Descent (Kissed by Death) - Tara Fuller Page 0,42

shoulder and secured the dresser in place.

I could endure a lot. It had been the way I’d lived. It had been the way I died. But I couldn’t stay like this much longer, here, in this skin, with this girl. I turned around and slid down against the dresser until I was sitting in a pile of ash on the floor. I looked up at Gwen. She was perched on the edge of the bed, trembling, watching me with undisguised fear in her eyes.

“What did you agree to give him for this room?” she asked.

I stood and brushed the ash from my pants, refusing to meet her gaze. She didn’t want this answer. Giving it to her wasn’t going to help anything. “Don’t let anyone in. Do you hear me?”

I walked into the bathroom and thanked God when I spotted the dirty ceramic tub in the center of the room. Gwen hovered in the doorway, watching me. Waiting. I twisted the knobs and watched the tub begin to fill with cloudy, cold water.

“Easton,” she demanded. Hearing her demand anything sounded odd. “Answer me.”

Ignoring her, I brushed past her and found a broken shard of glass on the floor. I stomped on it, then picked up the pieces and set them on the dresser. “Listen for it to rattle. When it you feel the vibration, you get in the tub. Under the water. For as long as it takes. The walls should keep the flames at bay, but the heat will be too much out in the open. Understand?”

Her eyes went wide. She looked so worn-down and afraid. When she didn’t answer, I grabbed her shoulders and gave her a shake.

“Tell me you understand, Gwen.”

“I-I understand.”

“Good.” Before I could talk myself out of it, I leaned down and pressed my lips to her forehead. I lingered there, and her shaky hands came up to rest against my chest. I should have pushed her away. Instead, I soaked in the feel of her, hating that I was starting to need this. My needing anyone was a dangerous thing. It wasn’t how I operated. “Don’t forget.”

I pulled away, and she watched me walk to the half-open window. I put my shoulder under it and shoved.

“Easton!” I turned to where she stood, hands clutched to her chest. “Don’t go. We can leave. Right now. We don’t need to stay here.”

I knew what she needed from me. She needed me to hold her. Tell her everything was going to be okay. Maybe if she’d been someone else I could have. But she wasn’t someone else. She was Gwen. And I couldn’t lie to her. Everything wasn’t okay. In this place, it never was.

“No worries, Red. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

I climbed out and into the ash-coated world. It was time to pay the piper.

Chapter 15

Gwen

The floor beneath the bed vibrated with the muffled beat of music from below. On the other side of the wall, someone was screaming, screaming, screaming. I curled my fingers into the mattress springs, wondering if they’d ever stop. If they were trapped in this hellish place for eternity, probably not. Somewhere Easton was screaming. I hadn’t heard him. But I’d felt him. His pain. His desperation. It had traveled through the fragile bond that strung us together, showing me things he’d never want me to know. Somewhere he was suffering. For me. I squeezed my eyes shut, but tears pushed past the barrier regardless. They rolled down the side of my face and sizzled on the still-smoking springs. I’d never cried before this. I didn’t like it.

I shivered despite the blistering heat, wishing I had my robe. The awful leather I’d been wearing was draped over the dresser, drying. When the furnace had blown, I’d done just as Easton had said and submerged myself in the water until the flames died out. To my surprise, nearly everything in the room had stood up to the heat. I guess everything that could burn had burned long ago. I couldn’t help but wonder where Easton had gone to escape it. Had he escaped it? A sick feeling bubbled inside me and I clutched my stomach to calm it. He had to be okay. If he wasn’t…

I curled into myself, whispering a quiet prayer, and then I heard it. A scrape at the window. My entire body stilled, paralyzed by fear. The window slid open and someone…something crashed inside. A groan rose from the floor, and I scrambled up from the bed, when