it from me.
So I told them every detail.
Paxton groaned like he was going to find the strength to beat off thinking about Aurora, no matter how weak he was.
Then the door creaked open. Two sets of footsteps descended slowly.
Nina shuffled into view, looking weak, with deep shadows under her swollen violet eyes. Maybe I should’ve felt sorry for her, but I thought about how destroyed Aurora had felt about losing her mother again, and I couldn’t summon anything for her.
Then the Demon turned the corner behind her, gripping her chains. He still had that damned noose around her throat, and the rope trailed before her, occasionally catching on doorways so that she choked for a second.
The Demon led her past the enormous television screen mounted on the wall–I was curious what kinds of shit he did with that, because I didn’t think he was going to turn on ESPN for us–and began to chain her to the wall.
Then the Demon turned to us, giving us a bright smile. “Soon I’ll have the complete collection. My little girl will have to come back to me then.”
“Leave her alone,” Nina murmured.
He scoffed, grabbing the noose around her neck. Her eyes widened with fear, but she still spat out, “Just let her be free. She’s a good girl.”
“She’s my girl,” the Demon disagreed. “And she’s transcendedgood.”
Thinking about Aurora–mounting me and smiling down at me, or dressed in blood, or turning shy after delivering us a dismembered hand–I thought the Demon was right.
But he didn’t truly understand what that meant.
Aurora was going to dismantle him.
* * *
Remington
When the Demon finally went back up the stairs, Nina slumped against the wall. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, mixing with the dust and blood coating her face.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
She nodded. “I just…” She shook her head. “He’ll never stop until he gets Aurora.”
“Oh, he’s going to regret it when he gets her,” Stellan said fiercely. “Aurora comes with a knife in the chest.”
Nina raised her head, opening her eyes. Or at least, she opened one eye. The other was swollen black and blue. “How is Aurora?”
“Tough and brilliant as always,” Stellan said. “She’s done crying over the shitty way you left her.”
“That’s not fair,” she said.
“You’re not stupid,” I said. “You must have known the Demon would find her eventually.”
“No.” She shook her head, a look of horror crossing her face at the accusation. “I knew he was after me…he was killing women who looked like me, leaving a trail of bodies. I knew he would find me eventually, and if she were with me…” She shuddered. “But I thought he might leave her alone if it was just her.”
“Might,” I growled. “That’s not good enough.”
Some day, if Aurora agreed, I couldn’t wait to get her pregnant. She would never leave her baby. Aurora would fight and kill to protect her children. And I’d do the same. This woman facing me was so much… less than her daughter.
“The Demon deserves aworld’s worst dad mug,” Pax said. “But somehow he raised one hell of a woman.”
She didn’t miss his implication. “Aurora is who Aurora is. No one could change her.”
Pax scoffed.“Wechanged her. We showed her she could trust someone for once.”
