Released (The Eternal Balance #3)(22)

“Money doesn’t mean shit to her!” I lunged forward, my anger getting the better of me. In my current state I wasn’t sure I could throw shade at a kitten much less tackle a demon, but I’d always been a determined f*cker. As soon as my fingers wrapped around Azi’s shadowy throat, my foggy mirror image dissipated and reformed on the other side of the room, out of my reach.

“This is pointless, and you waste energy. It will only make this harder. I ask you to accept the inevitable.”

“You want me to basically roll over and let you take me out?”

“It will be easier on us both. I will not force you, though. It will be your choice. You can stay and fade on your own. It will be painful for both of us, and she will know that you are suffering. Or, agree to be terminated. I will allow you twenty-four hours of control before you die. You will have the opportunity to say good-bye.”

“Twenty-four hours? One f*cking day?” For the first time, panic rose and settled like a boulder in my gut. I’d just gotten Sam back. “That’s not enough.”

“That is all you can have.” There was no emotion behind the demon’s words. “Do you not feel it? Your essence is already starting to fade. Time is short.”

And there it was. This wasn’t simply me feeling the burn from battling for control. Somewhere deep in the darkest, most unexplored regions of my mind, I’d known. My strength had been slipping away, little by little, but I’d done my best to ignore it. “I don’t feel shit. I’m not going any—”

The room spun. I stumbled upward and closed my eyes. As if to drive the reality home, I had to grab the wall to keep from going down. When I opened my eyes, I was back in the car. Sam stirred, still dozing against my chest. Her warmth was like an inferno, and as Azi wrapped my arms tight around her, the ache in my gut threatened to rip me to shreds. I couldn’t help worrying that I’d made a mistake in not taking the demon’s offer.

The demon lowered my head, lips lingering at Sam’s ear. “We need to leave,” it whispered.

She groaned and stretched against my body, slowly opening her eyes. “I can’t believe I fell asleep.” Twisting, she pushed herself off my chest and settled on the other side of the seat.

“You did. You snore.”

For a second, her smile was all there was, brighter than the sun and electrifying enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention. It blotted out our current situation and made me forget that I couldn’t move as much as a f*cking toe. Then, like a strike of lightning, it was gone.

“Azirak.” Sam reached behind her and opened the car door. In a graceful move, she extracted herself from the backseat and took several steps away from the car. The grass was wet, dew dampening her sneakers, and when she stopped, a leaf from the tree above her fell to the ground.

The whole scene—everything from the expression on her face to the uneven thump of her heart inside her chest—was all burned into my mind as a sharp pain spasmed through my body. The demon felt it but didn’t react.

What the f*ck was that?

“That,” it said with a shake of my head, “was inevitability knocking.”

“What?” Sam’s brow’s creased and she bent down to peer back into the car. “What the hell are you talking about? Inevitability of what?”

Don’t. Don’t say a word.

And it wouldn’t. Her knowing wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t make this easier on either one of us. Sam would obsess and focus on a way to free me, and in the process get herself killed by ignoring the bigger picture. She’d blow off the task at hand—getting the stone. Azi had one thing right. If we didn’t find both halves, Sam was in just as much danger as the demon. If I was going to die, then I had to at least make sure she’d go on.

“It is nothing to concern yourself with.” Azi got out of the car and made its way to the driver’s side, stopping in front of Sam. Her mouth fell open as it slipped my fingers into her pocket to grab the keys. “The park will be open soon. We should hurry.”





Chapter Ten


Sam


“Let me do the talking.” I closed the passenger’s side door and pulled my jacket tighter. The wind had kicked up, and there was a chill in the air that went right through me.

Jax’s eyes narrowed to thin slits, and the demon behind them glared at me. “Do you not trust me?”

“Does that even need an answer?” I pushed past him and started for the front gate. Two small lines had formed at the two open ticket booths, but they seemed to be moving fast. By the time we made it across the parking lot, there was only one couple in front of us. They were up and done in a flash.

“Two adults,” I said, stepping aside. I hadn’t been thrilled with the demon’s solution, but as Azi pointed out on the way to the park, we’d need tickets to get in. That, or a blind eye from me as it used force. Since that wasn’t an option, we’d had to borrow some cash from a patron at the coffee house several miles away. It was a small consolation that he’d been an *—relentlessly and crudely hitting on me.

The demon forked over the cash, and I found myself having to tug it through the turn style. The woman had all but thrown the tickets at us, and Jax’s fingers tightened, the demon’s irritation palatable. It bothered me that I was becoming familiar with the thing’s mannerisms. I didn’t want that, didn’t need to humanize it in any way. I just wanted it gone.