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“Ready for—”
A groaning keen wailed through the room, and a tug rattled my chains as they began to shorten. Within seconds the binds on my wrists yanked above my head, dragging me up the wall. My teeth gnashed as the rough surface of the bricks scraped against my exposed flesh until my back was plastered against the wall, my arms spread out and legs bolted to the ground.
“It’s much easier to torture you when your movements are restricted.” Karn skimmed his finger over my arm and then across my collarbone to the other side, spreading a layer of ice around me. “I can’t wait to get inside that lying little head of yours.”
I strained against the manacles, the ones on my wrists rubbing over the old scars. “You’re not getting shit out of me, demon.”
His laugh reminded me of a sharp and deadly blade skating across my neck. “I will get everything, Tatum Teague.” Karn pulled a large black stone from his pocket. “Do you know what this is?” He didn’t wait for my answer. “The black Verity stone will allow me to pry your secrets out while I feast on your soul.”
The blood drained from my extremities, leaving me as cold as a block of ice in the Arctic. If that stone allowed Karn to see inside of my head, it wouldn’t take him long to figure out that I had the Infernal Sol.
“I need a little blood first.” Karn slashed a shallow cut into my chest with the silver dagger, making me hiss, and then he slammed the rock against the bleeding slash.
As searing pain erupted through me, a scream burst out of my mouth. Tiny tendrils slithered out from the stone, burrowing into my skin like worms. Panic tore deep fissures in me, and I bucked against the binds.
Fire spilled through my veins, and my vision blurred around the edges, leaving Karn crystal clear. His glamour faded to reveal those onyx horns coiling out of his head and blood-red irises with foreboding black slits for pupils that could grab hold of you and rip your soul out.
Now tipped with a sharp talon, the demon lord's finger slid down my cheek. “That was only the stone attaching to your essence. The real fun hasn’t even begun yet.” Leathery bat wings emerged from his back and curved forward, the clawed ends digging into the wall next to me. “Shall we?”
* * *
My voice cracked,raw from the shrieks Karn had forced from me. His head dipped, and he pried my mouth open again, drawing out another sip of my soul. Invisible daggers ripped me to pieces, and I struggled in the binds, my back scraping against the bricks.
As Karn inhaled a piece of my soul, he dislodged one of my memories. He’d been doing this for over an hour, maybe more, and to keep him from finding any information on the Infernal Sol, I’d dredged up the worst of my childhood to distract him.
“I did not expect this, Tatum.” His laugh made my nape prickle. He lifted my shirt and ran his nails over the small round scars on my side. “Such beautiful things, inside and out.” The demon lord drew another sip, and as he devoured my memories, I had to experience them all over again…
The decrepit cell disappeared,and dingy white walls, yellowed from cigarette smoke, emerged. My cheek was pressed into dirty brown carpet that reeked of stale beer and mildew.
“This is what happens to bad girls.” One of my foster brothers held me while the other blew cigarette smoke into my face. They were both fifteen while I was only thirteen and so much smaller. “You told on us, and now you’re going to pay.”
My eyes widened as he pulled the cigarette from his mouth and held it over my head. “Please! I’m sorry.” I struggled under Wyatt’s grip while Carter taunted me with the burning tip. “Darla cornered me, and I didn’t know what to say.”
Our foster mother, Darla Peachtree, found a pack of cigarettes in the boys’ room, and she demanded I tell her who they belonged to. She knew I snuck around the house and tended to learn people’s secrets. If I didn’t tell her, she’d punish all the kids, and I’d get the worst of it.
Now I’d still get the worst of it from Wyatt and Carter.
Carter pressed his knee against my chest. “You shouldn’t have said shit, Tatum.” Instead of going for my face, he ripped my shirt up and stabbed the cherry onto my side.
Hot pain flared from the spot, and I screamed so loud my throat felt like it would tear apart. Carter jabbed the cherry into me several more times until I passed out.
When I came to alone on the ground, my side throbbed from the multiple burns. My clothes were askew, my shirt twisted to my neck and my jeans unbuttoned. Bile shot up my throat, and I rolled over, puking on the grimy carpet. They’d done more than burn me. They hadn’t gone as far as they could have, but their grubby hands had touched me all over, violated me in ways that should get them arrested.
Nothing would happen to them. As always…
A sour tastecoated my mouth as I returned to the prison cell, sagging against the wall, the binds digging into my wrists.
Karn grinned. “You are just full of delicious surprises.” His left wing curled forward, brushing my arm. “But as entertaining as this is, I still haven’t gotten anything on the Infernal Sol. That makes me think you’re trying to distract me with these lovely memories.”
“You think I like reliving these things? Every time you rip out another piece of my soul, that’s what pops into my head.” A bitter laugh slipped out. “And I have years of stories like that. You’ve only just scratched the surface.”
The demon lord cocked his head like a predator and analyzed me. “I may have underestimated you and the amount of torture necessary to break you.” His tongue flicked out, forked and devilish. “But I love a challenge. And you are turning out to be quite fun.”
Karn forced my mouth open again, and agony ripped my insides apart as he consumed more of my soul while I unlocked another haunting memory for him to feast on…
Bones crunched beneath my knuckles,and blood splattered the concrete as the crowd roared. My opponent stumbled away, shaking her head to clear the fog. I spat a glob of blood and rolled my shoulders.
At first glance, the odds were against me since the fighter they chose was bigger and outweighed me by at least fifty pounds. Remy, the guy who ran the fights, never bet against me, though. I’d made him a lot of money. Kicking ass for cash was much better than the alternative.
