her knife at the ready. She had no idea what her sister’s mental state was but had to assume the worst.
“Kayley, honey, it’s Morrigan.” Was that a flicker of recognition?
Maccus stirred behind her. Kayley reacted as though she’d been shot. Her back slammed into the brick wall, and her teeth began to chatter.
“Maybe you better stay back.”
“Hesgoingtokillme. Hesgoingtokillme.” She said the words so fast they ran together. Morrigan didn’t understand them at first. But as her sister kept chanting them, she finally was able to decipher them.
“No, he’s not going to kill you,” she assured Kayley.
A low grumbling sound came from behind her. She didn’t have time to deal with both of them and wasn’t sure which was the more volatile.
“Kayley, you need to come with me.” She kept using her sister’s name in hopes of making an emotional connection.
The fearful expression in her eyes vanished, replaced by cunning. “No. Don’t make me go back. I’m not brave like you. I don’t belong there.”
She wanted to close her eyes and cover her ears but didn’t dare. It was like a knife to the heart to hear her sister’s pitiful plea. “There’s nothing I can do.”
“You saved me before. You can do it again. Please.”
She rubbed her chest before she realized what she was doing. Had her heart ever hurt so badly?
Maybe if she went to Hell with Kayley, she could protect her. A sense of inevitable doom descended on her. Yeah, she couldn’t even protect herself. There wasn’t anything she could do for her sister.
Something niggled in the back of her brain, some piece of information she needed.
Kill Maccus. It was like a low whisper in the back of her mind. Kill him, and I’m free. So is Kayley. It’s so easy. He trusts me now.
She shook her head, refusing to listen to the voice. The cuffs in her pocket seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. It took every ounce of strength she had to pull them out.
Tears tracked down Kayley’s cheeks. “You love him more than you love me.” More child then woman now, her sister slid down the wall, wrapped her arms around her knees, and rocked back and forth. “You don’t love me.”
Surely, she must be bleeding. Nothing Lucifer had ever done to her in Hell had equaled this, and she’d been beaten bloody and had strips of skin peeled from her body.
Physical torture either killed you or you recovered from it. Mental torture never truly healed.
She crept toward her sister, making no sudden movements. When she was only a couple of feet away, she crouched. As much as she ached to hug her sister, she couldn’t trust her. Could sense the demon in her. See it in the tinge of red in her eyes.
Or maybe that was only their father’s blood coming out. If Maccus was to be believed, they’d already had demon blood in them.
“I do love you, but it will only be worse if you don’t go back voluntarily.” She wanted to smash the cuffs against the wall, but that would solve nothing. And until she got them on Kayley, her sister was volatile and dangerous.
“I’ll go with you,” she promised. Not that it was much of a vow as it was more likely Lucifer would just yank her back. Something tickled the back of her brain again, but she ignored it. There was no more time to think about what might have been. There was only what was right in front of her.
“Put your hand out. Don’t make me hurt you.” Usually, she had no problem slamming a demon around. They were tough and could take it. Plus, they’d violated the rules. But had Kayley really done that? She was a pawn sent here by Lucifer to torture them both.
She was as much a victim in this as Morrigan.
Maccus wasn’t a victim. He was a fallen angel. Didn’t he belong in Hell with the rest of the demons? He’d escaped. Wasn’t it the duty of a bounty hunter to bring him back?