Where the Devil Says Goodnight (Folk Lore #1) - K.A. Merikan Page 0,137
lowered his head, and the horns that resembled two fat snakes about to fight to the death cast a shadow on the imposing features with flat nostrils at the end of the elongated muzzle. “The night is only so long, my child. Your entire life has led to this moment. You either accept me, or you eat. He is the only other offering I can consume. His witch of a grandmother made sure of that.” Chort growled and showed off his sharp teeth. “Go on, make your choice. I’ve been away from these lands for too long.”
Adam’s breath caught when he looked at Emil’s face—frozen in time yet so sweet he wanted to kiss it over and over. The selfishness of following Chort’s suggestion twisted all the fibres within his body, but while he could have lived with the shame of cowardice, with Emil’s death on his conscience—he could not. “What if I offered you myself instead? You already live within me.”
The creature’s snarl became a grin. “Your skin feels comfortable, but I need more than lying dormant while you play the docile priest. I need a heart. I need to run free in these mountains every night, reign over my home.”
“If I give you mine, you will spare his?”
Adam’s gaze passed over Emil, who lay motionless, a tear mid-way down his temple. Adam itched to kiss it away, to untie Emil and take him into his arms. Emil didn’t deserve to die, just like he hadn’t deserved all the needless suffering he’d been forced to endure. Adam had misunderstood him so terribly in the last few hours, but now he had the chance to make it up to him by offering him a new life. One in which he’d be free to leave and find happiness, even if without him. Perhaps this way, Adam’s miserable existence would have at least served a purpose.
Chort cocked his head, baring his teeth again as he ran one sharp claw under Adam’s jaw, gently enough to scratch without breaking skin. “We both know you can’t handle me. I cannot live in a body that prevents me from expressing my nature. You’re frightful and frigid, even with the offering who had been made for us. I wish to feast on his body each night. If you give me your heart, I won’t have to consume it entirely, because it already belongs to me, but I won’t allow you to rein me in anymore. Do you understand?”
Adam swallowed, for the first time facing his demon. The touch of Emil’s fingers was his lifeline, and as he listened, the truth behind Chort’s words sank in, piercing his skin claw by claw. Tooth by tooth.
If he offered Emil in his stead, the man he loved would be lost forever, but he could spare Emil’s life by giving up his own in return. He’d become one with this ancient monster-god, and while his mind couldn’t come to grips with what that would entail, he no longer cared. He would be brave for Emil’s sake, even if it meant eternal limbo inside a body he had no control over.
“You can’t have him,” Adam choked out and loosened the collar of his cassock. “But if you promise to never hurt him, you can have me.”
Sin was hot in his veins. Occultism. Greed. Forbidden love. He embraced them all, because in this valley, in Dybukowo, there was only one god to set the rules.
Them.
Chort let out a croak and leapt at Adam. Pain seemed unavoidable in the split seconds before impact, but the beast splashed onto him like a wave in a tropical ocean, and his mouth filled with a flavor that was somehow both salty and sweet. The majestic form dispersed, but when Adam took a deep breath, Chort’s essence entered his heart, at once chasing away the nighttime cold.
His blood turned into liquid gold, his lungs expanded, his muscles thickened, and as Adam grew taller and more powerful, his horns curled above all-hearing ears.
The world around him snapped back to life.
Mrs. Golonko screamed, covering her face as she fell into the leaves, but Koterski and Mrs. Janina remained on their knees, both roaring with manic laughter as they kept on praying. And this time, he understood their words.