“Go?” He laughed, or at least I guessed that he did. The sound was just deep rumbles in my aching head. “You’re really not fun at all. Why don’t you try to squirm for the door?” He squatted down near me, still snapping his fucking fingers. “I’ll let you reach it, I promise. I won’t let you get beyond it, but won’t it feel good to —”
This time, my claws made contact with his face, and he leapt back to the foot of the stairway.
“Fuck you,” I snarled, jerking up to my feet, blood pouring from my nose, my jaw making some truly bizarre popping sounds as it knitted itself back together. Callum curiously touched along his face, where I’d laid open his cheek straight through to his teeth, and regarded the blood on his fingers with an all-too-calm curiosity.
“Clever,” he murmured. “And here I thought you couldn’t take the pain.”
“I’ve spent the last century in pain,” I spat onto the floor again, cracking my stiffening neck. There were some very unhappy vertebrae at the base of my skull. “I’m not here to cause any trouble for you or your witch, I only want —”
Slammed onto my back again, the air rushed out of my lungs, and Callum crouched over me with an expression of clinical indifference. With his face already knitting back together, he sunk his claws into my cheek and began to tear. “I don’t care what you want, hellion, any more than a spider cares for the wants of a fly.”
I tried not to scream, but fuck, it hurt. For the first time, I began to think I wasn’t going to get out of this alive.
“What pretty teeth you have, hellion —”
“Callum, stop!”
The Archdemon went stiff as stone, his claws still sunk into my face. There, at the top of the stairway, Everly Hadleigh stood in a pale green dress, her long hair coiled up and pinned in a messy pile atop her head. She came slowly down the stairs, her expression grim but wide-eyed, her gaze fixed on my face.
I gave her a very bloody grin.
“Hello again, Everly.”
She came close, just beyond my reach, and looked down at me as if I was an unpleasant specimen she had to study. She looked healthy, her eyes bright, her steps light. Breaking free of Kent’s stranglehold would do anyone a world of good.
“Leon,” she spoke softly, almost disappointed. “Did Kent send you after me?”
“Fuck no.” Callum’s claws clicked against my teeth unpleasantly, and I snapped at him in retaliation, hoping I’d at least catch a finger. No such luck, but Callum didn’t try to hurt me in return. So obedient to the witch’s orders. “I’d sooner rip out my own intestines than obey Kent again. I came for my sigil. On my own.”
She looked confused for a moment, then her eyes widened in realization. “Oh…the grimoire, of course…” She laid her hand against a large pocket in the skirt of her dress — a pocket I could see was burdened with something very grimoire-shaped. “You’ve already paid a visit to Raelynn then. Is…is she still…”
“Alive?” I offered. “Absolutely. I’ve seen to that.”
Everly smiled. “Have you really? I never would have expected that from you.” She was silent for a moment, chewing on her thumbnail as she thought. “Raelynn was never supposed to end up with the grimoire. I made a reckless decision to steal it from Kent, but with the way he always watched me, I couldn’t keep it hidden on my person. I shoved it in a box. I thought I could go back for it later, but…” She sighed heavily. “Fate is merciless sometimes.”
So it had been her doing all along. I should have known. Kent never would have lost the grimoire himself; it was too precious to him. No one could have taken the book except Everly, who’s magic would override the grimoire’s need to only be passed willingly between owners.
“When Kent told me that Raelynn was the next sacrifice, I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t let him make me a murderer, or make me help with a murder.” She scowled, her hand tapping nervously against her side. “Kent wanted Jeremiah to do it, and I was to help. I was supposed to guide him through the sacrifice, so he wouldn’t make such a mess like he did last time.” She sounded nauseated, and swallowed hard. “All my life I’d seen you as a monster for always obeying him. Kent warned me that demons were cruel, that they were wicked. But that day you left…you protected her.” She clasped her hands behind her back, suddenly stern. “Why did you protect her? Why did you defy Kent for her?”