Descent (Kissed by Death) - Tara Fuller Page 0,37

warmth, feeling like I could breathe for the first time since we’d crash-landed through the portal and into this awful place.

“Your jokes are terrible,” he finally said.

I shrugged, resting my chin on my knees. “I like them.”

“So do I,” he said. “But then again I’m kind of wired to enjoy terrible things. Well…usually, anyway.”

I tilted my face to escape the way he was looking at me, unraveling me, burning me with his intense gaze.

“We can go if you want. I don’t mind the rain,” I said. “I’ve always wondered what it would feel like against my skin.”

He twisted the cap to the canteen, then reached out and moved aside the branches shielding us from the storm. Outside the sky was bloodred. The clouds looked angry and electric. Rain created a curtain making the world around us look blurry and gray. Souls wandered across the muddy field like zombies, aimless and wanting, crying out for God to save them.

“Will they hurt us?” I asked.

“No. But the rain will. It’s acid,” he said, watching a man fall to his knees. His skin sizzled under the relentless storm, and he cried out in pain. “And melting like a Popsicle on the Fourth of July wasn’t on my agenda for today.”

Acid rain? Of course there was something as horrific as acid rain. This was Hell. And every bleeding, screaming corner of it told me I didn’t belong here.

Between the skeletal treetops, gleaming metal buildings glinted in the distance. The roaring sounds of a city drifted in with the wind. I leaned forward to get a better look until Easton grabbed my arm to stop me from getting too close.

“Is that…”

He pulled me back against him and shoved the branches back into place to keep us hidden. “The City of Sin.”

“And that’s where you think Tyler is?” I turned to face him and he winced, reaching down to adjust the blade at his hip.

“I think so. We’ll know soon enough. I’ve got contacts in the city that can point us in the right direction. A soul like Tyler’s wouldn’t fall between the cracks. There’s bound to be talk. How close do you need to be for this bond thing to work?”

“I don’t know. I always feel it to an extent.” I ran a finger across the smooth part of my wrist where I could feel the faint presence of Tyler beneath my skin. “It’s been getting stronger.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll get us close enough for it to work.”

I nodded, and hope filled my eyes with strange moisture. I just prayed we found him before the demons burned away everything that made him the boy April loved. If I were ever going to fall, it would be for this, for not listening to Sky when I should have. For not letting go. I would never forgive myself if we didn’t save Tyler.

Easton wiped a tear from my cheek. “I’m going to get you out of this. I promise.”

“I’m not worried about me.”

His jaw tensed as he searched my face. “I know you’re not.”

The air between us felt charged in a way that had nothing to do with the storm and everything to do with the fact that he was touching me. Easton’s free arm slid around my waist. The sensation of his fingers making contact with the sliver of bare skin there made me hot and quivery inside. His thumb lightly stroked my side, and my breath caught in my throat while his other hand lingered against my face.

As always, his pain was a constant cloud around us, more potent in such close quarters. But hiding beneath the darkness was a flicker of light. A burning ember of…desire? Hope, maybe? I reached out and touched his chest, wanting a better look inside. He grabbed my wrist, but didn’t pull my hand away. Instead he moved it so my palm lay over his heart. It beat fast and erratic, saying things I could never imagine someone like him admitting out loud.

“Your heart. It’s pounding,” I said, breathless and unsure of what was happening between us. “Are you afraid?”

His hand tightened around mine. “Yes.”

“Of what?”

His thumb traced my bottom lip, and I closed my eyes, afraid to move. Afraid he might kiss me. Afraid he might not.

“You, Red,” he whispered. “I’m afraid of you.”

Chapter 14

Easton

The city was alive with sin. The iron streets were burnished black from flames. Dilapidated high-rises shadowed the streets, and screams rang out from broken windows ten stories high. It was a sick, twisted version