Descent (Kissed by Death) - Tara Fuller Page 0,73

side of him.

“Where is she?”

“Heaven,” I said. “Where you were supposed to go. Where you’re going to go as soon as we make it out of here.”

He looked down at his trembling hands, hopelessly. “You actually think we’ll get out of here?”

“I know you will,” I said.

He looked up, eyes wide. “What about you?”

I couldn’t promise I’d make it out. There was still the possibility I wouldn’t, and I didn’t want my last moments with the boy to be defined by lies. If getting Easton out meant me staying, then I would.

“I have to find Easton. I can’t leave him behind. He’s…he’s…”

He was everything.

“There is no way Pretty Boy is letting you out of here,” he said. “He’s dead set on hauling you back to wherever it is you came from.”

I looked down at him, pleading. “That’s why I have to go now. I have to—”

The door swung open and Scout stomped inside, a new blade strapped to his biceps. He avoided my gaze and grabbed Easton’s pack off the floor. Outside in the hall, a girl screamed and her fear seeped in through the cracks around the door, intent on finding me.

“I found a guide willing to help us get out of the city,” he said. “He’s not going to wait long, so we better hurry.”

I exchanged a panicked look with Tyler. No! I was supposed to have more time. If he got me out of the city, I’d never make it back in alone. I searched the room for something, anything to distract him.

Tyler swung his legs off the bed and exhaled a shaky breath. He peeked up at me through the damp brown curls hanging over his eyes. “I need to use the bathroom.”

Scout raised a brow and nodded to the opening in the wall where a door had been ripped from its hinges. “Go.”

“I need help, asshole,” Tyler grumbled. “I can’t walk.”

Scout groaned and pulled Tyler up by the arm, guiding him to the bathroom. “You better be able to work that thing on your own.”

Tyler looked over his shoulder and mouthed one word to me.

“Run.”

The second they disappeared into the bathroom, I grabbed one of the spare makeshift blades Scout left lying on the dresser. The jagged metal bit into my palm as I slipped through the door. At the end of the hall, two demons grappled with a rail-thin girl, kicking and fighting them off. It wasn’t going to do any good. Even if she escaped, there were a hundred more downstairs to take their place. I ignored the urge to go to her, to help her, relieve her pain. I didn’t even breathe as I descended the steps into the lust club. I straightened my spine and bit my lip as I swayed my hips, moving through the crowd, trying to blend in.

A few hungry eyes followed me through the club, but I managed to get to the front door without drawing too much attention. The heat on the other side of the metal door burned my palm when I touched it. I pulled it away and looked down at my blistered hand. The furnace. When did the furnace blow? I didn’t have time to figure it out.

“Gwen!” Across the room, Scout shoved his way through the crowd. “Don’t do this! Don’t run! You’ll never make it out of here. Don’t do that to him, Red…”

I squeezed my eyes shut, blocking out the pain that came with hearing Scout use the nickname Easton had given me. He was trying to use Easton to lure me back. It wasn’t going to work. With one final burst of resolve I pushed through the door and lost myself in the sin and heat of the city.

Chapter 27

Easton

My sisters were on their knees in front of me. Seline sobbed uncontrollably, and Ava looked up at me with pleading eyes. I gritted my teeth and looked away from the sight of Dietrich stroking Ava’s hair, chuckling as he drank up her fear like a fine wine. His dark eyes glittered in the firelight, and the specter of a truly evil creature flickered to life under the heat.

“It was so satisfying killing them the first time,” Dietrich said, patting Seline on the head. “I have a feeling it will be even sweeter the second time, but maybe we should play first.”

One by one, memories I had no desire to remember flashed through my mind.

A knock on the door. Mother by the fire. Seline braiding Ava’s hair.

“There are men outside,”