Page 36 of Possess Me

“Nothing, you little bitch. I’m finally free of you.” It’s no longer his voice. It’s cold and slithery, and I think I’m going to throw up because he’s not Damien any longer and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to make it better. I don’t know how to bring him back.

You can’t. He’s mine now. The voice is in my head. Not Vivien, but something vile and evil. Soon, you will be, too.

“No!” The scream bursts out of me even as I feel icy tendrils caressing my flesh, trying to squeeze inside me. To become me.

How? How do I make it stop? How do I wake up from this nightmare?

Take it off.

I remember Damien’s words. He’d been fighting the demon to speak. To tell me something. Take it off.

But the only thing I’m wearing now is a bra. I’m not even wearing panties. Just my diamond earrings and the—

Yes!

The snake bracelet.

Even as the thought enters my mind, the door bursts open.

Damien.

It’s him. The man who held me through my darkest moments. The man who loves me.

Then his face contorts and his fists clench, and I scurry back against the counter, terrified that this time the demon has won.

His hand tightens around the towel rack while the other clutches the door frame. “Hurry.” His voice is rough. Guttural. “Get it off. Destroy it.”

I look down at my wrist, where the snake bracelet gleams in the dim light. It feels hot, the metal burning into my skin as if it’s trying to become a part of me. Panic rises in my chest as I claw at the clasp. “I can’t,” I say, my voice cracking. “Damien, I can’t. It won’t come off.”

I meet his eyes—Damien’s eyes. He’s fighting, but I can see that he’s losing. And somehow I know that if I can’t get this bracelet off, then the demon will consume both of us. Worse, we’ll be Vivien and Carlton all over again.

“I need your help,” I whisper as I yank at the clasp. “I can’t get it off.” I hear the panic in my voice even as I try to uncoil the snake. As the bracelet begins to burn, growing hotter and hotter, until I can smell my own flesh searing.

“I don’t know what to do,” I say, my voice tight with pain. “I don’t know—”

“Now, dammit” His voice is hard, filled with loss and regret. “I’m losing myself. It’s consuming me. It’s making me disappear.”

My heart shatters. I want to run to him, to hold him, to kiss him until he’s my Damien again. But this isn’t a fairy tale. This is a nightmare. It’s the freaking Blair Witch Project or Saw or—

Oh, god! It’s The Exorcist.

I practically leap toward the counter. But he grabs the strap of my bra, yanking me back, my fingers only brushing the toothpaste cup on the counter.

But that’s enough.

It topples, shattering on the tile floor and revealing the crucifix I’d dropped in there before.

I lunge for it, my hand closing around the cool metal as Damien’s arm goes around my waist, pulling me toward him. Except he isn’t Damien now. I know that.

More, I know that I have to bring him back. That I can bring him back.

With a cry, I bring the crucifix down on the bracelet. The clasp snaps, and the bracelet falls to the floor with a metallic clatter.

A deafening howl fills the room as a rush of icy wind swirls around us. I stagger back, watching in horror as the wind twists into a dark, writhing mass. It shoots out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. I hear glass shattering, then silence.

And then the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard—“Nikki?”

I whip around, tears streaming down my face. He’s on his knees, his chest heaving. He rises up, his eyes meeting mine, clear and steady. And for the first time in days, I see him. Truly him.