Descent (Kissed by Death) - Tara Fuller Page 0,61

Someday, if we ever got out of this place, he’d have to understand I needed the act of giving joy and taking away pain just as much as the souls I helped. Assuming I actually got that chance again. The harsh reality was, I might never get to enjoy the simple of act of bestowing joy again. If I fell…if they took my wings, however metaphorical they might be, I’d be nothing more than another misplaced soul.

“Other than freezing our asses off, fine and dandy,” Scout spoke up behind me. “How is it looking out there?”

Easton grabbed the back of his neck and cast a wary glance over his shoulder. “We’ve got company this time. Three demons at the door. No telling how many inside. I want to see if Gwen gets anything before we take that on.”

He looked down at me and reached out to touch my cheek. I leaned into his alluring warmth, unable to resist.

“I can take you around back,” he said. “It’s clear there.”

I nodded, and he laced his fingers through mine and pulled me through the shadows until we stood in a dark alley. It was different than it had been in the city. The streets here were barren; the silence that filled them seemed like a looming, dangerous thing all on its own. Scout walked ahead of us, blade drawn and glistening. After a quick scan, he looked back at me and raised a brow.

“Getting anything here, angel?”

“I didn’t feel anything at the last four places,” I said. “What if I lost the connection? What if he…”

What if he wasn’t Tyler anymore? What if the careful threads that bonded us together had been broken, because the boy I’d been connected to was gone? I couldn’t bear to say it out loud. Saying it out loud made the possibility seem all too real. Easton placed his hand on the small of my back, drawing my attention away from the wall.

“Try,” he said, simply, softly.

I stepped up to the wall and closed my eyes, stretching my hand out until my palm made contact. The jolt of pain caught me off guard. I shuddered as it rushed through me, an angry, desperate thing, dragging its claws along the inside of my skin. Easton’s arm banded around me in instant support when my knees went weak.

“What is it?” he whispered.

“I…I don’t…I don’t know.”

I squeezed my eyes shut tight and pushed, searching through the writhing bodies inside, emitting a kind of hopelessness that tasted like poison. There were so many here, their torment potent and cutting. A sharp stabbing sliced through the space between my shoulder blades, impaling me. I choked on the sensation, on the cold enveloping me, suffocating me. And then there it was…

There he was.

Like a weakening pulse, his essence faded in and out, in and out. It wrapped around me like a tether and pulled me forward. I slid along the wall, afraid to lose the connection. My lips moved of their own accord, a pleading prayer conveyed in urgent whispers. Easton moved with me, keeping his hand on the small of my back. I caught him exchanging a wary look with Scout before returning his attention to me. When I couldn’t stand any more, I pushed away from the wall, severing the contact, struggling for a pain-free breath.

“It’s him,” I breathed, looking up at Easton. “He’s here.”

Chapter 22

Gwen

“I don’t like this,” Easton grumbled, peeking around the corner, fist wrapped tightly around his blade.

“You have a better idea?” Scout raised a brow and I tried to calm the nervous fluttering in my chest. For once the fear surging through my veins wasn’t from anyone but me.

Easton looked down at me, lips pressed into a hard line. Cold, choking fear radiated from him, slamming into me with a force strong enough to take my breath away. I grabbed his hand and forced a soft stream of comfort to pulse from my palm and into his. Slowly, his shoulders relaxed and he exhaled harshly, closing his eyes.

“Red…this is not the time.”

“You’re about to use me as bait,” I countered. “I think it’s exactly the time. You need to be calm. No mistakes, right?”

He reluctantly nodded and allowed his walls to come down. I gulped in a deep breath, attempting to rid myself of Easton’s apprehension as well as my own. They were going to kill the demons guarding the door. They hadn’t said it, but I’d once been assigned to a human who loved old mobster movies.